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Apple plans to scale up its News app by adding new countries to the platform beyond the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, according to the Financial Times.

apple-news-banner.png

The plans reportedly include building its locally focused news coverage in the UK, as well as bringing its puzzles section to the country which is currently limited to the US and Canada.

Apple News and Apple News+, the app's free and subscription-based versions, provide a blend of curated and personalized content, including stories from magazines and newspapers, as well as games, podcasts, and newsletters. The free service makes money purely through advertising, while the subscription service costs $12.99 a month in the US and £12.99 in the UK.

The renewed push comes alongside Apple's efforts to improve its advertising effectiveness, and aims to grow Apple's role as a source of revenue for publishers. Apple News currently reaches about 125 million people every month and feeds into the company's growing services business that includes Apple TV+ and Apple Pay, which is collectively worth about $96 billion a year.

The move comes amid significant drops in digital revenues across media groups, following Meta's decision to downplay news coverage as well as changes to Google's algorithms, which has decreased traffic from search, alongside the impact of AI summaries of news and search requests.

According to FT's sources, Apple's own research has shown that Apple News reaches a different audience to the readers for most publishers. The audience tends to trend towards a more wealthy demographic, one media boss told the newspaper, adding that it was "well read in the corridors of power in Westminster and Washington."

But the impact of Apple News has been a mixed blessing for publishers. Some groups have received significant business through the platform. However, attempts to monetise articles have been made more difficult by Apple's strict data protection rules that prevent advertisers from targeting readers using third-party data or IP addresses.

Article Link: Apple Stepping Up Plans to Expand News App to More Countries
 
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I quite like the news app but it takes a hell of a lot of training, going through and blocking all the topics and channels you don’t like - and even then ‘Apple News editors’ still insist on showing you stories from the things you’ve blocked.

finally having the puzzles will be nice (it’s about time!)
 
FINALLY. They removed the news widget from most (if not all) European countries and no one talked about it, like at all!! Used it every day here in Ireland! I want my news back.
 
I have long hoped for a simple way to pay/support multiple news sources that I find value in. Having many individual subscriptions is not only tedious, it also doesn't reflect the amount of value I get from each one and stops me from diversifying my news consumption.

But it's a hard problem to solve. And from what it looks like, Apple News isn't it.
 
i took up the free trial... I'm not thinking I'll extend it as there is little I cant find elsewhere for free or work out from headlines.

it's not entirely Apple's fault though.
Journalism isnt what it used to be. Much that is published is propaganda not news. At least in Australia.
 
I also have the One subscription but rarely looked at News because I had a UK subscription to The Times and could access most other papers and many magazines for free through Press Reader.

When my Times subscription lapsed a few months ago I opened News and was impressed with it. Most of the tec and music magazines I would read are all available and the general curation is really strong. I think it's a really good product now.
 
Who fact checks the fact checkers? LOL!
always an issue but if data sources and links are available on HOW they verified things you have some better idea of what you are consuming.

if I see one more faked AI "mother bird protecting their cute baby birdies" video.... arrrggghhh
people seem to take everything presented as real and question nothing ;(
 
it would be good if they invested in improving it ahead of expanding it.. the amount of click bait ***** and non-news news stories I see is irritating
 
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No. Just no.

Why should a USA company have any role in feeding UK news, especially local UK news, to me?

I assume all have seen this (or some other report of the issue)?

Apple says it will update AI feature after inaccurate news alerts
 
I have used the news app on my Mac the same amount of times I have used the one on my windows based PC, once, just to be nosy. I prefer going to site directly
I wonder who all of the people are that want news curated by Apple's nanny view of the world, especially in other countries where their governments will further impose restrictions. That is if Apple wants to continue to see Apple devices in that country.
 
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