America’s largest magazines saw their Apple News+ ‘circulations’ increase by an average 150% year-on-year in the second half of 2021, according to new data obtained by Press Gazette.
The Alliance for Audited Media figures show that Apple’s aggregation service, launched in 2019, is growing in popularity in the US. However, the numbers suggest that News+’s growth slowed in the second half of 2021.
Apple has not released any of its own audience figures for News+, which is available to iOS users in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. So the AAM figures provide a rare insight into the size, and growth rate, of the service, which pays publishers for their content.
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People, a showbiz-focused weekly, was the largest magazine on Apple News+ in the second half of 2021 (full top 25 ranking below), as it was in the two previous periods reported on by Press Gazette.
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Between July and December, People’s average edition was accessed by nearly 213,000 News+ subscribers. This figure is up around 220% year over year.
Popular Mechanics, Vanity Fair and Time were the next most popular titles. Each had News+ readerships of just over 100,000, according to the AAM.
Scientific American (+995%), Popular Mechanics (+320%), House Beautiful (+291%) and Elle (+252%) were the fastest growing titles between the second half of 2020 and the second half of 2021.
The AAM figures for Apple News+ reflect the average number of unique user opens per magazine issue. It is therefore worth bearing in mind that weekly titles, like People, are being accessed more regularly than monthlies (Vanity Fair) and bi-monthlies (Popular Mechanics).
Apple News+, the paid-for version of Apple News, is home to content from around 200 publications. Most are magazines, although some newspapers also have partnerships. News Corp recently announced that it had extended its AN+ deal on behalf of its newspaper titles, including America’s Wall Street Journal and the London-based Times. The AAM does not publish Apple News+ figures for newspaper titles.
Apple News+ costs consumers $9.99 a month in the US. It is also available through the Apple One bundle.
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