News Corp.’s digital newpaper The Daily began life as a newspaper for tablets, hoping to get users to spend money on a daily digital publication. They’re continuing to try and make it work, but it appears that a new strategy is forming as time goes on.
The Daily has been increasingly partnering with various brands to publish apps that focus on a sole subject or piece of content that can also act as sponsorship opportunities. The recent Angry Birds Space guide is part of this push, but are not the first separate apps The Daily has done. They’ve also created special apps for the start of the NFL season, a guide to college football bowl games, and a holiday gadget guide.
The purposes of these apps are not just to generate revenue by working with corporate sponsors, but to also serve as ways to generate subscriptions for the main Daily publication, as these free apps help get the name of The Daily and its content out there to potential readers.
As well, the launch of the Angry Birds Space guide for iPhone may be a harbinger of the publication coming to the smaller screens at some point, which could help The Daily reach the lofty subscription goals that were laid out for it, as only a few months ago they were well below a level that would make the publication profitable.
This Thursday, another slot on the top 25 apps likely goes to a galaxy far, far, away as Rovio Entertainment prepares to launch Angry Birds Space. Pun semi-intended. Details and teasers have been slowly trickling out over the last few weeks, but the most substantial trailer yet has been released. This one shows off some actual gameplay footage, revealing some of the most radical changes to the core Angry Birds formula yet.
Angry Birds Space releases this Thursday on the App Store, and while Rovio hasn’t said anything about pricing, or if they’ll finally release the game as a universal app, we’ll know soon enough. As a starter, The Daily has also released a special Birds in Space app that features articles on the creation of the game, with behind-the-scenes details and concept art on the making of the game.
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