Dive Brief:
- When the upcoming iOS 9 update is released, Apple users will have a new, Flipboard-like News app built into the new software.
- Apple has been actively adding publishers to the News roster and Re/code says more than 50 are currently on board.
- News will work similar arrangements some social media platforms have with publishers where full versions of their content will appear on the app in exchange for shared ad revenue.
Dive Insight:
Apple’s relationships for the Flipboard-like News app have a similar structure to deals publishers have been making with Facebook, Snapchat and other social media platforms. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company's News will provide users with full versions of publisher content with ad revenue sharing from those stories.
Conde Nast will run six titles in News once it launches, including Vogue, Vanity Fair and Wired. Speaking on offering full version of its content in exchange for shared ad revenue, Conde Nast president Bob Sauerberg told Re/code, “The business model is good.”
One potential issue is the revenue model is based on ads, but Apple is also going to make ad blocking easy for its Safari browser users in iOS 9, something that might concern publishers looking for ad revenue on their own websites.
