Apple News+ could be a lifeline for news & magazine sites

While many publishers were initially cautious about the launch of Apple News+, with some fearing that it could do more harm than good, there’s increasing evidence that it might act as a lifeline in what has become an increasingly precarious business.

News sites have faced a two-pronged challenge in recent years: Traffic alone is worth less than it used to be, and driving that traffic has become far harder …

The twin challenges for news sites

When ad rates are high, and a reasonable proportion of casual visitors end up taking out a paid subscription, then traffic to a news site has significant value. But what many publishers have experienced is lower ad revenue on a per-visitor basis, and declining sign-ups to paid memberships as subscription fatigue takes effect.

Alongside this, traffic to news sites has fallen, as sites struggle to adjust to changes to Google’s algorithm. The search giant’s attempts to combat a growing volume of AI junk on the web have also hit quality sites.

Many feared Apple News+ could make things worse

When Apple News+ first launched, many in the news business were concerned that the app could hurt them. Mark Thompson, CEO of the New York Times, was particularly vocal about it back in 2019.

Thompson argued that accepting Apple’s terms would be handing all of the power to the Cupertino company, and that decision was likely to come back to bite publications which joined in. He said lessons could be learned from the Netflix experience, where broadcasters happily sold their content to the video streaming service, only to find that it turned into a one-sided deal further down the line.

In particular, he said, it reduced the relationship readers feel with a particular publication.

But many are now upbeat about it

A former Daily Beast reporter wrote in Semafor that it was a real savior for the site.

The program made all of the publication’s buzziest exclusives available to paying Apple subscribers, behind Apple’s own paywall. And the impact for a mid-sized news site was immediate, putting the Beast on track to make between $3-4 million in revenue this year from Apple News alone — more than its own standalone subscription program, and without much additional cost.

Other publications seem to have had similarly positive experiences.

Executives at companies including Condé Nast, Penske Media, Vox, Hearst, and Time all told Semafor that Apple News+ has come to represent a substantial stream of direct revenue.

A spokesperson for Time said that Apple News has become “one of our most important partners and delivers 7-figures of revenue for TIME annually.”

Not everyone shares that view. Thompson did finally put the New York Times into Apple News, but withdrew it the following year, stating that the paper wanted to build direct relationships with its own readers. Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos expressed the same concern, declining to participate in Apple News+ (though it does post some pieces through the free tier of the app). But for some publishers, Apple’s news app seems to have been not just a positive force, but one key to survival.

Image: Apple