Publishers Not Making Much Money From Apple News+

[cardfan]

Which is why so many news articles are now apparently written by kids, with a lack of grammar and spelling skills, who simply copy from each other badly with next to no knowledge of the topic.

That’s the truth. Anyone can start a blog and look ma I’m a journalist. Then we start sourcing said blog (or issue them media invites) which makes them sort of legit. Multiply this several times and you have the News.

Heck friends and I were “journalists” in college on the sidelines for a small local sports blog/forums back in the 90s. We got press passes. Funny stuff.

 

[ErikGrim]

It needs comment sections that can be enabled by publishers.

We need less comments on the internet, not more.
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Don’t want right wing news. Don’t want left wing news. Both of those are just agenda-biased opinions of actual news. I want raw news. Tell me what is happening and leave the interpretation to me. Anything else is of no interest to me.

You can thank a fella named Cheney for the state of our news cycle. Fair, unbiased news used to be legislated until he helped axe it for his pal Roger Ailles.

 

[Vjosullivan]

I want raw news. Tell me what is happening and leave the interpretation to me. Anything else is of no interest to me.

There's no such thing as raw news. Everything you read, view or hear has been filtered, interpreted and edited by someone else already.

Even something as simple as somebody dying cannot be presented as raw news. In 1963 the most powerful leader in the world died in broad daylight, while being televised, in front of a crowd of thousands, who were looking directly at him. And to this day there is still disagreement about the "raw" facts surrounding the case.

 

[Shirasaki]

If I remember correctly the first version of Apple Music wasn't much better. Maybe it'll work out over a few years?

Apple Music in iOS 13 is getting worse sadly. No easy way to repeat/shuffle.

 

[iGeneo]

I’d gladly subscribe if I could manage to get offline functionality. Right now, it’s very hit and miss on the magazines. I’ve tapped the download button, yet oftentimes it still does not work when in the air.

How about a simple option to update in the background every “x” and take it two layers deep. Delete after read options like podcasts. Right now. It’s a non starter

 

[nburwell]

I'm still curious how many subscribers Apple News+ has.

 

[Osamede]

Apple News+ seems to be floundering just months after its launch, according to new details from participating magazine publishers shared by Business Insider.

Multiple publishers have been unimpressed with the revenue generated from Apple News+. One told Business Insider that revenue was one twentieth of what Apple promised, while another said that it was on par with what was earned from Texture, which isn't much.

According to some of the publishing executives, Apple's News+ team has asked for input during meetings on the service since its launch. Apple reportedly acknowledged during meetings that Apple News users are confused about the difference between free articles and paid news content.

Publishers aren't pleased with the magazine-centric layout for news content, and executives want easier ways to convert magazine content to app content. "I don't think they're putting their full effort behind [Apple News+]," one publisher told Business Insider. Some of the publishers are still optimistic on the future of Apple News+, as the service is still in its infancy and it will take some time to work out the kinks.

Apple has told publishers that it is working on making the Apple News+ app more intuitive for users, so hopefully changes and refinements to the interface are in the works to make it easier to navigate through the app and manage magazines. For details on how Apple News+ works and some of the issues users have experienced, make sure to check out our guide.

Article Link: Publishers Not Making Much Money From Apple News+

Mans in other news - publishers not making much money in general - duh.

 

[repoman016]

I did the trial for it. I actually really liked it - I'm not a magazine subscriber in general, but there are a couple I do enjoy (Car and Driver for example). I've always wanted touch and go access to Wall Street Journal and my wife was always interested in a few others - but we are subscription averse so we just don't. Apple News+ was supposed to give us the ability to access a ton of articles from magazines I am interested in, but not enough that I engage to subscribe.

The first week - we gorged on everything. The second week…less so. By the end of the month, what I realized was Apple News+ did a horrible job of allowing me to pick my favorite magazines/news and surfacing the new ones up. Week by week I saw the same articles and half of them I had zero interest in. Some of the other magazines I was interested in were PDFs and that's an instant no for me.

Frankly I just find Google News + Reddit + Twitter to be more useful. I still get my C/D delivered to my door and the few WSJ articles I was interested in, I get elsewhere.

I'm 40 yrs old and enjoy both old and new journalism…but Apple News+ just didn't deliver.

appreciate the detailed user experience!

 

[linrey]

*Apple did a VERY BAD thing to Texture users when the News+ service replaced it! See at the end of my post.

Many posters here are confusing NEWS with NEWS+. The subject is News+ = a magazine subscription service. Claims of "fake news" are misplaced.

I subscribed to Texture (iOS app) from the start, back when it was called Next Issue, and was not owned by Apple. A subscription to National Geographic, Time, The Atlantic and The New Yorker for one year would set you back HUNDREDS of dollars. So if you're interested in magazines at all, and even 1 or 2 of them are high-priced weekly publications, it's a bargain. I''m a baby boomer and taught myself to read from the magazines on our coffee table - I love magazines.

However Texture provided a much better reading experience than News+, allowing easy downloads for offline reading, and a deeper archive of back issues for many magazines, for example the National Geographic archive reached back through 2016. I tried News+ and found it unworthy of a subscription.

* Apple injected a time bomb into the code of the Texture app to be executed on or after the date of the News+ launch. Upon launching Texture on the debut date of News+ on one of my iPad Minis, a Safari window appeared with information about News+. When I returned to the app, ALL OF MY DOWNLOADED MAGAZINES WERE DELETED - dozens of them! Apple had reached into the files on my personal device and DELETED THEM. At first I thought it was the Safari/internet connection that triggered the deletion, so on a second iPad Mini I set it to Airplane Mode - same result. On my last iPad Mini I set the calendar back and the Texture app launched and all of my magazines are still there. The trigger was in the Texture app code itself.

If Apple honored the dedicated magazine readers using Texture, the only change in the app would be the loss of access to new issues. The subscription would have ended but the app would function fully to read that which the subscriber had downloaded to read later. And to actually DELETE files from the owner's device is inconceivable to me.

 

[Stella]

Why? Lol - I knew someone would post ‘why should they’!

Simple: investing in your product. It’s a common thing to do. Many businesses do take loses for a while before a new product becomes established and becomes profitable.

Would I work for free? Sure I would if i was building and growing my own new product ( taking on some debt may be required ). For the reason above. I wouldn’t expect instant profit. That’s business reality.

Why?
Apple developed and is providing as well as maintaining the platform as well as the servers and entire back end that runs the service, this is NOT FREE and Apple is giving access to a subscription base these companies would not otherwise have easy access to. Yet you expect Apple to do this for free? Why?!
Do you work for free? Do you give products you made away for free? Do you pay for expensive hardware and invest in staff to program and maintain a system for free?

The problem is not Apple’s cut, the problem is the entire news industry is in a downfall with massive competition from other sources. There is no easy fix to the problem here and everyone will need to work together to develop solutions.

 

[twinlight]

They would get my money if I could buy News+. But not even News is available. I have the widget but can’t have the app because I am in Norway.

 

[Timemaster]

*Apple did a VERY BAD thing to Texture users when the News+ service replaced it! See at the end of my post.

Many posters here are confusing NEWS with NEWS+. The subject is News+ = a magazine subscription service. Claims of "fake news" are misplaced.

I subscribed to Texture (iOS app) from the start, back when it was called Next Issue, and was not owned by Apple. A subscription to National Geographic, Time, The Atlantic and The New Yorker for one year would set you back HUNDREDS of dollars. So if you're interested in magazines at all, and even 1 or 2 of them are high-priced weekly publications, it's a bargain. I''m a baby boomer and taught myself to read from the magazines on our coffee table - I love magazines.

However Texture provided a much better reading experience than News+, allowing easy downloads for offline reading, and a deeper archive of back issues for many magazines, for example the National Geographic archive reached back through 2016. I tried News+ and found it unworthy of a subscription.

* Apple injected a time bomb into the code of the Texture app to be executed on or after the date of the News+ launch. Upon launching Texture on the debut date of News+ on one of my iPad Minis, a Safari window appeared with information about News+. When I returned to the app, ALL OF MY DOWNLOADED MAGAZINES WERE DELETED - dozens of them! Apple had reached into the files on my personal device and DELETED THEM. At first I thought it was the Safari/internet connection that triggered the deletion, so on a second iPad Mini I set it to Airplane Mode - same result. On my last iPad Mini I set the calendar back and the Texture app launched and all of my magazines are still there. The trigger was in the Texture app code itself.

If Apple honored the dedicated magazine readers using Texture, the only change in the app would be the loss of access to new issues. The subscription would have ended but the app would function fully to read that which the subscriber had downloaded to read later. And to actually DELETE files from the owner's device is inconceivable to me.

Based on what you posted Apple did not delete them but put a ticking time bomb that prevented access to the saved files. Honestly what Apple did was just as bad as they just created a bunch of orphan files that you can not delete with put pretty much whipping the app.
They both block you from accessing the files and prevent you from deleting them.

 

[Rique]

Based on what you posted Apple did not delete them but put a ticking time bomb that prevented access to the saved files. Honestly what Apple did was just as bad as they just created a bunch of orphan files that you can not delete with put pretty much whipping the app.
They both block you from accessing the files and prevent you from deleting them.

This doesn't make what Apple did at all okay, but actually the files would have been deleted if/when linrey deleted Texture. I'm going to personally check my iPad to see if I deleted Texture (I might have, but I doubt that my wife did on her iPad) and if I haven't deleted Texture yet, to check if there is any way to recover those back issues (I kind of doubt it, but it would be interesting to see).

However (returning to the point of this reply) - if I simply wanted to free up the space, deleting Texture will also delete the back issues.

 

[cmaier]

Which is why so many news articles are now apparently written by kids, with a lack of grammar and spelling skills, who simply copy from each other badly with next to no knowledge of the topic.

Worse is when I pay for content, start to read a long-form article, and half-way through I still can’t figure out where the article is going because the author understands grammar and spelling but has no clue how to tell a story.

 

[StarShot]

I'm still curious how many subscribers Apple News+ has.

Well, there's me. I think it's a bargain for the magazine content. A subscription to "The New Yorker" costs more than on News +. My New Yorker subscription is coming up and I think the renewal was around $150 a year alone. Yes, the ease of flipping through a paper magazine beats an online subscription by a mile. I look at New+ like cutting my cable service which I haven't done yet, but maybe down the line...

Wondering how long before News+ raises the price?
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I’d gladly subscribe if I could manage to get offline functionality. Right now, it’s very hit and miss on the magazines. I’ve tapped the download button, yet oftentimes it still does not work when in the air.

How about a simple option to update in the background every “x” and take it two layers deep. Delete after read options like podcasts. Right now. It’s a non starter

IF you do download a magazine, how do you delete it or do they just go up in smoke after say 30 days?