Commentary

Apple's News Partner Program Offers More Unknowns

by August 30, 2021

Apple last week introduced a new program to incentivize publishers to join its news platform as the iPhone maker pledged to offer more support for journalism. The News Partner Program may initially sound enticing because of Apple’s large user base, but it’s not clear whether publishers will generate much revenue from subscriptions and advertising.

Apple also requires publishers to “maintain a robust Apple News channel” in Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom — and publish their content in the Apple News Format (ANF). Publishers outside those regions and those that don’t use ANF must share content with an RSS feed.

Publishers that optimize their content for ANF will pay a lower commission — 15% instead of 30% — to Apple on qualifying in-app purchase subscriptions.

The new fee structure resembles one that Apple introduced last year for smaller publishers that made less than $1 million through the App Store. That change in fees came amid heightened antitrust scrutiny of Apple and its control of the App Store, the primary gateway for developers to distribute their apps. Epic Games, maker of the popular video game “Fortnite,” sued Apple over its App Store rules.

With Apple’s News Partner Program, the company said publishers can keep 100% of their advertising revenue from ads they sell within Apple News. That monetization opportunity sounds generous, but it’s not clear from Apple’s announcement how much information the company will share about the Apple News audience.

For media buyers, the Apple News could be just another digital “walled garden” that doesn’t tell them whether they’re getting de-duplicated reach among siloed media outlets. Without more robust audience data, publishers won’t be able to realize the full value of their ad inventories.

apple, online publishing

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