If there’s one industry outside of tech that should be happy about Apple’s release of its smartwatch, it’s Madison Avenue. That’s because the new product launch will force Apple to spend a little more money on marketing.
As the accompanying chart shows, Apple spent just 0.67 percent of its revenues on advertising in its fiscal 2014 year, the lowest proportion of any major consumer-focused tech company. At the other end of the spectrum, advertising expense accounted for 31 percent of revenue at IAC, owner of Match.com, Tinder and search engines like Ask.com.