News App Marketplace

Delivered November 27th, 2019. Contributors: Shannon L., Shahrukh K., Gene E., Cristina G., Sheila O., Rosalind R. and

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News Industry Market Size

The estimated market size of the news industry in the U.S. is about $57.8 billion and the estimated market share that news apps occupy of the total U.S. news industry is about 1%.
Market Size of the News IndustryThe estimated annual revenue per news radio station in the U.S. is $20,913,000.
There are 26 all-news radio stations in the U.S.
The estimated annual revenue for news radio is $543,738,000.
Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC have a combined annual revenue of $4,988,000,000.
CNBC and Fox Business and Bloomberg have a combined annual revenue of $1,252,400,000.
Univision has an annual revenue of $3,016,400,000.
The total estimated revenue for cable news is $9,256,800,000
NPR (National Public Radio) has an annual revenue of $232,800,000, PRI (Public Radio International) has an annual revenue of $18,100,000, and APM (American Public Media) has an annual revenue of $168,000,000.
The total estimated revenue for public radio is $488,900,000.
There are 830 local TV stations that are considered "news-producing stations" in the U.S. with a total annual revenue of $14.1 billion.
Newspapers earned $16,476,453,084 in advertising revenue and $11,211,011,020 in circulation revenue.
The total estimated revenue for U.S. newspapers is $27,687,464,104.
Revenue for digital newspaper advertising is $5.4 billion.
The annual revenue for all apps in the U.S. is about $20 billion.
News apps have about a 1.94% share of the most popular apps in the Apple App Store. 
Assuming news apps have about the same share of the overall app market, the annual revenue for news apps would be about $388,000,000.
The total approximate market size of the U.S. news industry is 57,794,902,104
Market Share of News AppsAccording to the above estimates, news apps earn approximately $388 million in annual revenue in the U.S.
The U.S. news industry has a market size of about $57,794,902,104.
Therefore, the U.S. news app industry has a market share of approximately 1%.
Research StrategyWe attempted to find the market size of the news industry in the U.S. by first looking for directly available statistics in market research reports from sources such as Grandview Research, IBISWorld, Pew Research, and more. Unfortunately, there were no consolidated numbers. Instead, there were only market sizes for different segments of the news industry such as newspapers, newspaper publishing, automotive news, entertainment and media, and digital advertising. However, the Pew Research "State of the Media" report for 2018 provided the revenues for several segments, so we decided that in the absence of a single consolidated market size, we would add the various segments in the Pew report together. This provided us with the annual revenues for radio news, cable news, local TV news, public radio news, and newspapers. We were still missing the market sizes for digital news and news apps. The Pew report provided information on digital news, but not the revenue, as the only statistics it provided was on overall digital advertising revenue rather than revenue specific to digital news. 

A report from MarketingCharts provided us with the digital newspaper advertising and since we assumed that the major cable news networks' digital advertising was already included in their overall revenues, we would use the digital newspaper advertising revenue as a proxy for the digital news market size. Finding the news app market was more difficult. We searched through market research reports such as the ones mentioned above, app reports from sources like BusinessofApps, App Annie, FindingApps.com, and more. The total app market size was found in one of these reports, but nothing about the market share of news apps. As a third attempt, we searched business articles from sources like Wired, Forbes, Inc, and more to see if any of them had reported on the news app market share or revenue. In the end, the only helpful statistic we found was that that news apps represented 1.94% of the most popular apps on the Apple Store. Due to the lack of available information on this topic, we elected to use the 1.94% as a proxy for the news app market size. We assumed that news apps represent about 1.94% of all apps; therefore, they also represent about 1.94% of total app revenue.

Then, to find the news app market share of the overall news industry in the U.S., we divided the approximate news app revenue by the approximate total news industry revenue to triangulate a 1% market share.
CalculationsThe Pew Research Center State of the Media 2018 report provided the annual revenue per radio news station, which was $20,913,000. The report also indicated there are 26 all-news radio stations in the United States, meaning news radio stations have an estimated annual revenue of $543,738,000 ($20,913,000 x 26). 

Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC have a combined annual revenue of $4,988,000,000 and CNBC and Fox Business and Bloomberg have a combined annual revenue of $1,252,400,000. Univision has an annual revenue of $3,016,400,000. This totals $9,256,800,000 in revenue for cable news ($4,988,000,000 + $1,252,400,000 + $3,016,400,000 = $9,256,800,000).

NPR (National Public Radio) has an annual revenue of $232,800,000, PRI (Public Radio International) has an annual revenue of $18,100,000, and APM (American Public Media) has an annual revenue of $168,000,000. This totals $418,900,000 for public radio news ($232,800,000 + $18,100,000 + $168,000,000 = $418,900,000).

The report indicated that there are 830 local TV stations that are defined as "news-producing stations." This segment of the news industry had an annual revenue of $14.1 billion.

Newspapers earned $16,476,453,084 in advertising revenue and $11,211,011,020 in circulation revenue for a total of $27,687,464,104 in revenue ($16,476,453,084 + $11,211,011,020 = $27,687,464,104).

Digital newspaper advertising is expected to reach $5.4 billion in 2019.

App revenue from all apps in the U.S. is $20 billion. According to analysis by AppLikeySolutions, the news category only represents 1.94% of the apps in the Apple Store. If that also represents the percentage of overall app revenue that news apps receive, then the market size for news apps is $388,000,000 ($20,000,000,000 x 1.94%). 

Approximate total revenue for the news industry is calculated as the following:

$543,738,000 (radio news) + $9,256,800,000 (cable news) + $418,900,000 (public radio news) + $14,100,000,000 (local TV news) + $27,687,464,104 (newspapers) + $5,400,000,000 (digital news) + $388,000,000 (news apps) = 57,794,902,104.

Market share for news apps: $388,000,000 / $57,794,902,104 = 0.0067 or about 1%.

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News App Competitive Landscape (1)

SmartNews collects articles from a wide variety of outside publishers and organizations using a machine learning algorithm while Newser is an online news service where writers and editors create succinct, sharply written summaries of the news you need to know.
Smart News Overview 
 SmartNews collects articles from a wide variety of outside publishers and organizations using a machine learning algorithm to determine which articles or stories are the most important and relevant. 
Each day, the articles published on the app are different and cover a wide range of top news stories from the United States and Japan.
 The app is set up so that articles can be read without internet access, allowing users with a spotty or unreliable internet connection to get the news they want. 
Stories are pulled from a variety of publishers, including "NBC News, MSNBC, USA Today, TIME, The Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, Quartz, The Verge, VICE, VOX, AP, Reuters, Buzzfeed, Fast Company and more". 
 The company was founded in 2012 and was initially available only in Japan, but spread to the U.S. in 2014.  
 Product Features 
Each day, the stories are updated to reflect the top or most important stories of the day. 
 News stories are available to be read offline, ensuring that users without a reliable internet connection are still able to read the day's news. 
 Market 
SmartNews is available on both iOS and Android devices, in the United States and Japan. 
User Count
N/A
Monthly Views 
 27,000,000. 
Rating 
Google Play: 4.2 stars. 
App Store: 4.6 stars. 
Positive Reviews 
 Ediemillerangelo rated five stars on 05/30/2018. "Smart News is really smart I was apparently one of the first regular users of the app and shared articles on Twitter constantly. 3 or 4 of the developers asked me for an interview via Skype and what interested me, was that they were all very young and what interested them was why I was so interested in the news (...) This app also gives you the ability to swipe over to reader view and read the articles without annoying advertisements. All in all, I hardly use any of my other news apps. I am afraid to count how many tabs I have on my home page! Love it!!" 
 J663 rated four stars on 07/08/2019. "Good variety but with a strong left lean. There is enough variety to see an interesting amount of news and information pieces but a larger portion of liberal-left material (I consider myself a pragmatic). Unfortunately, If you want to find a large amount of race-baiting and police malfeasance it is overwhelmingly here. I usually stay away from opening these agenda stories (...) You can easily add Fox News, The Blaze, National Review, Daily Caller, or other conservative sites by going to Discover (last tab on the right), using the search bar, and adding channels..." 
 Samarnett14 rated five stars on 07/27/2019. "Wow. Downloaded because I like these types of apps to read all the news soon as I opened it I could clearly see whoever does this have a hand in the liberal agenda to destroy America it’s way obvious then I read one of their cringe-worthy articles..." 
Negative Reviews 
 Peter Souza rated two stars on November 21, 2019. "Adequate, I suppose, but entirely lacking any sort of real tuning or adjustment to what kind of stories appear. You can only turn on or off entire sections like Sports and Finance, but can't exclude what types or sources of stories appear like blocking offensive or heavily biased articles and conspiracy theories. Not interested? Too bad, you can't block them with this app. Developers have a long way to go". 
 Em Sherman rated one star on November 19, 2019. "There is no way to filter the sources of content. The app is fantastic otherwise, and I love how it lets me skip the website and view just the content, but I never want to see another BuzzFeed article again so I'm uninstalling. While I understand the value of seeing both sides of the issue, I don't value seeing article after article of junk news with misleading headlines. I also really don't value scripted responses". 
 Gary Gibbons rated one star on November 8, 2019. "I had SmartNews on my Pixel XL for about 8 months and loved it". But in the past two days, it has stopped loading news completely. Uninstalled and reinstalled, but to no avail. I have a great WiFi connection. Could it be the phone and not the app? It could be, but without a way to track the problem, I can't fix it because there are no useful help suggestions when searching online. Very aggravated to have this happened, and will now just uninstall it and forget about it".  
Total Revenue
 $6,000,000. 
Ad Revenue
N/A 
Subscription Revenue
N/A 
Audio Content Revenue
N/A 
Video Content Revenue
N/A 
Original Content Revenue
N/A 
3rd Party Content Revenue
N/A 
Competitive Advantage 
 Unlike semi-competitors, SmartNews doesn’t require or even allow users to login. Everybody who opens the app sees pretty much the same thing. 
 SmartNews aggregates stories from its publishers in each of its category channels, presenting a diverse array of sources and voices. 
When clicked on a story, two versions are available, 'Web' and 'Smart.' 
 In Smart mode, articles load instantly and are presented in a simple, readable format.  
The advantage of this mode is that you can read any article offline no need to frantically save links before you board a flight or lose service. 
Target Audience 
 Smart News's goal is to attract older news consumers in the U.S. across all demographics and political ideologies. For now, the company is focused on users ages 25 and higher.
NEWSER Overview 
 Newser, a privately held company, headquartered at Miami, FL, was founded in 2007. 
Newser is an online news service where writers and editors create succinct, sharply written summaries of the news you need to know. 
 Each story includes photos, videos or audio to supplement and enhance the summaries. 
 Newser set out to change the way news is delivered and consumed online, making it simple to know more in less time—on your desktop, phone, or tablet. 
Product Features 
 Newser provides open access to national and international news covering segments like Science, crime and politics with sub-segments like Health, Tech, Money, Sports, Media, Breaking, Entertainment, Celebrity, Lifestyle, Travel, Green and Opinion.
 It also covers the superlatives like brilliant, hilarious, intriguing, depressing, ridiculous and scary.  
Market  
 The app is only available to download on IOS via the App store. 
It is not available on Google Play. 
The app is also available on Microsoft Store for PC version only. 
User Count
N/A 
Monthly Views 
 1,000,000+ 
Rating 
App Store 2.3 stars. 
Microsoft store (PC only) 3 stars.  
Positive Reviews 
 Juj1n rated 5 stars on 09/25/2017. "Great app but not recently. I met someone who worked for newser on a flight to Austin 3-4 four years ago and has been using it since. I just deleted it because it keeps opening the App Store to try to get me to download something related to an ad. I don't like being forced to view ads but it was a great app otherwise I don't know the intricacies of ads but I'm sure they're necessary to stay in business so I'm not upset at them." 
 Sailorjohncabot rated 5 stars on Jul 28, 2019. "Hoping someone from Newser sees this. I have been using the app daily for years and love it! However, recently it has changed such that when I click a link to a different story within one on the app it redirects me to safari to read the next story instead of staying in the app! Guessing this is a ploy to make more ad money but it is very inconvenient and leaves me with far too many open pages on safari. Obnoxious! Please fix this problem to the way it was before and keep me in the app! Thanks." 
 Cc9870 rated 5 stars on Aug 3, 2018. "This app is awesome- no invasive ads, no tech issues, can get back to cruising through lots of stores in very little time. Switched over due to a &#34; winning prize ad &#34; constantly taking over my iPhone Safari browser when using from the weekly email. Highly recommend this news app."
Negative Reviews 
 Deadboxmike rated two stars on 07/27/2017. "Easy to use. This app is very simple and with a bunch of different news sources. Also, they recently added comments so there's that. Update: the app will not show any pictures. The pictures include the headlines so I cannot tell what story I'm clicking on until I open the story. After the story is open, or in the main feed for that matter the only pictures I get are for ads. So at least I can avoid them much easier now. Now to start looking for a new news app."
 AppStore Review 1983 rated one star on 02/04/2018. "Used to be my go-to news app...now too many intrusive ads. I’ve been a Newser website and app fan for years and told countless people about Newser...however, no more. Their app used to be streamlined with appropriate ads between news story paragraphs. Now when I open the app and click on a story, I’m either redirected to the App Store to download something, or I get a pop up full-screen video (this time it’s just a video of a dog looking around...really)..."
 Little Joey Jumping Foot rated 1 star on Feb 3, 2018. "I loved this app for several years, but today I started getting pop up videos that repeatedly returned after closing and restarting the app. I thought it was an issue on my end, but after I restarted my phone and opened the app, the videos returned after visiting one story. Look, I get it...this is a free app and advertising pays the bills..." 
Total Revenue
 $7,200,000. 
Ad Revenue
N/A 
Subscription Revenue
N/A 
Audio Content Revenue
N/A 
Video Content Revenue
N/A 
Original Content Revenue
N/A 
3rd Party Content Revenue
N/A 
Competitive Advantage 
 Newser is known for providing news from multiple sources by reduces them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. 
What makes Newser unique is its signature grid which offers a vivid snapshot of the day's most important, thought-provoking, and entertaining news in a lively presentation of photos and headlines.  
 Newser combines the wisdom of editors and the power of technology, offering, we believe, a richer and smarter news experience.
 Integration with the iPhone's contact manager allows Newser viewers to share Newser's stories with friends and colleagues, just as rapidly as they can from their desktop. 
Target Audience
N/A 
Your Research Team Applied The Following StrategyInformation about Ad Revenue, Subscription Revenue, Audio Content Revenue, Video Content Revenue, Original Content Revenue, 3rd Party Content Revenue was not available for both Smart News and Newser. Also, it was not available information on user count and target audience for both Smart News App and Newser. 

In order to find the sub revenues like Ad, Subscription, Audio content, Video content, Original content, 3rd Party content revenue, we first checked the company website for both because if these companies had touched a particular milestone in any of the above-mentioned revenue then the same would have been displayed on their website as an achievement. We also checked the other section like press releases, etc to ensure that we don't miss out on the information. However, upon checking the websites the best achievements we found were the now of downloads in case of Smart News and no such milestone or achievement listed in the case of Newser. While we knew that the companies are privately held this was our first approach because even privately held companies do put out their achievements (financial/non-financial) on their website to attract new clients. However, in this case, no information on the missing revenues was found. 

We then moved on to check for the interviews of the c suite executives of these companies to find out if they have ever mentioned anything about these revenues. This approach was considered because interviews from c suite executives do include some of the most important information which otherwise may not be available in other company reports, blogs, articles. Checking for the interviews from the executives of both the companies in sources like adweek, kenshi, techweek, among others, we could not cite any single interview directly from an industry expert or a c suite executives of either company. These sources were checked because they had interviews on the growth of these apps but there was no data within those interviews that could be taken to answer the missing points. 

We then moved on to check for the information on articles, blogs, news websites that focuses on news apps or news aggregator apps with a hope to find details on the above-listed revenues. The approach here was to find websites or articles with a pre exhaustive list where information on apps like Smart News and Newser was available. Through this approach, we were hoping to find some data points if not all based on which we could have probably triangulated the details. We were looking to find an average % of the revenue that comes from segments like the ad, and subscription audio. The idea here was to find a percentage that is common across the news app space and then triangulates it with the overall revenue found to provide segment-wise revenue. We checked into websites like Business of Apps, Bizz Smartz, mobile marketer, etc which usually contain information on the application and their revenues. However, no such comparable metric like the percentage across the industry was found here.

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News App Competitive Landscape (2)

News Break has a rating of 4.4 stars on Google Play and 4.8 on the App Store. BuzzFeed News has a rating of 3.8 and 4.6, respectively. The entire project is here. 
News BreakNews Break, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Mountain View, CA, provides an AI-powered news aggregator. According to App Annie, News Break (with an average rating of 4.8 from over 100,000 reviews) was the number one news aggregator app on Google Play and the number two on the App Store at the end of this year’s second quarter. In 2018, the company’s app was the most downloaded in its category across iOS and Android.
The News Break app provides local news like traffic reports, breaking news, events, and more. Users can personalize their news feed based on preference. News Break, available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, has been downloaded over 10 million times on the former and over 800,000 times on the latter.
News Break has received over 150 million views. On Google Play the app has a rating of 4.4, and a rating of 4.8 on the App Store.
The following is an example of a positive review of the app: “Being on the go all the time, there's so much going on that I don't know. Having the news in the palm of my hand keeps me informed whenever I I [sic] the time to read up on it. Plus I get to pick the topics that interest me. I love this app.” -Kimberly Harms, November 22, 2019.
The following is an example of a negative review of the app: “It wasn't bad when I first downloaded it but now when trying to read an article an ad, video, or photo will download and the the [sic] article will glitch and you lose your place or the article will close and seems to disappear. Great to have all the local news in one app but now I just use it to find stories and what news source covered it so I can go to that sources website to read the story.” -Chris Turley, November 23, 2019.
News Break’s competitive advantage lies in its news content discovery engine, which aggregates rich content from more than 10,000 trusted sources (e.g., Fox News, CNN, Business Insider, Newsweek, HuffPost, Reuters, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, and Time). The app provides local news content to users in all US states and 10 of the nation’s largest cities (e.g., New York, San Antonio, Houston, and Philadelphia). 
News Break’s target audience is people interested in the local news in the US.
BuzzFeed NewsOne of the leading independent digital media companies, BuzzFeed, headquartered in New York, leverages data to reach hundreds of millions of people globally. The company’s cross-platform network includes BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed Media Brands, BuzzFeed Studios, BuzzFeed Originals, and BuzzFeed Commerce. Founded in 2006, the company employs over 1,500 people and has offices in 18 different cities across the globe.
BuzzFeed News features a mix of news, quizzes, trending articles, and videos. The app features tools that allow users to explore their preferred verticals and share their discoveries through a variety of social media platforms.
BuzzFeed News is available on both the App Store and Google Play. The app has been downloaded over 5 million times from the Google Play store and over 100,000 times from the App Store. BuzzFeed News has an average number of monthly content views of 9 billion and 3 billion monthly views.
BuzzFeed News has a rating of 3.8 on Google Play and 4.6 on the App Store.
The following is an example of a positive review: “Informative and up to the minute [sic] accurate reporting in my areas of interest.” -Cherie Hensley, November 22, 2019.
The following is an example of a negative review: “It constantly freezes and crashes all the time. I can be reading an article then all of a sudden it crashes or freezes and restarts the app by itself. I'm very close to deleting this app.” -Destenie Garcia
BuzzFeed News has generated $170 million in revenue. The app's competitive advantage lies in the fact that BuzzFeed is a leading independent digital media company capable of delivering information to millions of users. The app's target audience is US Millennials.
Research StrategyWe began our investigation with an inquiry into industry databases and each company's website. We were able to locate some requested information through this method. However, we were unable to locate certain information (e.g., News Break's total revenue and the advertising revenue, subscriptions, and content for both apps).

Our next step was to make further inquiries into industry databases like ZoomInfo, Glassdoor, CrunchBase, and Hoovers. While we were able to locate the total revenue for BuzzFeed, we were unable to locate any information on News Break. However, we did determine that both companies are private entities. In practical terms, this means neither company is legally obligated to make its revenue data public. 

Our final step was an inquiry into press and business intelligence sites like Variety, Digi Day, DMR, Forbes, and The New York Times. However, we were unable to locate any additional information from these sources.

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News App Competitive Landscape (3)

Flipboard is a powerful media platform with an estimated 150 million registered users and between 80 million to 115 million monthly views. Much of the requested information is available in columns G and H of the attached spreadsheet.

FLIPBOARD
Founded in the year 2010 by Mike McCue and Evan Doll, Flipboard acts as a social news app that curates subjects and articles from different news sources to provide varying perspectives on political issues, trends in technology, etc.
The company's estimated annual revenue amounts to $71 million.
The number of registered users for Flipboard is about 150 million, while its monthly views ranges between 80 million to 115 million.
One of Flipboard's competitive advantages is its flip functionality that is based on gestures, and its unique layout.

VOX MEDIA
First established in the year 2003, Vox Media is regarded as one of the top independent media firms, and it develops media brands. It has a broad assortment of editorial networks, including Recode, Vox, SB Nation, etc.
The company's estimated annual revenue is around $185 million.
It is reportedly able to reach about 125 million individuals each month.
One of Vox Media's competitive advantages is the creative and advanced technology it uses that is designed for modern media companies. It facilitates community driving, as well as revenue-driving, tools for various industries.

Research Strategy:During our research, we did not find any apps for either iOS and Android from Vox Media. Upon checking both platforms, we found apps bearing the entities of Vox Media brands such as SB Nation and The Verge, but based the description, these apps were not officially developed by Vox Media but rather an RSS feed curated by an individual user of the said brands. Also, Vox Report is a different company and not related to Vox Media. However, we found that there were apps available for download for Vox Media editorial brands such as The Verge, Vox, SB Nation, Polygon, etc. on Amazon. Thus, we entered N/A to cells pertaining to apps, ratings and review for Vox Media. 

While we found most of the requested information, we did not find information on Flipboard and Vox Media’s revenue breakdown for advertising, subscription, audio/video/original content, and third party content.

Our research began by looking at each of their websites, specifically their investors page, press releases, and news pages to find a financial report, which typically contains information on revenues from advertising, subscription, audio/video/original content, and third party content. Nevertheless, after observing their sites, we verified that there was no investors page for annual or financial reports for the companies, neither does their news and press release pages, which mostly contained business-related data or product updates.

Next, we consulted government databases, such as the SEC, to find 10k reports from Flipboard and Vox Media. The 10k reports usually provide comprehensive financial data for a company. While there were companies with 10k reports, there was no available report for Flipboard or Vox Media. After performing further research, we confirmed that the two companies operate privately and are not obliged to report their financial data.

Afterward, we checked company databases such as Crunchbase, Craft.co, ZoomInfo, and DB Hoover. We were hoping to find a breakdown of the companies' revenue. From Crunchbase, we found the total revenue for Flipboard, but there was no breakdown of where its earnings came from. Also, we did not find revenue information for Vox Media.

We also scanned third party PR sites and media news portals to see if there were any announcements made by these companies concerning their financials (quarterly or annual). The announcement of earnings are usually covered by news sources, and we were hoping to find such announcements from Flipboard and Vox Media. However, we did not find a revenue breakdown for Flipboard, but we found data on Vox Media’s recent annual revenue from news sources.

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News App Competitive Landscape (4)

Vice Media and Newsy are both available on Android and iOS. Vice Media has about 56,467,020 monthly views, while Newsy has about 125 million monthly views. Further details can be found on the attached spreadsheet in column I and J.

Vice MediaThe app features documentaries, live streams, video dispatches, photojournalism and articles that take an unvarnished look at some of the most important events globally.
Vice News is rated 2.9/5 stars based on 1,039 reviews on Google Store and 1.8/5 on Apple Store based on 10 reviews. 
The company makes about $800 million annually.
NewsyNewsy provides unbiased and concise video news and analysis, covering the top stories globally. They endeavor to "fuel meaningful conversations by highlighting multiple sides of every story."
Newsy is rated 3.8/5 stars on Play Store based on 2,048 reviews. The app is rated 4.7/5 stars on Apple Store based off 3,300 reviews. 
The company makes about $5.3 million annually.
Research StrategyInformation and data on Newsy and Vice's number of registered users and revenue breakdown for advertising, subscription, audio/video/original content and third party content is not available in the public domain.

First, we looked at each Vice and Newsy's websites for investors page, press release and news page in order to check if they have released a financial report which includes revenue from advertising, subscription, audio/video/original content and third party content. Upon checking these pages, we found out that these companies had not published any financial information.

Next, we checked Vice and Newsy's financial information from company databases such as Crunchbase, Craft.co, Zoominfo and DB Hoover. We were hoping to find the revenue breakdown of the various categories. From Crunchbase, we found the total revenue for both companies, but no revenue specifically from advertising, subscriptions, audio content, video content, original content, and 3rd party content. 

As a last resort, we attempted to scan third party PR sites and media news portals. We did this because if there were any announcements made by these companies about their financial information, reputable media portals would have published the news. Unfortunately, this strategy proved futile as well. We then concluded that these two companies do not publicly publish their revenue from advertising, subscriptions, audio content, video content, original content, and 3rd party content.

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News App Competitive Landscape (5)

Apple News provides access to numerous leading newspapers and magazines via a single app. It enables users to read magazine articles from segments such as business, politics, style, beauty, food, sports, travel, regional, science, and technology. Feedly is a news aggregator that allows its readers to connect with several websites and source information they are interested in. 
The requested information on Apple News and Feedly has been documented in columns K and L in the attached spreadsheet. 

Apple News It was found that Apple has recently removed the “Ratings & Reviews” section from its website and store on all its products, including Apple News. According to an article published by Apple Insider, the company has not revealed the reason behind the removal of Apple products’ ratings and reviews and has not indicated when it will be brought back. Therefore, Apple News and Apple News+ does not have any current ratings and has no customer reviews. 
Apple News Service currently has over 85 million active users each month and has recorded over 5 billion articles that are read by users each month. Apple reported that during the first 48 hours of Apple News+ launch, the app saw over 200,000 subscribers. According to CNBC, while Apple News is a free application, the paid version of the app (Apple News+) would generate an estimated $24 million in revenue each year. 
 Half of the revenue generated through subscriptions would be given to the publishers who provide content for the app. Therefore, an estimated $12 million would be given back to publishers each year. 
FeedlyFeedly facilitates users to connect with various websites about the things they are interested in. Through Feedly, users will be able to organize, read, search, share, and discover fresh feeds about broad and niche topics. The app provides its users with “the best of the web” by ensuring that they do not miss any news from their favorite publications such as the New York Times, offers access to informative blogs, notifications from YouTube channels they follow, twitter updates, RSS feeds, and monitors news articles about the users’ company, products, craft, and competitors. 
The app also helps users collaborate with their teammates by sharing feeds, boards, streamline curations by marking important articles to Evernote business notebooks, and connect with other applications such as Trello, Slack, and OneNote 365. Feedly has been rated 4.3/5 stars on Google Play and 4.7/5 stars on the App Store. 
Research StrategyTo analyze the competitive landscape of Apple News and Feedly, we began our search by looking through their official websites. This provided us with their overview, product features, target audience, and competitive advantage. To support the information obtained, we expanded our search to include media reports from websites such as CNBC, industry-specific reports from websites such as Apple Insider, and company profiler websites such as Craft and Crunchbase. During our search, we were able to find the estimated annual revenue for Apple News and Feedly with no further details on revenue breakdown. While Feedly does not publish its financials for public consumption, we found Apple’s annual reports that provided detailed financial information. However, on further search, it was found that Apple primarily focuses its revenue breakdown on iPhone sales and the revenue generated from all its services combined. 

We then expanded our search to include blogs, news reports, product launch reports, interviews from executives of both companies, and market research reports from industry-specific websites such as Business of Apps and Mobile Marketer. A thorough search through these channels provided no information on the companies’ ad revenue, subscription revenue, audio content revenue, video revenue, original content revenue, or third-party content revenue. Therefore, we have presented the estimated annual revenue of both applications and entered N/A in the necessary cells of the spreadsheet. 

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News App Competitive Landscape (6)

News 360 has an annual revenue of $2 million while AP News annual revenue is $518.4 million. The attached spreadsheet has further details of the two companies in Columns M and N.
AP NewsAP News has 1.47 million users.
AP News is free to download and available in both Spanish and English.
It has the largest and oldest news organization in the world. It is synonymous with "accurate, balanced, and informed reporting." AP News was named one of the world's greatest apps by Business Insider in 2014. 
AP News has a rating of 4.8/5 and 4.6/5 on Google Play Store and Apple store respectively.
News 360News 360 has over 7 million monthly users.
It was recently acquired by PressReader.
News 360 uses natural language processing algorithms and advanced machine learning to study each reader's particular interests and creates a personalized news feed with a wide array of content from over 100,000 feeds around the internet.
It has a 4.6/5 and 4.5/5 rating on Google Play Store and Apple store respectively.
Research StrategyInformation and data on News 360 and AP News revenue breakdown for advertising, subscription, audio/video/original content and third party content is not available in the public domain.

First, we looked at each News 360 and AP News websites for investors page, press release and news page in order to check if they have released a financial report which includes the revenue from advertising, subscription, audio/video/original content and third party content. Upon checking these pages, we found the annual revenue of AP News, but not the revenue from these categories.

Next, we checked News 360 and AP News financial information from company databases such as Crunchbase, Craft.co, Zoominfo and DB Hoover. We were hoping to find the revenue breakdown of the various categories. From Crunchbase, we found the total revenue for News 360, but no revenue specifically from advertising, subscriptions, audio content, video content, original content, and 3rd party content. 

As a last resort, we attempted to scan third party PR sites and media news portals. We did this because if there were any announcements made by these companies about their financial information, reputable media portals would have published the news. Unfortunately, this strategy proved futile as well. We then concluded that these two companies do not publicly publish their revenue from advertising, subscriptions, audio content, video content, original content, and 3rd party content.

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Nine additional US players in the news apps space that are similar to SmartNews, Newser, and News Break include BuzzFeed News, Flipboard, Vox Media, Vice Media, Newsy, Apple News, Feedly, News 360 and AP News. The requested information for each company is available in columns F through N, of rows one through three of the attached spreadsheet.
BuzzFeed News	
Here is a link to its website. 
BuzzFeed has various offices situated in 18 cities across the globe and serves as the world's leading independent digital media firm.

Flipboard
Here is a link to its website.
Flipboard was first established in the year 2010, and it acts as an online news portal that has constructed a curated experience that helps individuals to locate excellent stories on any subject.

Vox Media
Here is a link to its website.
Vox Media acts as a media firm that connects the youth of the world and supplies premium advertising, innovative technology, and influential editorial properties.

Vice Media
Here is a link to its website.
Vice Media runs 35 offices situated across the globe, and each day, it creates around 1,500 different pieces of content. It markets itself as a global youth media company.

Newsy
Here is a link to its website.
Founded in 2008, Newsy provides its readers with brief video news analysis that is free from bias and ensures that it covers more than one side of each story.

Apple News
Here is a link to its website. 
Apple news supplies readers with complete access to a broad assortment of magazines, along with leading newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

Feedly
Here is a link to its website.
Feedly permits its users to find the sources and websites that contain the topics that interest them. It provides a unique reading experience that involves assembling news feeds from more than one online source that users can customize.

News 360
Here is a link to its website.
News360 has over 7 million different users. It is committed to altering the news world and allows users to locate useful content swiftly and simply.

AP News
Here is a link to its website. 
AP News has over 15,000 various news outlets and has led the media industry since the year 1846, which is the year of its inception.

Research Strategy:To identify the nine additional competitors, we scoured through news aggregator and news apps and websites that list the best available news apps in the US. The idea here was the most commonly occurring apps and then list them as competitors. Based on the commonality from sources like Digital Trends, SimilarWeb, Android Authority, Digit, UbuntuPIT, among others, we were able to identify nine such apps. 

We ensured that these apps are in similar lines as SmartNews, Newser, and News Break, providing services like offline access, gathering news from various sources, etc. All the presented apps are based or have operations in the US. 