Scoop: Apple is selling Apple News ads directly for the first time
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Apple has started selling its own advertising inventory for Apple News, two sources familiar with the effort told Axios. It's pitching new ad units that it hopes will maximize revenue for itself and its publishing partners.
Why it matters: The shift toward direct sales represents a significant milestone in Apple's advertising ambitions.
- Apple has been selling its own ad inventory in search and within its App Store for a while. Until now, it's relied on third-party vendors to sell Apple News ads, limiting the revenue potential for itself and the thousands of publishers that distribute content on the free version of Apple News.
Zoom in: Apple is pitching marketers on new ad units within the Apple News feed and within individual stories on Apple News, Axios has learned.
- Beginning next year, Apple will sell premium sponsorships of editorially curated content for relevant events, such as the Met Gala, the U.S. Open, and more.
- In addition to premium sponsorships, the Apple News team is also pitching banner placements and video ads across 17 different formats, including carousel ads that feature different products.
- Advertisers will also be able to sponsor specific feeds within Apple News, should they wish to contextually align with certain topics.
- A new sponsorship unit will soon be available as a banner ad at the top of the Apple News Feed.
How it works: Publishers will get a 70% cut of the ad revenue sold by Apple within their articles.
- They will get a percentage of the ad revenue sold by Apple within the Apple News feed, dependent on engagement with their content.
- Apple News publishers will continue to receive 100% of the revenue from the advertising that they sell against their content in the app.
Between the lines: The ads that Apple's team doesn't sell will be left for third-party vendors to sell on its behalf.
- Apple named ad tech giant Taboola as a resale vendor for Apple News and Apple Stocks earlier this year.
- It previously worked with NBCUniversal as an ad sales partner, but that relationship will be ending at the end of the year, a person familiar with Apple's plans said.
- A source said Apple is eyeing whether to bring on other resellers.
State of play: Apple has been quietly building a sizable ad sales team for months.
- The company hired Lauren Fry, a tenured streaming ads executive, to lead advertising for Apple TV+ in 2023. Fry also oversees the Apple News' ad sales team, which added Joseph Cady, a longtime NBCUniversal ad executive, and Renee Appelle, a veteran publishing executive, earlier this year.
- Apple has dozens of advertising roles open on its website.
The big picture: Apple has invested more in growing its ad business as hardware sales have slowed.
- While the company doesn't break out its advertising revenue from its broader services revenue, analysts estimate advertising makes up roughly 10% of that business.
- In addition to advertising, Apple's services revenue comes from subscriptions and transactions via products such as Apple Music, iCloud, Apple News+, Apple TV+, Apple's App Store and Apple Pay.
By the numbers: Apple's services business drives roughly $100 billion in revenue for the tech giant annually.
- Advertising is expected to reach roughly $10 billion this year, according to third-party estimates from GroupM and eMarketer.
What to watch: Apple News is one of the most popular news apps in North America, the U.K. and Australia, but publishers have mostly viewed the free version as a marketing tool, not a major ad revenue driver.
- By investing more in direct sales, Apple hopes to deliver more ad revenue to its publishing partners, which could motivate publishers to invest more in putting their content on the platform for free.
