Apple News app abandons exclusivity to accommodate bloggers
Apple is now accepting a wider range of publishers on its preinstalled News application, including blog content, exhibiting the crucial influence bloggers have had on the media industry and the struggle news apps face in a crowded field.
IPhone owners will now be able to browse content from more publishers beyond just Apple?s partners through the News app, which aggregates news content based on the user?s choices. Bloggers and local news will now have the ability to be featured on the app, a move vital for Apple?s platform to be able to compete with the growing popularity of bloggers and other platforms such as Facebook Instant Articles and Snapchat Discover.
?With Apple opening up its news app to publishers large and small, even bloggers that are approved as content creators, the 50+ Million iPhone users that set up the embedded news app will have the opportunity for an audience that was not currently available to them previously,? said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis. ?Apple giving these approved content creators the ability to monetize their content through the app could certainly boost the amount of publishers wanting to post, but would not guarantee that their news channel would be chosen when the users set up their choices of news feeds that are already available.?
News for mobile
The Apple News app for iOS allows users to create a media content experience that suits their interests, and in the past provided streamlined articles from major publication partners such as CNN and the New York Times. But now any publication that wishes to submit its content to the app will have the possibility to do so.
Publications must submit their content through a document format or send an RSS feed to News Publisher. Apple will equip each post with advertising via its ad platform, iAD.
Users can now customize their feed to include major publications as well as smaller bloggers and local news providers, a strategy that is beneficial to all parties, as these forms of media are being more of a staple in the industry. Millennials make up a large portion of news consumers and with the abundance of distractions and overload of content, it is important to keep their attention.
Providing a stream of news from multiple sources is ideal for the hurried environment in which consumers are engaging with news today. The inclusion of blogs and smaller publications will open News up to a wider range of consumers, who are interested in both blogs and major publications.
Mobile evolution
The news and media industry has seen some of the biggest disruptions led by mobile technology.
For instance, Fox Broadcasting Company partnered with news app Fresco, and enabled local citizens to submit videos of news events for money, reflecting how broadcast news is shifting thanks to mobile technology (see more).
While early adopters of Google?s Accelerated Mobile Pages project expected a strong presence in mobile search results ? driving reach, consumption and advertising opportunities ? initial challenges included page code restrictions and ad tech redundancies (see more).
"This type of opportunity will help those smaller publishers struggling to mobilize their content effectively and allow them to market their content easily as the embedded app is already at the fingertips of millions," Ms. Troutman said. "Whether or not they will be able to effectively monetize their content is to be seen, but millions of eyes on the screen and available to their content is certainly an attractive option."