Modern society has acquainted itself with advanced technology and the way we consume applications. This adoption also covers the news and magazine surfacing materials too. Newspaper app development seemed to be at its peak during the pandemic and helped people not miss anything important. People embrace the new way of news consumption, and online apps have made their money. In this blog, we will discuss the ins and outs of newspaper app development, including the ways in which newspaper apps can monetize. Continue to read more…
Raise hands if you are a regular consumer of news and magazine apps like The New York Times, Medium, Inshorts, and Politico? I am sure we all would have subscribed to anyone or the other news and magazine app even though the services are either available in premium or any one of the monetizing models. However, customers are used to consuming content, especially news that is available free of cost. This is why developing a news app and monetizing it requires a lot of brainstorming.
Don’t be scared, it is not rocket science here. There are myriad monetizing ways that your app development company may suggest to you during the development. Kody Technolab also helps clients decide the best business model for newspaper apps and other on-demand apps in various niches. Our vast industry experience helps us in delivering solutions that our clients admire. You may connect with us if you have a good app idea to implement.
To begin our topic on newspaper app development, we would like to address the concern, why do you need an app for your news and magazine concept?
Importance of magazine app development:
Once you owned multiple magazines and news outlets, and now your app serves the purpose. That’s a huge transformation in itself. Along with the audience content consuming transformation, even your conventional ways of producing content for magazines and newspapers have changed.
Today, in a world where there are zillions of apps already for every activity, if your newspaper or magazine business doesn’t have one, it will impact your brand name. Here are a few relevant reasons why we push our clients in this segment to adopt mobile-first technology.
For inspiration, focus on these stunning numbers: The New York Times grabbed 7.8 million subscribers crossing the Wall Street Journal numbers. And the goal is to reach 10 million subscribers by 2021. Achievable, what do you think?
- You will have a chance to boost up your presence and make your brand name the most go-to app in the industry. Consumers have already started expecting a lot from the mobile app industry, and your app will help them satisfy the news reading quench.
- Since most of the audience is available online, you will have a better opportunity to reach out to them. You will not have any limitation, be it country, region, city, or area; you have an unlimited landscape of audience to target.
- If your app is already performing well in the offline market, you should instantly consider the idea of developing a news app. The primary reason being, if you don’t make an online presence, your competitors will. In order to cope up with the rising market demands and the competition, you definitely need an app.
- Mobile apps give you a chance to include a lot of exciting offers/features/games/ entertainment features. All these things will successfully hook the audience and improve their content consumption experience. Users can select/customize their dashboard and read-only about the ideas they are interested in.
- You have your hands-on advanced and effective marketing strategy. You have a chance to attract modern-day users and make money through app publicity.
We would like to continue this topic by highlighting some popular newspaper & magazine apps names. These popular names explored the full potential of the tech industry and made a huge chunk of money.
Famous newspaper and magazine applications on the app store:
Pocket:
Pocket is an online platform that provides an amazing reading experience. It operates similarly to Medium, where users can pin and save their favorite news article to read later. Pocket is available for free; however, users can access the premium version and in-app features.
The Wall Street Journal:
The Wall Street Journal is an amazing platform that brings the latest breaking world news to you every day.
The New York Times:
An early bird in this adoption is The New York Times. The New York Times application is available for free; however, it allows only limited access to the articles. Users who are keen on reading more articles can subscribe to the application.
TechCrunch:
If you are a tech enthusiast, you would have probably heard of this one. This platform brings the users the latest technology updates. Have you tried this app yet?
Next on the list is,
What are the different monetizing ways for newspaper app development?
Well, this is the main topic why you have landed up here on the blog, isn’t it? There are plenty of ways in which you can monetize your mobile newspaper app; however, the method needs to be selected smartly. Mobile app monetization strategy is completely a personal call to decide. It depends on how you design your app and what content you want to publish over the app. Here are some of the common ways in which you can make money.
1. Paid application:
This may look skeptical at first, but some audiences are willing to pay for the free apps. But, this monetizing model comes with its demand. You need to ensure that your app will provide some extraordinary news content that a user would not be able to find anywhere else.
If you can guarantee this, you have a golden opportunity of making money.
2. Subscription model:
Most news and magazine apps have adopted the subscription model. This model lets users decide whether they want to continue reading the app content or stop it.
A subscription-based model can be either on a monthly or yearly basis; readers pay for the subscription and keep enjoying the break-free reading experience. Users can download the app, pay for the subscription and get going.
3. Freemium model:
Freemium refers to a free+premium subscription. It is another common monetizing model where a user who is impressed with the application’s offerings decides to use the app by paying a freemium fee.
4. In-app advertising model:
Free apps are making more money by allowing outside businesses to place their ads and market their services. This is another common monetizing model that you can adopt for newspaper app development.
You should know that the revenue generation in this monetizing model is based on the number of clicks, the number of impressions, and the actions taken by the target audience.
The division of the in-app advertising model includes:
Cost Per Mille: In this model, the business pays the platform for every thousand impressions generated through the app.
(CPC) Cost Per Click: In this model, the platform earns every time the user clicks on the advertisement.
Cost Per Action: A lesser preferred monetization model is CPA. In this model, the platform earns money only when a user completes a desired action or initiates an in-app purchase using the app.
5. In-app purchases:
This model is again similar to a subscription model; however, the reading access is replaced with a buy-in feature or a product. You can introduce in-app purchases and provide users to buy a specific service or product they are looking for.
Continuing our topic further,
What are the best features to have in a newspaper & magazine application?
Well, this segment will inspire you to go and check any of the news applications lying on your mobile device. You’ll have all your answers. If you don’t have any downloaded apps yet, continue reading.
Offline access
People prefer to read news and magazines during their free time, especially when they are traveling. It might or might not be possible for them to have internet access at their disposal. The newspaper & magazine app you plan to develop should be accessible offline for an appealing user experience.
Customization feature:
Readers are attracted to a specific section or genre of article types. Allow them to select and decide what they want to read during their time on the app. Customization will enhance app engagement and, in a way, make your app popular.
Sharing option:
If something is found interesting or important, the user would like to share it across social media platforms. Allow them to do so while using the app. They can copy the link and send it across to their family & friends.
Read later option:
A long article needs focus and time. A user might be running out of time while s/he has caught an eye on an important article. Allow them to add it in the read-later feature.
Smart search:
Facilitate users to look out for content on a specific keyword or date or a day.
High-quality videos and images:
Do not compromise images over producing high-quality content. Images and videos play an important role in defining a great user experience.
Some other features that you can add to the newspaper app development are:
- Voice actions;
- Reading mode;
- Push notifications;
- Article suggestions;
- Multi-lingual support;
- The payment gateway for in-app purchases;
What is the cost to develop a newspaper app?
Newspaper app development has a global market to target. Hence it is viable that you invest a good amount of money in app development. Confirm the project with an app development company that will provide you with the necessary guidance and solution. The on-demand company or the hired mobile app developers should follow a definite mobile app development process, including Lean Canvas, Prototyping, Quality Testing, and the Release.
There are a number of factors that affect the final cost of newspaper app development. However, the estimate of price is around $25K to $30K. This will vary depending on the features you include, complexity, UI/UX, app maintenance, and a lot more things.
Final Words:
Paper reading was once mainstream, but it is now replaced with digital applications. The industry is growing, and there are very lesser chances of you failing the concept. We highly encourage you to try the app concept and start reaping the benefits. All the best!