Apple's new creative assets are headed for search results and Apple Ads
Apple announced images and videos beyond screenshots for product page headers and search results, plus an Asset Library. What to plan for, and what Apple has not yet explained.
Among the App Store announcements at WWDC on June 8, one affects Apple Ads buyers directly: Apple is adding "creative assets," which are images and videos that go beyond screenshots and app previews, and they can appear in product page headers and in search results. Apple's developer guide says they can also show in Apple Ads on the Today tab and in search results. Availability is stated loosely, and the details that decide how much this helps you are not yet public. That is a good reason to prepare now rather than scramble in the fall.
What Apple has said
Apple's newsroom and its WWDC26 App Store guide describe the following:
- Creative assets are rich images and videos that can highlight a brand, promote seasonal offerings or show new content. They sit alongside the standard screenshots and previews rather than replacing them.
- They can appear in the product page header and in search results, and per the guide in Apple Ads on the Today tab and in search results.
- They work with custom product pages and product page optimization, so you can test them.
- A new Asset Library in App Store Connect holds creative assets, app previews and screenshots in one place. Assets can be submitted for review separately from an app update, which Apple says lets you coordinate with an Apple Ads campaign without delay.
- A product page preview in App Store Connect shows how assets, descriptions and screenshots will render across devices, languages and appearance modes.
The guide marks the creative assets, Asset Library and preview tool as coming this fall. The newsroom says the creative assets roll out this year, and the guide says more detailed guidance for planning and making the assets will arrive later this summer.
What Apple has not said
This is the part that matters for budgeting. Apple's materials do not describe reporting for the new assets, so we do not know whether you will see performance broken out by asset, whether an Apple Ads campaign can use them without any new setup, or how they interact with ad relevance and bidding. Nothing we reviewed gives specifications, such as sizes, video length or file formats. Plan for the unknowns, and do not commit production budget to specific dimensions until the guidance arrives.
Prepare the process, not the assets
Because the guidance is still to come, the best preparation is organizational.
- Map the asset approval path. Separate review means seasonal creative can be approved ahead of time. Decide who uploads, who approves and how far ahead you will submit. If a campaign depends on an asset that is stuck in review, the budget sits idle.
- Audit your custom product pages. The new assets plug into the same testing structure. If you have no custom product pages matched to search intent, build those first. They give you something to test the new assets against, and they are already usable today.
- Write a test plan before you have the assets. Decide what you would test: brand-led header versus feature-led, seasonal versus evergreen, video versus image. Decide the metric, which should be a downstream outcome like trial starts or purchases per tap and not tap-through rate alone, and the minimum sample you need before calling a result.
- Set aside creative capacity for later summer. When Apple publishes guidance and templates, you will want a short window to produce a first batch, not a long scramble.
Expect a relevance trade-off
Richer visuals in search results could lift attention, and they could also raise expectations. A header that promises something the first screen of your app does not deliver can raise taps and lower retention. Keep the creative honest to the product, and judge it on the same downstream metric you use for everything else.
Another trade-off is organic and paid consistency. Apple says the same assets can appear in product pages and in ads. If your paid message and your product page say different things, a user who taps will see the mismatch. Plan assets as a set with your product page, not as ad-only material.
What not to do yet
- Do not produce a large library of video before specifications exist.
- Do not promise stakeholders a performance lift. Apple has not published any, and it is a new surface.
- Do not shift budget between search and Today tab on the basis of the announcement. Apple has not said how creative assets affect pricing or placement.
The takeaway: this fall is likely to bring a new creative surface to both organic listings and Apple Ads. Use the summer to fix your custom product pages, define your approval workflow and write the test plan, then produce assets once Apple publishes specifications.