Here’s a guide to the benefits of Apple News to publishers.
It’s a sizeable audience
There are 1.5 billion active Apple devices in the world. According to Apple’s CEO, some 5 billion articles are read on Apple News each month, with around 125 million people actively using it as a news source. The app comes preinstalled on iOS and MacOS and lives prominently on a user’s home screen, which has led to many people treating it as their default source of news and feature content.
It’s a valuable audience
Apple News is an application dedicated solely to the discovery of medium to long form editorial content, as opposed to social networks like Facebook that place articles next to personal pictures and status updates. This gives the user base much more intent to read editorial content, leading to strong average active times. Apple devices are premium products, so this audience tends to be made up of professionals with expendable income, an audience many publishers – and advertisers – are keen to tap into.
This audience could find you in a unique way
Apple News suggests articles to readers based on interest, building up a picture of these interests through articles a person reads in-app and through anonymised usage on the internet. This leads to those interested in, say, movies to be surfaced stories from all manner of publications that cover films, rather than just those they actively follow. Articles on Apple News also carry recommendations from other titles. This can result in publications being suggested alongside comparatively larger brands, helping to drive serious growth. Apple News is also curated by an editorial team, who trawl articles and regularly feature pieces from all manner of titles. These often appear in prominent areas of the app, creating spikes of traffic. You can find out more about this here.
You can build loyalty from this new audience
Apple News allows your audience to ‘Follow’ your publication, surfacing more of your content to those that click Follow, building loyalty through regular visits. Find out more about building loyalty in Apple News.
It’s a ‘sticky’ application, so usage is high
Apple News stories load inside the app (rather than bouncing the audience to multiple websites). This means pages load quickly, in pages presented with clear typography and clean design. Apple’s combination of human and algorithm control means the app offers a steady stream of quality content, leading to a “sticky” app with high engagement.
With FlatPlan your articles live on fully branded pages
Apple News stories open up within the app, and with FlatPlan those pages are branded to your publication, carrying your fonts, brand colours, logos and look and feel. Feature pages can take this even further, using subtle animation and strong design to create a storytelling experience and boosting brand recognition. When combined with FlatPlan footers, articles can build strong brand recognition from a new audience.
You can monetise your channel in Apple News
Publishers can run their own advertising on the platform, or allow Apple to monetise the publication for them. Display ads can be trafficked through Google Ad Manager or through Apple’s Workbench system. Native ads can be delivered to the app as well. Find out more on monetisation.
Once setup, content is delivered automatically and instantly
Apple News receives your stories as they are posted on your website through your CMS – there’s no need for a social team to set aside time for posting out links, they appear as soon as your team hit Publish in your CMS. FlatPlan allows publishers to post all stories or add a simple tickbox to allow editorial to choose the stories they wish to send to Apple, making delivery frictionless.
With FlatPlan you can use Apple News to drive growth elsewhere
Our system, FlatPlan, opens up functionality like article footers that can be used to promote newsletters, social follows, website visits or subscriptions. Attract a large, loyal audience and every time they read an article they will be met with a fully branded, graphical footer promoting your goals as a publisher. Read a more in-depth explanation of why Apple News can work for you.