Apple News+ launched back in March and faced some early struggles in terms of user experience as well as publisher relations. Now, some publishers are saying that the revenue they’re making through Apple News+ is rather lackluster.
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.
According to a report from Business Insider, Apple originally projected that publishers would earn 10 times the revenue they made from Texture in the first year of Apple News+. Thus far, however, Apple is said to be nowhere near that target, with a publisher saying revenue is “one twentieth of what they said.”
It’s not clear just how Apple would address publisher issues. However, they’ve expressed desires to both encourage longer reading sessons (since the publishers are paid based on time spent) and simplifying the conversion of magazines to Apple’s format.
Apple didn’t reach deals with major news publishers like the New York Times and Washington Post, reportedly due to concerns about the revenue split and a loss of control. And while the app to use it now ships with millions of devices, it’s iOS- and Mac-only unlike Apple Music, there’s no Android or Windows clients.
