Apple News and content marketing – Content24

Welcome to Content24. Why is it different? Because it’s a digest of the stories that have made an impact over the past 24 hours, and not just a platform for recycled content marketing. Today we’re looking at Apple News and Publicis’s content marketing acquisition

How Apple News could be a content marketing dream

You don’t need a subscription to BrandRepublic to know that traditional TV advertising is suffering a slow death. Younger viewers are now more likely to watch on demand or simply click through via YouTube. The latest nail in the coffin could be Apple’s new iOS 9 application, Apple News.

As MediaPost explains, Apple News allows anyone – brand or consumer – to start a channel, as long as they have App Store approval. There is no set-up fee and users can profit by running ads, for example.

The model is similar to that launched by Facebook earlier this year with its Facebook Instant application. However, the question is what will happen if Apple TV adopts this model? It could open up opportunities for brands to put their own content channels in the front room.

Incidentally, 10 years after YouTube launched, it is still the predominant way of watching video. Not only is Apple eyeing it hungrily, but so is Facebook.

Publicis buys content marketing agency August

Publicis Groupe has acquired UK content marketing agency August for an undisclosed sum. The agency, which launched in 2005, has clients including GAP, Ikea, Ocado and Renault.

August will be absorbed into Publicis’s London offices next month. It will also subsume Publicis’s own content marketing division Publicis Blueprint.

Arthur Sadoun, global chief executive of Publicis Worldwide, commented: “Content marketing is key to us helping our clients transform their brands.

August is digitally advanced beyond most of the consumer publishing agencies: this acquisition will bring the expertise and ability to develop content quickly across multiple platforms to give our clients a strong competitive lead.” Yes, it’s a predictable press release quote, but it underlines what we’ve said before. Big advertising groups don’t miss a trick when it comes to picking up new marketing trends. To be fair, Blueprint has been around for years – but maybe that’s why it needed to be taken over.