How to Syndicate Content to Apple News

Back in 2015, Apple News expanded its News Publisher app by publicly documenting its underlying “Apple News Format” specification.  Since then, readership has soared.  There are now twice as many Apple News readers as Apple Music listeners.

That strong adoption is due in large part to the app’s effortless use, no subscription required, fast loading, and beautiful looks.

Credit Apple, Inc.

Why Syndicate?

Developing great content is as hard as it is time consuming.  Syndicating all your great content to multiple content platforms is a great way to get the most bang for your buck.

“More than 40 million people are reading Apple News, and we’ve been getting very positive feedback from the publishers”
– Tim Cook, Apple CEO

As we say in content marketing, “syndicate till it hurts.”

How to Publish to Apple News

The first thing you’ll want to do is sign up to Apple News Publisher using your iCloud account.

Then, if you’re using a CMS like WordPress, install the free Publish to Apple News plugin.  The plugin enables your WordPress blog content to be republished to your Apple News channel.  It also allows you to customize how your posts will look on Apple News, including a few starter themes that are already pretty killer.

Once you publish a few posts to Apple News, the team over there will review your content to check for quality.  You’re posting quality content, right?

After a week or so, your pending status will be lifted and you’ll see that you’re all set and “Ready to Publish.”

That’s pretty much it.

There’s loads of documentation out there on how to use Apple News Publisher as well as the Publish to Apple News Plugin for WordPress.

Promote

Don’t fall into the trap of “build it and they will come.”  You’ve got to promote your new-found presence on Apple News.

In the same vein, here’s JDM Digital’s Apple News Channel: https://apple.news/Tck8j7xOtQ6ax-ViNvwJWBg

I know, it’s not a very pretty link, but opened from your iOS device it will automatically launch the News app and take you to our channel.

Don’t judge us yet.  We just got started.