When I opened Apple News this morning, a pop-up told me that the Washington Post is now included in the News+ subscription. That’s a big upgrade — and it makes the 30% price hike last month a little easier to justify.
Adding the Post means Apple News+ gives you four of the five largest U.S. dailies cheaper than you can get a direct subscription for any one of them.
It’s an impressive bargain, but the list doesn’t stop there. Apple News+ has just about every major North American metro paper and many regional and local ones, too. The Times of London, the Telegraph, and Le Monde, head a list of international titles.
(In fact, about the only city missing is New York — none of its dailies is in Apple News. Start spreadin’ the news, guys — you want to be a part of it.)
And it’s not just newspapers. Apple News+ also carries nearly all of the top 100 U.S. magazines — more than 400 outlets total.
Think “Spotify for news”
Let those numbers sink in for a minute, then consider that Apple has positioned itself to be the news gatekeeper to 1.3 billion people whose devices come pre-loaded with Apple News. That’s about 16% of all human beings alive today.
If I wanted to influence the world, I’d get “Tim Apple” on speed-dial.
And, they’re using a proven model: Apple takes half of the subscription price, then the publisher-partners split the rest based on how much time users spend with their content. It’s basically turning mainstream media into a streaming service.
Today’s Washington Post announcement shows that publishers are getting onboard, just as music companies did. Back in 2019 when Apple kicked off the subscription service, the Post told the New York Times they were “growing their own subscription base” and uninterested in selling through another company.
But don’t be embarrassed, Posties. Even Taylor Swift caved to the model eventually.
Montgomery County readers, take note
On a local level, one of the more interesting aspects of the Post’s appearance on Apple News+ is that is happened just days after the upstart Baltimore Banner (also on News+) opened a Montgomery County bureau to provide some much-needed local news coverage.
Someone might want to point out to the Post that if they actually covered Montgomery County — rather than printing endless “personal journalism” and “news analysis” pieces — they might get a few more clicks.
On Apple News, clicks = cash.
