An aggregator that sends audiences direct to content on publisher sites is music to media owners' ears. Monetising audiences via the big tech aggregators is one of the biggest challenges facing news media - compounded as audiences are encouraged to stay in-app.

With 20m active monthly users, SmartNews remains a minnow in the global market, but says its U.S. audience is growing six-fold year on year, and thinks the 2020 U.S. elections will turbocharge that growth with citizens hungry for quality, trustworthy news.

Another aspect that separates the technology from algorithms used by big tech is its focus on broadening reader horizons, potentially introducing audiences to new platforms and publishers.

"Personalisation makes people's interests narrower, in general," founder and CEO Ken Suzuki told Bloomberg. "We try to use personalisation technology to expand those interests."

Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab reported earlier this year that SmartNews is the ‘most reliably growing external referrer’ in the U.S.

The Lab’s next question, and that on publisher’s lips, is whether SmartNews can take the next step – and start driving subscriptions.