Apple unveiled the News Partner Program today, a new set of initiatives aimed at expanding Apple’s collaboration with and support for journalism. The News Partner Program aims to ensure that Apple News customers continue to have access to trusted news and information from many of the world’s leading publishers, while also promoting media literacy and diversity in news coverage and newsrooms.
The News Partner Program is for subscription news publications that provide Apple News with their content in Apple News Format (ANF). Publishers can create brand-forward stories, immersive issues, and audio stories with designs that scale seamlessly across Apple devices thanks to ANF, which enables an exceptional reading experience on Apple News and unlocks the full benefit of the platform for them. ANF also supports advertising, with publishers keeping 100% of the revenue generated by ads sold within Apple News. Apple News is offering a 15% commission rate on qualifying in-app purchase subscriptions starting today to encourage publishers to optimize more of their content in ANF.
“Providing Apple News customers with access to trusted information from our publishing partners has been our priority from day one,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “For more than a decade, Apple has offered our customers many ways to access and enjoy news content across our products and services. We have hundreds of news apps from dozens of countries around the world available in the App Store, and created Apple News Format to offer publishers a tool to showcase their content and provide a great experience for millions of Apple News users.”
Publishers may apply for the News Partner Program beginning today.
Eligibility and Requirements: Participants must maintain a robust Apple News channel in Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and publish all content to that channel in ANF. For publishers based outside of these regions and who do not publish in ANF, they must share content via an RSS feed as permitted by their rights. The primary function of a publisher app must be to deliver original, professionally authored news content. Publishers’ apps must be available on the App Store and allow users to purchase auto-renewable subscriptions through Apple’s in-app purchase system. Publishers must agree to a separate addendum to the Apple Developer Program License Agreement. The News Publisher Program is available to Apple Developer Program members globally.
Apple is also reaffirming its support for three leading nonprofit organizations that provide nonpartisan, independent media literacy programs: Common Sense Media, the News Literacy Project, and Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori. Over the last two years, Apple has been supporting the work of these organizations as part of its ongoing efforts to empower young people with critical thinking skills.
In addition, the News Partner Program will support, fund, and collaborate with additional leading organizations around the world that educate news consumers about media literacy and work to diversify news coverage and newsrooms. The News Partner Program will support specific projects that will be announced at a later date and will represent organizations that are doing important and impactful work on these issues.
