[vc_row][vc_column][blog_single_full_content]Every person is born with curiosity. People always want to know things about places and other people as well.
Aren’t you one of those people?
Some call it staying informed, some call it gossip, and some call it seeking knowledge. What do you call it?
Well, whatever it is the point is everybody wants to stay updated. Back in the date, ways to seek information was newspaper, magazine, and talking to people about it.
Times have changed quite a lot. People ingrain knowledge through digital platforms. Mobile apps are the latest ways to socialize and get news. Everybody has a news app on their device. People have evolved with changing times and became a tech addict.
Not to deny the fact that apps have solved plenty of issues and eased up the routine chores. Every action these days is by the tick of the clock. Everyone’s extremely busy and can’t afford to enjoy the cup of coffee with the newspaper in hand while enjoying the sunrise. This has increased the demand for news apps.
People keep the news in their hands and read it when they are free. With the news app, people can know about the world while traveling to the office or during break hours, or even during pooping. They don’t necessarily have a paper in hand to know what’s going on around the world. Know about politics, celebrities, sports, world affairs, and every other category through a news app.
Now, if you are looking to create a news app, there are several things you need to learn before you jump directly on the development. Let’s jot down some of the must-have elements of a news app.
Features to Have in a News App
1) Instant News Update
One of the features to integrate into a news app is an instant update. The users can make the settings and select their favorite news categories. Whenever any new news arrives, the user will get a notification. This way, the users don’t have to keep watching TV or wait for the newspaper to get an update on your favorite topic.
2) Location-Based News
Users have different choices for news. Some users like to stay updated with international news while some are just interested in the local news. The user can make their choice and get location wise news.
The user can select the country, city, or area and get news related to those areas only. The user can customize the choice of areas as per their likes at any time. Something that traditional newspapers cannot provide.
3) User-friendly navigation
A news app has plenty of categories and sections for users to read. To avoid scrolling to reach an interesting section, users need a user-friendly and easy navigation. This helps the user from any confusion and getting lost in the pool of information.
4) Market Research
Whether a news app works or fails is mainly based on its content. It’s all about the latest news and early to publish it to the users. Hence, the app updates from time to time with the latest trends, buzz, and current subjects.
You cannot publish stale content or publish recent content at a later date. This will push your app to doom. So, indulge in market research deeply, frame it, and add it to the app in a timely manner.
5) Categorized Content
Some users like the sports section, while some of them like celebrity gossip, while some of them like crime statistics. Allow the users to pick their favorite category and read news of that particular industry. This way the user will not find your app boring.
6) Social Media Sharing
Well, there are two massive benefits of having this feature in a news app. Simple news becomes a hot topic of discussion when more people know about it. A user inclines to use a mobile app that allows sharing the content with their near and dear ones. This way the app gains a loyal user base which is the first benefit.
The other is promotion without payment. The ultimate agenda behind any mobile application development is to gain more users and generate revenue from it. With social media sharing features, the user shares the content they feel interesting on their favorite platforms. This, in turn, promotes your app and invites more users to it. It’s a win-win for both parties.
7) Make it Interesting with Multimedia
Do you think just text is enough to get the user’s attention? Well, not anymore. Digital media is not limited to text; there are multiple ways to represent the content. Represent it in the way that users want to consume like in the format like images, gifs, videos, and audio. This will catch attention and hold it for a long time in turn decreasing the bounce rate and more visits.
8) In Briefs
What if the user is not interested in reading the whole news? What if they are just interested in knowing the headlines? For such a user, the news app should have In Briefs feature. This will just show the headlines of the news and the whole news opens if the user clicks on it.
9) News Crowdsourcing
News is plenty no two ways to this fact. Are all of them interesting? It’s not exactly. What crowdsourcing feature does is that it curates all the interesting news and puts them in one feed. The users don’t have to shuffle every category to stay updated. They just need to glance at the feed and they will know what’s going around the world.
10) Poll
Certain news applications also have a poll feature. This feature helps the audience to express their opinion about certain news. This feature is not compulsory but a good addition to the app.
11) SmartView
Most of the mobile applications need an internet connection to function. The same thing applies to the news application. A smart view feature would allow users to access the app even when they are offline or have a poor internet connection. A smartnews app allows its users to consume news in any connection. One of the reasons, the users will stay loyal to the app and not jump to the competitor apps.
12) Customize Your Feed
The feature might not grab attention for now. But, in the long run, this feature will set a news application different from others. What this feature does is that it allows the users to search and add channels of their choice. They can also search for favorite publishers and add them to their feed. This way the users can get all they want right in one app and in their feed.
You know the top features to integrate into a news app development. Now, take a look at top news applications to check and learn from them.
If you are still thinking whether it is actually worth to develop an app for news and users actually use news app or not, here’s some awareness:
- 8% of people get news through radio
- 13% of people get news through network TV.
- 26% of people get news through Local TV.
- 16% of people get news through Cable TV
- 18% of people access news through social media.
- 25% of people get news through a news website or app.
Also, there are people who read the news more than once in a day. These are the audience you should target.
Here take a look at the countries who read the news the most.
Most Popular News App Worldwide
1) Feedly
The app allows its users to organize the content and sync it from their followed sources. Users can also add newspapers, magazines, blogs to their list and get fresh content of their choice on a regular basis.
2) Google News
It is one of the most popular news apps worldwide. Hence, it would not take anyone by surprise that the tech giant launched an official app for their news viewers. Highlighting features of this app are brief updates and five stories per day chosen as per the user’s interest. Other attention-grabbing features include subscription of popular magazines, source selection, and full coverage of news and entire analysis of how different sources cover one single story.
3) Flipboard
Flipboard is basically a content aggregator. The agenda of the app is to collect and show the best stories to the users. Highlighting features consists of customized feed, daily editions, source bundling, create personal collections, and save stories.
4) BBC
BBC is one of the world’s biggest media players. BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC has its own app for both Android and iOS platforms to cover multiple users and expand its user base. Features of this news app that grabs attention include feed personalization, stories, videos, live broadcasting, and news alerts.
5) New York Times
New York Times is one of the popular American newspapers having its own Android app, iOS app, and Kindle. Downloading the app is free but needs a subscription package to use all the features of the app. The core features include section list customization, searching, filtering, section list customization, and saving articles across devices.
6) Apple News
Apple news comes pre-installed in every iOS device and is not available on Android devices. The core focus of Apple news is on images and quick loading videos.
Editor curated content, interesting headlines, and special pieces give the user a personalized news feed. It allows the user to select topics of their interest and get a newsfeed of their own choice. You can pick your news based on your reading habits.
Also Read: Creative Android and iPhone Mobile Application Ideas
Types of News App
Basically, there are two types of news applications, one is news aggregator like Flipboard. The second one is single-publication apps like NY Times. If your agenda is to build an app for a particular publication then the second option seems to be a better fit. In other cases, considering both the types is suitable. Starting and launching a publication app is difficult because of its need to create new content. Launching an aggregator app seems easy as it needs collecting, organizing, and publishing content.
How to Generate Revenue from the News App?
Despite the fact whether you want to develop an app yourself or get it developed by a news app development company, it is important that the app gives a proper return on the investment. There are several ways to make money from the app, here they are:
Subscription
Traditional newspapers have monthly or yearly subscription charges. The same tactic can be applied to digital news apps. The news app owners should deliver worldwide content in exchange for specific fees.
There should be different subscription packages as per monthly, 6-monthly, and yearly basis. Some of the popular apps like NYTimes have already implemented this method. You can also keep the headlines free and the user has to pay if they wish to read more in detail.
Sponsor Campaign
One of the ways to make money from the news app is to run a personalized campaign on your news application. Sell tickets of the shows or events for a specific location and charge money from them. This way you can keep the app free and yet make money from it.
Advertisement
Businesses are willing to spend money on advertisements in popular apps. So, if your app is popular, people will pay high prices to advertise their business or brand in your news app. This is also a great way to make money from the app.
In-app Purchases
One of the easy ways to make money from news mobile applications is through in-app purchases. You can place products in your app and from that purchase, you can earn money. By this tactic also, you can keep your app free and yet make money from it.
What is the cost of developing a Newspaper Application?
Cost is decided by various factors like number factors. Take a look at them:
- Number of features
- Types of features
- Choice of the platform: Android or iOS
- Choose the type of development: Native or Hybrid
- Whether you are hiring a company or a freelancer
- Developing in-house or outsourcing
Final Words
Just like discussed in the beginning, people are full of curiosity. Take advantage of their curiosity with a news app. Look for the best mobile app development agency; integrate the latest features to make your news app successful and trending.
FAQs
1) How do I make a news app?
If you are not a developer yourself, don’t try to create a news app on your own. Hire a news app development company, share your idea with them, and let them handle your project.
2) How does the news app work?
The app will ask about favorite subjects, topics, publications when the user opens the app for the first time. The app will track the user’s activity, their likes, and dislikes and present the user with the type of news they like.
3) Is the news app free?
Some news apps are free while some of them are paid. In some of the applications, the app is free but has some premium features locked. So, these are the three possibilities with the news app.
4) What are some good news apps?
Here are some of the top news apps:
- Feebly
- Google news
- NY Times
[/blog_single_full_content][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Other Articles
Why Should Start-ups Invest in Developing an Android App?
What are the Challenges of Making Wearables App?
