Apple Was Unable to Ink Apple News+ Deals With WaPo and NYT Despite 'Vigorous Courtship'

Apple was desperate to secure deals with The Washington Post or The New York Times for its recently announced Apple News+ service but was ultimately unable to persuade them to sign up despite a "vigorous courtship," according to a new report from Vanity Fair.

Shortly after Apple's Texture deal last spring, Apple began discussions with the two news sites, putting a "tremendous" amount of pressure on them and promising to significantly increase their readership.

applenewsmymagazines

"Eddy Cue was in and out of their offices really trying to woo them." Cue's elevator pitch, according to people familiar with the discussions, was, "We'll make you the most-read newspaper in the world."

Apple was aiming for access to the full content from the two newspapers, rather than a pared down offering or a selection of stories on a specific set of topics. Apple is said to have not wanted "limitations in terms of content."

Neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post could be convinced to join ‌Apple News‌+. Both publications have successful online subscription offerings already. The New York Times charges $15 per month for a basic digital subscription, while The Washington Post charges $10. The newspapers get to keep 100 percent of the revenue brought in by those subscriptions.

Apple wanted to include full access to the content from the news sites for the $9.99 per month asking price of ‌Apple News‌+. According to prior reports, Apple keeps 50 percent of the subscription revenue for ‌Apple News‌+ and splits the other 50 percent among publishers based on how much time is spent consuming their content.

If The New York Times and The Washington Post joined ‌Apple News‌+, their existing subscribers would have little reason to keep paying them $10 to $15 per month instead of paying the $9.99 subscription to ‌Apple News‌+, which would also include other news content and magazines. Apple believes its huge subscriber base would ultimately bring more readers to the news sites, but neither newspaper was swayed by that argument.

Meredith Kopit Levin, the chief operating officer for The New York Times, told Vanity Fair that the newspaper wants to have a direct relationship with its readers.

"We've been pretty deliberate about saying that the best place you can experience journalism is through a relationship with a news provider. So far for us, that has meant a direct relationship with users. The more we have a relationship with users, the better we think our business will be, and the better the experience that we can provide to them."

A spokesperson for The Washington Post said that the paper's focus is on growing its own subscription base, which meant joining ‌Apple News‌+ "just did not make sense" at the current time.

While Apple was not able to secure deals with either The Washington Post nor The New York Times, it did ink a deal with The Wall Street Journal. The full content from The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ is unlocked for ‌Apple News‌+ subscribers even though a standard subscription starts at $19.49 per month for the first year, after which it goes up to $38.99.

There are caveats, though. A limited selection of general news and opinion pieces are promoted through ‌Apple News‌+, and other content from The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ must be manually searched for. ‌Apple News‌+ also only provides three days worth of archives from The ‌Wall Street Journal‌.

According to Vanity Fair, The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ has less to lose than other news sites. Its main subscriber base consists of corporate accounts and "high net-worth individuals" interested in business and finance news rather than the more general news content that will be promoted via ‌Apple News‌+.

Apple has also secured deals with hundreds of magazines, and much of ‌Apple News‌+ comprises access to magazines like National Geographic, Vogue, The New Yorker, and other high profile titles. Magazines also have less to lose than digital sites already offering subscriptions as most don't have established digital subscription businesses.

Publications that do not have large audiences paying for digital access each month have the potential to be more successful with ‌Apple News‌, but for sites like The New York Times and The Washington Post, there's a real risk that joining would cannibalize existing subscribers.

It's not yet clear if ‌Apple News‌+ will ultimately be successful for Apple's media partners, and it's possible that if it is, news sites that have declined joining will do so in the future.

For more on ‌Apple News‌+, make sure to check out our full guide on the subscription service.

Top Rated Comments

keysofanxiety Avatar
61 months ago
Failing to secure a deal despite vigorous courtship? Sounds like every date I’ve had.
Score: 93 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fumi2014 Avatar
61 months ago
I applaud any publisher who is not willing to give up 50% of their profits for little to nothing.
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
berrymetal Avatar
61 months ago
Might be unrelated but I really think Eddy cue is not good enough for Apple, look at what he did to Siri.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
61 months ago
In the current culture in "news" these days, I find it amazing that people will be willing to pay a monthly fee for "news" from any "news" outlet. Whether it's these two newspapers or AppleNews as an aggregator. I guess we'll see how successful Apple will be.
That’s *precisely* why people choose to pay for news. News outlets that you pay for are going to have the budget and financial stability to do the hard work of researching facts and hiring excellent writers to convey them. You build a relationship of trust with news you pay for. Free news outlets that rely on ad clicks have very little to lose and serve their advertisers rather than their readers.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DNichter Avatar
61 months ago
Maybe if you didn't roll in there with that slob Eddy Cue, you'd have better luck.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BarredOwl Avatar
61 months ago
The NYT and WaPo are smart. Good for them!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

iOS 17.2 Will Add These 12 New Features to Your iPhone

Friday December 1, 2023 12:19 pm PST by
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
iOS 16 4 Web Push

Apple Confirms Governments Using Push Notifications to Surveil Users

Wednesday December 6, 2023 5:06 am PST by
Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users by tracking push notifications that move through Google's and Apple's servers, a US senator warned on Wednesday (via Reuters). In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from the tech giants to track smartphones. The traffic flowing from apps that send push notifications...
airpods pro 2 pink

Apple Releases New AirPods Pro 2 Firmware

Tuesday December 5, 2023 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware update for both the Lightning and USB-C versions of the AirPods Pro 2. The new firmware is version 6B34, up from the 6B32 firmware introduced in November. Apple does not provide details on what features might be included in the refreshed firmware beyond "bug fixes and other improvements," so it is unclear what's new in the update, but prior software releases ...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue

'All-Screen' iPhone Under-Display Camera Enters Development

Wednesday December 6, 2023 2:03 am PST by
Apple's Korean suppliers have begun developing smartphone under-display cameras (UDC), paving the way for the first iPhone with a true "all-screen" appearance. According to The Elec, LG Innotek has entered the preliminary development of the UDC, which sits under the display and does not result in a visible hole in the panel when the camera is not in use. A UDC differs from a typical front ...
magsafe blue 2

iOS 17.2 Brings Qi2 Support to iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 Models

Tuesday December 5, 2023 11:04 am PST by
The iOS 17.2 update that Apple is set to release to the public in the near future will bring support for the next-generation Qi2 wireless charging standard to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models. Qi2 was mentioned in the release notes for the RC version of the update that came out today. With the addition of support for the new standard, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models will work with Qi2...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 May Reuse Existing iPhone 14 Battery

Wednesday December 6, 2023 1:17 pm PST by
Recently, MacRumors has received details on the battery currently being tested on the upcoming fourth-generation iPhone SE, and the information corroborates previous findings in relation to the device. The iPhone SE 4, known by its device identifier D59, is expected to use the exact same battery found in the base model iPhone 14. Partially assembled prototypes of the next iPhone SE have been ...
airpods pro bulbs

Black Friday Prices Return for AirPods Pro 2 With USB-C, iPad, and More

Tuesday December 5, 2023 7:30 am PST by
Today we're tracking a collection of deals that are matching - or nearly matching - the same all-time low discounts we saw during Black Friday. This includes the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C, 9th generation iPad, and M1 MacBook Air. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the ...
instagram messenger

Instagram and Facebook Messenger Chats to Disconnect This Month

Tuesday December 5, 2023 1:57 am PST by
Meta has revealed plans to end Instagram users' ability to chat with Facebook accounts later this month, rolling back a feature that it introduced over three years ago. In September 2020, Meta (then Facebook) announced it was merging its Facebook Messenger service with Instagram direct messaging, allowing Instagram users to chat with Facebook users and vice versa using the same platform....