How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Newspaper Mobile App Like Khaleej Times ?

Newspaper-based applications have played a massive role in acquiring the users from all over the globe. Let’s begin with some of the recent global statistical figures on news app to establish the popularity of newspaper mobile app development:

• In-app purchase (IAP) revenue in the News mobile app development segment is estimated to reach $529.40 million in 2022.
• Paid app revenue in the News segment is projected to grow around $14.26 million in 2022.
• Advertising revenue in the News and Magazines segment is predicted to reach $719.80 million in 2022.
• The average revenue per download currently is expected to amount to US$1.05.

While newspaper mobile apps have been around for a while, only a few such as The Khaleej Times were able to gain profits by taking over everyday human interaction. Khaleej Times is a popular daily newspaper app that broadcasts information about sports, education and entertainment. The last known revenue generated by Khaleej Times news app was $10 million. 

Therefore, If you are looking to invest in newspaper app development similar to Khaleej Times, this article talks about newspaper mobile app cost, news app features and how you can develop a news app like Khaleej Times.

How Much Does it Cost to Build a  Newspaper Application?

The general MVP news app development cost estimate ranges between $15,000 to $20,000 for a basic app. However, the range may vary, if you wish to add advanced features to your app. A high-end news app allowing more user action costs around $35,000 to $50,000 and above. 

This news app development cost range highly depends on several development factors including the app development features, the app development platform, tech stack, outsourced news app development team etc. Let’s glance through these factors for a better understanding. 

Five Factors That Contribute To Your News App Development Cost

Here is a curated list of factors that you can consider before finalizing your news app development cost: 

1. Type of News app

Newspaper app development is typically categorized into two categories: News aggregator app and News resources app

News Aggregator App is the first category where all the incidents related to regional, national, and other vital headlines are covered worldwide. With a few clicks,users can check the top headlines on the app. The app displays news that engages users and motivates them to use it frequently. 

The second category is the development of mobile apps for news resources. This kind of app is developed mostly by newspaper and web media publishers. You can create the latest news app version for your daily news to entice and engage the number of readers worldwide. It allows users to read about the incident in real time, and they will get to know about what’s happening in the share market and business world. 

News resources apps comprise varied distinctive functionalities and may cost higher than the aggregator apps.

2. News app development platform

iOS vs Android: which platform is better for news mobile app development? The answer relies on your project requirements. Android serves a varied and more diverse range of audience, however, the time spent on Android app testing is relatively higher than iOS app testing. Moreover, higher development time results in higher development cost. 

On the other hand, the iOS platform is less complicated and good in revenue generation. No matter what platform you choose, make sure both platforms are compatible with the latest and earlier versions of the device.

3. Development type: Native or Hybrid

Most businesses prefer building apps on both native and hybrid platforms to scale their business prospects. When it comes to news app development cost, hybrid apps offer the development of cross-platform apps and are relatively less costly than native apps. 

However, if your priority is delivering best experience and premium performance through your app, experts suggest taking a native app development approach. 

Also Read- For detailed insights, read why businesses choose react native over hybrid.

4. News app development team

The choice you make on hiring a freelancing team or outsourcing an experienced news app development company will directly impact your budget to develop a news app like Khaleej Times. 

Hiring freelancers may entice you once, but it involves huge costs in the future. Also, a freelancer never guarantees the quality of outcome as a mobile app development company does. If you want to focus on your core responsibilities, it’s better to outsource a news app development company that can take responsibility for the entire app development cycle. It is one of the most significant factors that affect your overall news app development and app maintenance cost.

5. News app features

Developing an app with basic and mindful features, third-party integrations, frameworks, and libraries is crucial. It enhances the app functionality and lets you navigate faster. 

However, if the app is integrated with advanced features such as payment gateway integration, audio and video playback setting etc, the development cost would be comparatively higher. Speaking of which, let’s discuss in detail the basic and advanced news app features that you can include in your app. 

Basic and Advanced News App Features That Impact Your News App Development Cost

If you plan to build an engaging mobile app like Khaleej Times, here is a 79-point mobile app development all-inclusive checklist to answer all your “how to develop a news app” questions.

So far, we have covered the relative factors that sum up the overall budget of your news app development. Now, let’s focus on the news app features required to make your app engaging and intuitive to your audience.  Let’s begin with the basic features:

1. Login or registration

Log-in or registration feature is critical. Your users must be able to create a profile by logging in through their email address or their mobile number. Users should also be allowed to log in using their social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. 

Allowing these social media accounts to link with your app is a wise choice as the users can easily share any news on such socials.

2. User profile

When a user has a profile, it becomes easier to suggest content according to their interests and past search results. These profiles can also be used to create engagement on any of the news content, eventually increasing the reach.

3. Filter search option

Having a filter in the search bar allows users to search specific news and lets you know what kind of content your readers are looking for. A search can be filtered according to location, keyword, date, or latest trending news.

4. Push notifications

According to the stats reported by customer support company Helplama, one weekly push notification will cause 10% of users to disable app push notifications. Therefore, it is important to incorporate a strategic push notification feature that is engaging and welcoming to its users and helpful to your app conversion rate. 

You might also want to read: How to build a push notification strategy to maximize your app conversion rate.

5. Filter the feed

Filtering helps determine what users want and do not want to see. Usually, this is done by having a ‘Don’t show this to me’ option on every news post. The more optimized feed a user will have, the more time they spend on the app.

6. Offline reading option

Most users prefer saving an exciting piece of content for later, and the same offline reading option should be used. This feature allows users to save content to read in an offline mode. This feature helps when there is no internet, or the internet connection is slow.

7. All media-inclusive

Words are not enough to make a piece of content interesting, and that’s when images, videos, and audio come into the picture. The app should support all media types, including GIFs, PDFs, slides, etc. This gives more flexibility to deliver the right message and express it properly.

8. Like, comment and share

This is the most common feature to engage any audience and should not be eliminated in a news app. The option to engage and the ability to share a piece of news makes the whole user experience memorable. 

While a news app with basic features mentioned above would do well in the industry, you might also want to look at some of the advanced Features that can make a news app stand apart. 

Please note that incorporating advanced features directly increases the range of your news app development cost. Here is a curated list of popular advanced news app features: 

1. Text customization

This advanced feature allows you to customize the text based on color, size, and font style. You can design the text the way you want.

2. Audio format

Reading full news articles takes most of your time, and today’s readers want all the news in one go. You can develop an app that allows users to convert the news into audio format.

3. Video integration

 You can develop an app that increases user engagement and makes your app more interesting. Make sure you integrate  video files into your news app. You can broadcast live news, record news items, and other political debates on your app by incorporating video resources.

4. Live streaming

 Live streaming is one of the great additions in your news app that permits users to watch live news on the app. It will increase the user retention rate.

Incorporating these advanced news app features into your news app will increase your overall app development time and cost. But at the same time, engage your customers with best-in-class features.

Another factor that usually businesses miss out while developing a news app is the app monetization strategy. The process of generating ROI from a news app is slightly different that the typical business apps. Let’s glance through possible ways of making money using news app development. 

App Monetization Strategies For News App

It does not matter how much money you have put into the news app development as long as it gives a good return on the investment. In order to maximize the return on investment on your news app, you can follow the top three monetization practices mentioned below:

1. Subscription

Just like users have a subscription to printed newspapers, you can apply the same method to deliver quality content to users in exchange for a fee. News apps like NYTimes have this method where they offer a certain number of free articles to readers, and if they wish to read more than that, they have to get a subscription.

2. Advertisement

Businesses spent more than $200 billion on mobile app advertisements which is a great source of revenue for news app businesses. Personalized ads for businesses can get you started and can be an excellent option to customize advertisements as per the reader’s interests.

3. Campaign for Sponsors

Running a personalized campaign for sponsors on your news mobile app is another way of revenue. Tickets to shows or events can be sold on the app, which can also be done for a specific location or group of people with similar interests.

You may also want to check : A guide to how business mobile apps make money

While we have covered all the factors associated with newspaper mobile app cost, it wouldn’t harm to discover parameters to help you build a popular news app like Khaleej Times. 

How Can You Develop A News App Like Khaleej Times? 

Since plentiful varieties exist in the news app niche, it becomes very important to craft the app in the right and appealing ways. 

Major sections such as elections, sports, politics etc are the major news formats that are enticing to today’s news readers. Thus, focus on making the entire newspaper on demand app digitized and at the same time appealing. In order to do so, you can follow the below parameters to make sure your newspaper mobile app development is going in the right direction. 

1. Understand Your target audience

Developing a newspaper mobile app is all about delivering rapid news updates and meeting readers’ needs by offering quality news content and making it fascinating. Make sure your app answers all your queries.

2. Use right format

It is worth noting that your app should be more engaging and interesting, covering local, regional news and categories like fashion, lifestyle, politics, stock market, etc. For this, you can hire an experienced news app development company to redesign the app structure enabling users to directly tap on the news section they are interested in reading.

3. Maintain content quality

Delivering high-quality content to your users helps you gain customer attention. You need to ensure that content is premium, error-free, authentic, and constantly monitored by the subject experts.

4. Analyze market competition

 You need to evaluate competitors and understand their marketing strategies to serve the best services. You must ensure that your newspaper mobile app is more interesting, engaging, and informative. 

Adding features and functionalities can be the biggest game-changer of your app. Consider these parameters and ensure your app design is attractive, simple, and engaging to the users, enabling them to grab their attention and retain them.

To get your hands on complete mobile app development, you can explore a complete guide on mobile app development for businesses

How can Appinventiv Help You Build a News App?

Appinventiv is a trusted news app development company with an excellent track record of creating news apps that entice and engage the publishing industry. The team at Appinventiv offers best news app solutions that ultimately result in an increased engagement rate, greater social media presence, and higher reader retention.

Contact our news app development experts to get yourself a brilliant news app.

FAQs on News App Development

Q. How much does it cost to develop a news app?

A. Developing a newspaper mobile app could range from $15,000 to $45,000 and more based on adobe mentioned factors. Make sure to get an accurate news app estimate cost from industry professionals like Appinventiv to make your app market ready.

Q. How much does it cost to build a custom news mobile app?

A. The cost of building a custom news app might depend on app complexity and other factors like features, team size, and the tech stack used. You can check out mobile app development costs in 2023 to get further details.’

Q. How much do mobile app developers charge in the US?

A. The mobile app development charges can be increased with the complexity of the app. It is best to contact a reliable mobile app development company and discuss potential costs to your app project.

THE AUTHOR

Sudeep Srivastava

Co-Founder and Director