Apple News+ launched back in March and faced some early struggles in terms of user experience as well as publisher relations. Now, some publishers are saying that the revenue they’re making through Apple News+ is rather underwhelming.
According to a report from Business Insider, Apple originally projected that publishers would earn 10 times the revenue they made from Texture in the first year of Apple News+. Thus far, however, Apple is said to be nowhere near that target, with a publisher saying revenue is “one twentieth of what they said.”
To help combat some of the early concerns about Apple News+, Apple has been working with publishers and attempting to keep an open line of dialogue. One thing Apple is telling publishings that “users are concerned about what is free and not.” This would imply a design and user interface problem in the Apple News app.
Publishers have also expressed concerns about the design of the Apple News+ application, and have said they want Apple to “make it easier for them to covert their magazine content for the app.” Publishers also want Apple to encourage users to spend more in a given publication, since publishers are paid based on the time users spend reading their content in the Apple News app.
Ultimately, the report says that the general consensus among many Apple News publishers is that they’re surprised at Apple’s lack of attention to detail in regards to Apple News+. “Some expressed surprise that while Apple is known for taking a perfectionist approach toward its phones and other hardware, Apple News Plus seemed to be unfinished,” the report says.
For its part, Apple has reportedly told publishers that it’s “working on making the product more intuitive for users while addressing publisher-side concerns as well.” Not all publishers are convinced, though. “I don’t think they’re putting their full effort behind it,” one said.
Last month, Eddy Cue said that Apple had “hundreds” of people working to make Apple News+ better. Apple News+ is currently available in the United States and Canada, but it’s expected to launch in the UK this year as well.
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