Apple News is losing one of its biggest publishers with the New York Times leaving the platform. Two of the biggest factors was the outlet saying “Apple had given it little in the way of direct relationships with readers and little control over the business.”
The New York Times shared the news in its own publication with the decision taking effect today, Monday, June 29:
The New York Times said on Monday that it was exiting its partnership with Apple News, as news organizations struggle to compete with large tech companies for readers’ attention and dollars. Starting on Monday, Times stories were no longer appearing alongside other publications’ articles in the curated Apple News feed available on Apple devices.
NYT highlights it is one of the first major media companies to leave Apple News and says the platform didn’t meet its goals:
The Times is one of the first media organizations to pull out of Apple News. The Times, which has made adding new subscribers a key business goal, said that Apple had given it little in the way of direct relationships with readers and little control over the business. It said it hoped to instead drive readers directly to its own website and mobile app so that it could “fund quality journalism.”
NYT’s COO Meredith Kopit Levien shared more on leaving Apple News:
“Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers, and the nature of our business rules,” Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer, wrote in a memo to employees. “Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters.”
For its part, Apple said it’s “committed to supporting quality journalism.”
An Apple spokesman said that The Times “only offered Apple News a few stories a day,” and that the company would continue to provide readers with trusted information from thousands of publishers. “We are also committed to supporting quality journalism through the proven business models of advertising, subscriptions, and commerce,” he said.
The NYT highlights that Apple News has around 125 million readers but that advertising monetization was weak and that Apple takes its 30% cut of any subscriptions purchased through the app.
Notably, the New York Times passed on being a part of Apple News+, Apple’s paid subscription for news and magazines. But even with today’s big blow to Apple News and saying no from the outset to Apple News+, it sounds as if NYT and Apple will continue working together on things like podcasts and apps.
In her note to employees, Ms. Levien said exiting the partnership with Apple News was not expected to have “a material impact” to The Times’ business and that the company would work with Apple in other ways, including on apps, podcasts and hardware.
The New York Times is gone for good from Apple’s platform, but for more Apple news, you can check out the 9to5Mac feed right in the Apple News app here.
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