Apple news: More ads coming to Apple News

Seeking growth, Apple has found a way to dent the value of some user experiences with the introduction of more advertising. In this case, the company plans to stick ads in Apple News, and has begun selling advertising space against its service.

Money, it’s a gas …

The idea is that Apple will take a slice of some, but not all the ads. Apple News publishers will continue to keep all the loot from advertising they sell themselves, but new ads units in the service will see Apple take a 30% split. Apple also intends to continue selling ads inventory through third-party partners, such as Taboola.

This news was revealed by Sara Fischer at Axios, who confirms:

• Apple has started selling its own advertising inventory for Apple News
• To maximize revenue, it is pitching new ad units.
• Ads will be shown in the Apple News feed and within individual stories.
• The company is also pitching banner placements and video ads in numerous formats.
• The report claims Apple also intends selling premium sponsorships of editorially curated content for big events, such as the Met Gala.

Build and monetize 101

This is the latest effort Apple has taken to expand its ads business in recent years, such as the introduction of ads within the App Store a few years ago. To some extent the beauty of these ads is their extensive reach across numerous countries, which means advertisers can perhaps reach audiences otherwise out of reach. The company has also been enhancing the metrics it offers advertisers – Apple faced some criticism for its attempt to maintain user privacy and security in ads, but seems to be taking good steps to find a positive middle ground between the metrics advertisers want and the privacy its customers deserve.

Apple News has become a popular news aggregation app with around 125 million active users as of 2020.

It is popular in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK and is also available as a fee-based News+ service which provides acess to additional news sources.

Free competitors include Opera News and News Now.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe.