Apple News App Attracts Publishers Amidst Rocky Start In Media Industry

Apple News achieved positive feedback from many publishers in media industry despite challenges.

Since its introduction in September last year, Apple’s News app has attracted over 100 publication partners across the world expecting to benefit from the growth in the news consumption on mobile products. However, there is one main problem: neither the company nor the media organizations are aware of the number of readers.

Apple has mistakenly underestimated the number of readers using the News app since it was introduced, and it has passed those inaccurate details to publications. Publications do not make payments to get their content posted on the app, but to get an accurate figure of users is significant because it could be affecting their capability to sell advertising and ensure that resources are managed accordingly.

Apple allows publications to earn 100% of ad revenue when they sell their own advertisements in the app. They earn 70% of advertising revenue if the smartphone maker succeeds in selling advertisements for them.

Apple’s official, Eddy Cue, said that the company missed the technical error as it was focusing on the product’s other aspects. The organization did not elaborate upon how the occurrence of the problem took place or state precisely when it may be rectified.

Cue said, “We’re in the process of fixing that now, but our numbers are lower than reality. We don’t know what the right number is,” but he also said the undercounting of the traffic was better than over counting.

Despite of the glitch, Eddy said the company is satisfied by the device up till now. Most of the feedback given by publications was positive. A number of major publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, and Vice Media have logged up to use Apple News for the distribution of their content.

The application is yet in its early stages, but the issue concerned with the measurement of audience and other uncertainties surrounding the serving and selling of advertisements, has made publishers raise questions about where Apple’s service would be living up to its bills as a major improvement in the distribution of digital news.

Even with the undercount, many executives of publications claimed that they are expecting to attract more readers through the application. They refused to disclose the usage information, which the company has shared.

“The traffic has been modest relative to the enormous install base of iOS devices,” stated an official of Business Insider, which is currently posting all the content to Apple News.