The New York Times has today confirmed it is pulling out of Apple News, saying the service does not “align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers.”
The Times is one of the first major media organizations to pull out of Apple News.
In an memo to employees, Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer at The Times said Apple has given it “little in the way of direct relationships with readers” and “little control over the business.”
Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers, and the nature of our business rules, she said. Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters.
Multiple reports have suggested publishers are largely unhappy with the revenue generated from Apple News+ and the performance of the service so far.
Tim Cook revealed in April that Apple News has 125 million monthly active users, marking an increase of roughly 25 million users since usage information was last shared at the beginning of the year.