The Upday app is used by millions of people to catch up with the news, but unless you own a Samsung Galaxy phone, you probably won't have heard of it — yet.
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Upday, a news-headlines app that learns what you want to read, is Samsung's new weapon against Apple News
Upday's advantage is no fake news, and no ad-blocking.
The Upday app
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The app acts as a curated aggregator, pulling in stories from different news sources like the Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, and the BBC. The concept is similar to Apple News and, in some ways, is Samsung's new, underdog weapon against the rival app on iPhone.
It ranks stories by importance and, as you use the app over time, it learns what sort of headlines interest you and adapts accordingly. The company also employs a team of editors who can feature stories or send push alerts to users when important news breaks.
Stories show as "cards," which you swipe through.
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Every now and then, you'll see an ad among the cards. According to Upday's UK managing director, Robin Hough, you'll see an ad every four to eight cards.
Stories are pulled in from the RSS feeds of publishers like the BBC and, yes, Business Insider. They're generally sorted algorithmically, but top stories are curated by Upday's local editorial teams. Each country has a "quality content team" that makes sure Upday isn't pulling in fake news.
So far, so news aggregator. What's unusual about Upday is that it's a joint venture between German publisher Axel Springer (which owns Business Insider), and Samsung. That means it's only available on Samsung devices — if you own any other brand of phone, you can't download it. More on that relationship later.
The app launched on the Galaxy S7 last year, and is now available on the new S8, the cheaper J Series of phones, and the Gear 2 smartwatch, among other devices.
According to Hough, Upday currently has 11 million monthly unique users, but it has only launched in a few countries. Upday expanded from its four original markets last March — France, the UK, Germany, and Poland — to 16 territories in total. Crucially, it has yet to launch in the US. That should mean that 11 million user number goes up, Hough said, as the teams in each country bed in. As a comparison, Apple News has 70 million users globally, according to November 2016 figures.
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The app comes pre-installed on Samsung devices. That means Upday skips an app marketing hurdle because it doesn't have to spend any money buying an audience — it just has to persuade people to open the app and stay engaged.
"You can't please everybody," Hough said of users who don't like pre-installed apps. "We want to be a one-stop shop. There's no fake news, and no filter bubble." Also, Samsung doesn't use Upday as a free marketing channel — Samsung is a paying advertiser that gets treated just like any other brand on the app, Hough says.
Then there is the fact Upday might be vulnerable to any sudden changes in direction from Samsung. The firm might build its own news app, or simply scrap the Upday partnership altogether. What then?
But Hough is outwardly confident.
"At the moment, our relationship is totally wedded to Samsung," he said. "We are very close to them, we have a great relationship, and they seem to be going from strength to strength. Obviously, we're integrated into their premium phones — during the S8 launch there was a reference to Upday."
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What is in Hough's control is trying to turn Upday into a household name, and enticing more advertisers on board.
So far it's going well, with the firm in "rude health" commercially.
Samsung is the biggest smartphone maker in the world, according to TrendForce, meaning there are hundreds of millions of Samsung devices out there with the Upday app installed. As we know, Upday's usage is in the tens of millions.
Hough added that people spend more than five minutes a day on Upday. That's higher than the average for any given app, which is around four minutes.
Upday tends to have "premium brand" advertisers, such as Microsoft Cloud, Audi, and VW he added, who are attracted by the type of user who can afford a premium Samsung phone.
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The three formats are display — full-screen ads that take the same card format as Upday's news stories; a native format which sends you to the advertiser's website; and sponsored content.
Not everyone sees the same ads, either. Given Upday knows what kind of news interests you, it can target ads that are more likely to get you to click.
The next step is pushing up that user growth number.
"We're expecting massive growth," he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Samsung uses Upday as free channel to push its own content. That was a mistake — Upday says Samsung is a paying advertiser inside Upday like any other client. Apologies for the error.
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