Digital platforms provide news publishers of all sizes and orientations with the opportunity to reach millions of potential new readers in their market and beyond. In addition to providing INN members access to new audiences, many of these distribution partners provide revenue based on the traffic your content generates on their platform. This revenue share can range from a few hundred dollars per year to a few thousand dollars per month, based on individual performance. And it’s not always the biggest organizations that do best on these platforms.
The INN team is always considering new opportunities for helping INN members take advantage of third-party platforms. That can include negotiating deals that members can opt into, as well as helping all members join platforms they haven’t previously had access to. If you’re an INN member interested in taking advantage of any of the opportunities listed below, please reach out to Sam Cholke at sam@inn.org. If you’re a platform that would like to work with INN members to distribute their content, you can also reach out to Sam. New opportunities are added often, so check back for updates.
In addition to content distribution opportunities, INN members also have access to content archiving and licensing deals by virtue of their INN membership. Learn more about those opportunities below. See also general information on distributing through third parties on our Marketing & Social Media Support page.
Share your stories with millions of Apple News readers and learn about the unique benefits for nonprofit newsrooms. Apple News is the easiest way to stay up to date with the news, with a seamless experience across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and is the No. 1 news app in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Experienced Apple News editors curate the day’s top stories from trusted sources, and help users discover new publications and interesting stories.
Fill out this form and reference your INN membership in the comments section to learn more about joining Apple News.
Get your stories in front of one of the largest news audiences in the world through Microsoft Start. The news feed reaches more than 512 million people each month online through its dedicated app and through native alerts in the Windows operating system. Microsoft Start offers readers the option to donate directly to your organization, revenue sharing on ads served on stories, and the opportunity to shape how Start evolves through direct connections to Microsoft staff.
Contact INN for more information about signing up for Microsoft Start.
Reach more than 145 million monthly active users on the web or from any mobile device with Flipboard, a service that allows people to gather stories according to their interests. Flipboard links back to members’ websites and also provides analytics to members about how much their content is seen on the platform.
Members: Sign up for a publisher account and then get in touch with INN to accelerate the onboarding process.
Expand your reach by partnering with SmartNews and showcasing your independent journalism with their highly engaged readers. This popular news discovery app hosts partner’s content in a native format on their SmartView technology platform. In addition to distributing your stories to new audiences, SmartNews offers INN members a license fee and helps drive traffic to donation campaigns and newsletter signups.
Complete SmartNews’ application form to participate in INN’s preferred payment program.
As the most downloaded news app in the United States, NewsBreak makes local news easily accessible to a new generation of readers. NewsBreak welcomes INN members to become publisher partners. As a partner, your organization’s content is hosted by NewsBreak and you earn a share of revenues generated. The app’s publisher platform makes it easy to control your content, access insightful analytics and generate more revenue.
Inquire here to speak to the NewsBreak team.
Put your content in front of more than 27 million monthly active users near your newsroom by sharing your content with Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods. Local news organizations that are members of INN can have their content featured in relevant Nextdoor neighborhoods.
Contact INN for more details on sharing your content with Nextdoor.
Reach college students by sharing your content with Spotlight, a news aggregator that brings college students and staff all the stories they care about from the sources they can trust. Spotlight has worked with INN and members to develop special collections of member content and to highlight INN member content in interesting ways. INN members participate in Spotlight’s revenue share program and can also opt into Spotlight’s premium content program.
Contact INN for an introduction to the Spotlight team.
In addition to third-party distribution, you can generate additional revenue by licensing your content to content archiving services. INN has relationships with two of the largest players in the space that you can opt into.
NewsBank gets your content archived and available to researchers — and pays you a small amount for that privilege. Newsbank serves content “aftermarkets” — they are not syndicating for real-time publication, but for research and reference markets.
Fill out this form to take advantage of INN’s master contract with NewsBank.
By working with Newstex, you will generate revenue while your content is exposed to more people and lives on into the future for use by academics and researchers. Like NewsBank, Newstex serves content “aftermarkets.” Newstex aggregates a variety of news and other information providers in feeds for reference services such as LexisNexis.
Fill out this form to take advantage of INN’s agreement with Newstex.
Questions? Meet the INN staff member who can help.
Manager, Distribution & Audience Growth
Sam Cholke works with INN members to better understand their audiences and take their direct audience to the next level.