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Counterpoint: The Apple News app. Even of you're a paying($10!) subscriber, the app is full of absolutely awful advertisement. The current culture of Apple pro

by tpush 4y ago

Counterpoint: The Apple News app. Even of you're a paying($10!) subscriber, the app is full of absolutely awful advertisement. The current culture of Apple produced this app; it wouldn't surprise me if other properties of Apple start to embed ads.

hnbear 4y ago
Interesting, thank you. News is one of the apps I never use, sticking to NetNewsWire+Feedly. I'd hope that ends up in the category of "tried it, failed, phase it out/down", but maybe not. I especially hate ads in paid-for subscriptions.
tehnub 4y ago
Yeah, for some reason the ads in Apple News are particularly awful. I do have ad personalization turned off, but that doesn’t explain seeing the same large, irrelevant, and strange ad plastered between every two or three paragraphs.
smogcutter 4y ago
Having once worked at a publisher (although in IT not ad sales or product, so call it “adjacent” rather than inside baseball), I’m certain this is about negotiating with publishers rather than apple’s own priorities. A platform like Apple News does very little to redirect traffic back to the home page where you show the big 1st party ads that actually bankroll the org. Users stay in the app. From a publishers pov it’s really unattractive unless you can show ads.
- mcculley 4y ago
  Have publishers even considered selling a subscription without ads? I realize it would cost more. I would really like to subscribe to a newspaper that has readers as its only customers.
  - Firmwarrior 4y ago
    I think the closest anyone comes to that is substack You can subscribe to all the publications out there, but it's the same worthless clickbait drivel whether you're paying or not
  - flycaliguy 4y ago
    I wish, unfortunately it appears that being willing to pay for things makes your eyeballs even more valuable.
lern_too_spel 4y ago
The real reason Apple doesn't like ads is that ads mean somebody else gets revenue and Apple does not (because apps with ads are free, bypassing App Store revenue share). Now that Apple has invested sufficiently into building a competent ad platform, this will change as quickly as they can ramp it up.
ben75020 4y ago
tinus_hn 4y ago
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the news partners are requiring them to include ads.

by tpush 4y ago

hnbear 4y ago

Interesting, thank you. News is one of the apps I never use, sticking to NetNewsWire+Feedly. I'd hope that ends up in the category of "tried it, failed, phase it out/down", but maybe not. I especially hate ads in paid-for subscriptions.

tehnub 4y ago

Yeah, for some reason the ads in Apple News are particularly awful. I do have ad personalization turned off, but that doesn’t explain seeing the same large, irrelevant, and strange ad plastered between every two or three paragraphs.

smogcutter 4y ago

Having once worked at a publisher (although in IT not ad sales or product, so call it “adjacent” rather than inside baseball), I’m certain this is about negotiating with publishers rather than apple’s own priorities. A platform like Apple News does very little to redirect traffic back to the home page where you show the big 1st party ads that actually bankroll the org. Users stay in the app. From a publishers pov it’s really unattractive unless you can show ads.

mcculley 4y ago
Have publishers even considered selling a subscription without ads? I realize it would cost more. I would really like to subscribe to a newspaper that has readers as its only customers.
- Firmwarrior 4y ago
  I think the closest anyone comes to that is substack You can subscribe to all the publications out there, but it's the same worthless clickbait drivel whether you're paying or not
- flycaliguy 4y ago
  I wish, unfortunately it appears that being willing to pay for things makes your eyeballs even more valuable.

lern_too_spel 4y ago

The real reason Apple doesn't like ads is that ads mean somebody else gets revenue and Apple does not (because apps with ads are free, bypassing App Store revenue share). Now that Apple has invested sufficiently into building a competent ad platform, this will change as quickly as they can ramp it up.

ben75020 4y ago

tinus_hn 4y ago

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the news partners are requiring them to include ads.