Why are more publishers trying to move to the Apple News platform?

Read my interview with FlatPlan CEO Kieran Delaney for his insights.

Also in this issue:

• Google’s AI Overview may have delusions

• The FT CEO is optimistic about the future of publishers’ relationship with AI

• YouTube has made Playables free to play – is the NYT the inspiration?

• 404 Media and other publishers are expanding the Fediverse

Let’s start!

Expert Interview: Kieran Delaney, CEO at FlatPlan

How do you see the increasing trend among publishers to place their content on Apple News+ evolving in the future?

Apple News surfaces content to readers based on signals like interest and ‘on-device intelligence’, which allowspublishers to reach readers that are very engaged with specific topics. Monetisation is based on active time, so in short,creating quality content that draws readers into spending time with content leads to increased revenue. 

With this in mind, we’re seeing an increased trend of publishers producing additional content for Apple News, including ‘mini-issues’ of magazines, sometimes utilizing archive content.

We’re also seeing publishers rely on the free version of Apple News to build audiences of readers engaged with specific topics, which they can then move into mailing lists with calls to action in articles.

As Google rolls out SGE and socials dial down reach for publishers, this route is becoming more important. The combination of personalisation and the fact Apple News is created specially for medium-form content means it’s an audience that offers real value.

Google’s AI Overview may have delusions

Remember how GPT-3.5 was always making things up? The new Google AI Overview is giving users a taste of that again. The Overview search feature is powered by Gemini to help users find the right information. 

Gemini’s standard models are too slow to provide a good search experience. That’s why Google created a faster version for searching. It seems being fast is not essential if you’re wrong. Apparently, the search AI suggested non-toxic glue as a great pizza topping and decided that dogs play in the NBA (maybe it watched AirBud).

The FT CEO is optimistic about the future of publishers’ relationship with AI

FT CEO John Ridding spoke at the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress, saying that news publishers should insist on payment by AI companies that use their content—the Financial Times signed a deal with OpenAI to allow the AI company access to its content. Ridding believes that publishers and AI companies can form a win-win relationship. Licensing your content may be the first step.

YouTube has made Playables free to play – is the NYT the inspiration?

YouTube’s Playables is a series of simple and fun browser games, but it may not have been successful as a paid feature. The collection is now free for all users, allowing YouTube to keep users on the platform longer and start branching into gaming. After the New York Times’s success with Wordle and its other games, I can’t help but think of this move as inspired by NYT. What do you think?

404 Media and other publishers are expanding the Fediverse

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Ghost and Threads adding Fediverse integrations and how this may be a new direction for news and media. This week, 404 Media and the Verge are also turning to the “Fediverse” as an alternative source of traffic and audience engagement. By joining the Fediverse, publishers can stop depending on big social media platforms like Twitter X or Facebook. The Fediverse lets users from different platforms like Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky interact without creating new accounts or sharing content and data.

Media Company of the Week: FlatPlan

FlatPlan is a no-code tool that helps publishers place their content on the Apple News platform from their own Content Management System (CMS). This helps news organizations reach over 145 million monthly readers.

With a drag-and-drop interface, FlatPlan is perfect for newsrooms without developers. Editors can also use its automated renumbering and reordering features to save time when moving an issue to the Apple News platform.

FlatPlan handles all aspects of Apple News integration, from optimizing the channel for growth to managing the content, making it a trusted solution for many leading publishers​.