Apple News has one, major issue: No one knows how many people are actually reading its content.
Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services admitted to the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Sunday that Apple doesn’t “know what the right number is” on Apple News traffic.
He said that the company is working on the glitch, but added that the traffic count Apple has been presenting to publishers is “lower than reality.”
Not knowing exactly how many people are reading stories on Apple News is a critical issue for publishers and Apple alike.
Traffic ultimately dictates how much revenue can be generated on the ads sitting around the stories.
If publishers, marketers, and even Apple has no idea how many people have read a particular story, there’s no way to assign a proper advertising rate.
