Apple plans to expand the availability of Apple News to more countries around the world as part of an effort to develop the services’ popularity and attractiveness with publishers to target a more global and lucrative audience, according to a report from the Financial Times.
According to sources quoted in the report, Apple is now eyeing this expansion—years after Apple News’ initial launch—in hopes of “improving advertising effectiveness” and publisher interest in the platform following low industry interest.
The iPhone maker is considering adding new countries to the platform, which reaches about 125mn people every month in the US, Canada, UK and Australia, according to people familiar with the plans. It was also considering building its locally focused news coverage in the UK, the people said, while adding its puzzles section in the country which is currently only available in the US and Canada. Apple hopes that scaling up its News app, alongside work it is doing in improving advertising effectiveness, will help cement the tech group’s role as a growing source of revenues for many publishers.
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Apple News has had a rough history with publishers voicing concern over the platform’s popularity, its business model, and the return on investment. Apple News+, the paid version of the platform, allows iPhone users to pay a monthly fee to gain access to paid publisher content and magazines.
Recently, Apple has started to sell ad space on Apple News for the first time, according to Axios. Apple will sell ad spots, such as banner placements and video ads, to agencies and marketers for editorial content during peak traffic and news-prone events, like the Met Gala, the U.S. Open, the World Cup, and more.
