Apple is stepping up plans to expand its News app as the U.S. tech group becomes an increasingly powerful force in driving revenue across the publishing industry.
The iPhone maker is considering adding new countries to the platform, which is used by about 125 million people each month in the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia, according to people familiar with the plans.
The company is also considering building out more locally focused news coverage in the U.K., adding a puzzle section that is currently only available in the U.S. and Canada, the people said.
Apple hopes scaling its News app alongside efforts to improve advertising effectiveness will help strengthen the technology group’s role as a growing revenue source for many publishers. .
The app not only forms part of Apple’s efforts to connect people with its products, but is just one part of the iPhone maker’s growing services business, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Pay, which are worth about $96 billion a year. It is also a department.
Although it doesn’t have a lot of original journalism, Apple News, founded nearly a decade ago, has a huge influence on what tens of millions of people in the West’s largest country read every day.
“From a brand awareness perspective, this is hugely important,” said David Higgerson, head of digital publishing at Reach, the UK’s largest local newspaper owner. “We need to be there. It’s everyone’s gateway to iPhone.”
Apple News is part of a bundle that comes with new iPhones, giving users a head start on rival news apps on their home screens. Apple doesn’t say how many people use its apps or how much revenue it makes from individual services, such as its news platform. He declined to comment on this article.
Apple News is the top news app in most countries where the company operates. In the UK, Reach’s largest publication, the Mirror, averages around 4.5 million readers per month from Apple News, nearly a quarter of its total readership.
The impact is that many media groups are now digital, with Meta’s decision to downplay news coverage and Google’s algorithm changes and use of artificial intelligence, with some publishers complaining that traffic from search has declined. This comes at a time when the company is experiencing significant declines in revenue and readership. News overview and search requests.
Sean Cornwell, chief executive of Immediate Media, which publishes consumer magazines, said the company has “got a lot of business through Apple News,” especially with its BBC History magazine, which has seen its regular readership increase. “It has reached seven digits,” he said.
“Apple News kind of came out of nowhere and quickly became a pretty significant revenue source,” Cornwell said. “What’s really exciting about Apple News is that you can take the content you already have, make very small adjustments, send it to Apple for syndication, and Apple will give you a share of the engagement time. You will have to pay the fee.”
Apple News and Apple News+ are free and subscription versions of the app that offer a combination of curated, personalized articles from magazines and newspapers, games, podcasts, and newsletters.
Apple News+ has grown from 300 publishers around the world to about 450 publishers around the world when it launched five years ago. The service costs $12.99 per month in the US and £12.99 in the UK.
Apple News’ success has sparked a heated debate in the media industry, with some groups welcoming the chance to reach a large audience around the world and others seeing it taking readers and revenue away from their platforms. There is.
Free services generate revenue through advertising. Publishers can keep 100 percent of the revenue from ads they can sell, or 70 percent of the revenue from ads sold by Apple or resellers.
Some publishers are disappointed with ad revenue from Apple and attempts to monetize articles due to strict data protection rules that prohibit using third-party data or IP addresses to target readers. is becoming more difficult. Advertisers typically need consumer data, which makes them less attractive overall.
“It’s very difficult to target data-driven ad revenue because Apple doesn’t allow access,” Higgerson said. “We are adhering to Apple’s terms to the letter.”
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Revenue from Apple News+ is pooled and shared between technology groups and publishers, with payments based on article engagement time.
One of the biggest risks for publishers is that Apple cannibalizes subscribers who may be paying directly for their content.
Some media executives say this is an opportunity to reach a younger, non-specialist audience and “showcase your brand.” One media director said the audience tends to be more affluent, adding that it is often read in the corridors of power in Westminster and Washington.
Apple’s own research shows it reaches a different audience than most publishers, according to people familiar with the situation.
Apple News has a team of about 100 editors in London, New York, Sydney, and California, led by Editor-in-Chief Lauren Kahn, former editor-in-chief of New York Magazine.
Our editorial team uses a combination of curation and automation to choose which articles to promote. Sources close to the team say there is no favorite to win, but some publishers say similar names are common near the top, including the Wall Street Journal in the U.S. and the Guardian and Telegraph in the U.K. The Financial Times is not available on Apple News.
People familiar with the team’s operations say there are internal discussions and debates about the most important methods for reporting stories, and data used to determine performance and whether stories are being read as expected. It is said that it is also being used.
News events tend to dominate the top 5-6 articles chosen by the Apple team. Articles are selected based on “basic journalistic standards,” people familiar with the team said, with priority given to exclusive and original content, as well as content with better sources and reporting. It is said that
“We’re looking for the most honest news, told without bias or perspective as much as possible,” one person said. “That being said, we’re looking for publishers that are diverse. We’re not focused on balancing left and right, just bringing in lots of different voices.”
This article has been updated to remove an erroneous reference to the New York Times on Apple News.
