According to recent reports, readership for top magazine publishers is on the decline through Apple News+.
Reports indicate that the top 25 magazines available on Apple News+ saw circulation to around 1.3 million people in the first half of 2022. These numbers may spell trouble for certain publications.
Reports Suggest Apple News+ Readership is Down for Top Magazine Publishers
According to a report from the Press Gazette citing information from the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM), Apple News+ may be slowing down in terms of circulation numbers.
Concerning the readership numbers, the premium news aggregation service saw “a combined circulation of 1,333,088 in the first half of 2022”. This is a 6% rise from the first half of 2021, but it is an 18% decline when looking at the second half of 2021. These numbers are obtained by “using average unique opens per issue of a magazine”.
As Press Gazette also mentions, Apple News+, which is the paid version of the free Apple News, saw launch in 2019. Currently home to around 200 publications, Apple News+ is $9.99 per month, or users can bundle it in thanks to an Apple One subscription.
Additionally, the report also notes that while there is a trend downward in terms of readership, those among the top 25 magazines may differ over time, meaning some magazines may actually be seeing an upward trend in numbers.
Given that Apple is typically quiet about the analytics its services are pulling, the public is not likely to see any real metrics concerning readership from the company.
Looking Ahead
As noted by 9to5Mac, however, while Apple does not release metrics publicly, publishers do have access to reader information. This includes information regarding readership information, sources, traffic and more. 9to5Mac additionally notes that the study mentioned by Press Gazette only covers magazines published via Apple News+. It does not take into account “broader overall Apple News readership”.
Of course, as mentioned, users can get access to Apple News+ either on its own or via an Apple One Subscription, which combines other Apple services alongside News+. This includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and iCloud+.
What do you think about Apple News+’s readership? Let us know in the comments.
How do magazines get on News? Do they come to Apple, or the other way around?
The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper website has a paywall, but is free on News. Money I spend on my Apple Plus subscription would pay for the physical delivery of the paper or its paywall, but with News I get access to other papers, and websites. For me I find it worth it.
I subscribe to Apple One but the News+ portion is a turn-off. I don’t like the interface nor the way it wants to refresh the list every time I open it. It’s frustrating.
The final straw are the repeated advertisements in any article I read, despite paying for it. I deleted the app icon from my phone. Ventura won’t let me trash it.
Apple is good at some things, but not everything. You’d think they don’t have the money to throw at things to make them better.
Well from that list I will read The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Popular Mechanics. There are a few not on that list that I also regularly read. Scientific American, Popular Science and several history related ones.