Apple News may have placed 14th in comScore's top smartphone apps as of April 217 but the publishers are worried as it delivers little-to-no dollars to them. The app contributes largely to the digital news platforms' traffic but it continues to be a black hole in terms of revenue.
Publishers are growing weary over Apple News as they are not able to monetize the massive traffic they get from the app. In a report published by Advertising Age today, these publishers are particularly complaining of their inability to sell through advertisements because Apple is in full control of all the ad delivery in its news app.
This is forcing publishers to withdraw contents from Apple News down the road if the developer will not take this into account. "There's a ton of scale there but no dollars. So Apple has to do something soon or publishers will pull out," says one publishing executive.
While Apple has not yet responded to this concern, the publishers disclosed that the Cupertino conglomerate is willing to open to let publishers sell ads. However, this willingness has not progressed yet as of the latest.
According to Advertising Age, Apple is working on the pipeline means for its publishers to convert traffic into revenue. The company will allow media partners to display banners or advertisements in their articles, much like an extension of the web page. The means could be in any form of advertisement material.
One publishing executive, however, is not sold on this mode. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: "It just takes a lot of additional effort." Another way to do it is by letting the publishers use an advertising technology like Google's DoubleClick as it will send in ads into Apple News.
This is the same dilemma publishers faced with Facebook's Instant Articles where users can read the news in opt-out form but not necessarily going away from the social media app. This largely cost publisher traffics to their websites.
