"AND NOW FOR A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR..."

Be prepared to encounter some ads on the free Beats 1. Apple is adopting a sponsorship-only model in seeking advertisers for the global online radio station, people briefed on Apple's plans told AdAge.

These won’t be the standard audio and video ads that run on iTunes Radio (which Apple now refers to simply as Radio). Instead, Beats 1 will feature what Apple execs are describing to potential advertisers as “audio mentions.” They’ll be similar to the DJ-spoken ads you hear on terrestrial radio, according to the sources. It's unclear whether the audio mentions will be pre-recorded or performed live by the Beats 1 show hosts, but it won’t be long till we find out.