Apple is reportedly planning to expand its Apple News offering to other countries. It is also planned that in Great Britain, where Apple News has already launched, local reporting and a puzzle section will also be included in the service in the future. This will be the first time in five years that the coverage area of the service has been expanded. Long wait: However, according to media reports, Apple is said to be quite successful with its offer.
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The Financial Times, citing unnamed company sources, reports that Apple currently has about 125 million monthly users in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. About 450 publishers provide content for the subscription offering, which launched five years ago with 300 suppliers. A team of 100 editors in California, New York, London and Sydney create this offering, some of which is even run automatically.
Most used news app
Apple News, launched nearly ten years ago, is the most used news app in all four markets. However, this is also because it comes pre-installed on iPhones and hence has an advantage over other messaging apps. The revenue that Apple News generates from advertising and subscription sales for News+ flows into Apple’s Services division, which also includes Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. News+ costs just under $13 per month.
The Apple News app was the successor to Newsstand, an attempt by Apple in the early years of the iPad to establish a type of newsstand where publishers could present their publications. Unlike other apps, Newsstand apps were able to display a publication’s own current cover photo on a type of wooden shelf instead of an app icon. With iOS 9 came the News app, which instead received news content via RSS or Atom feeds. Five years ago, in 2019, the subscription offering Apple News+ was launched, where media companies can market their paid content through Apple.
Media Companies and Apple: A Special Relationship
According to the Financial Times, media companies have a mixed relationship with Apple’s service. It’s a good source of income, and Apple gives 70 to 100 percent of advertising revenue to publishers. News+’s revenue is divided according to the time articles are read and occasional users especially appreciate not having to incur dozens of subscriptions. Like other industries, the media industry fears that Apple could gain too much control of the market and lose its own customers. Apple also attaches great importance to data security, making targeted advertising difficult for publishers.
(MKI)
