These are definitely some of the worst. Small-time news sites all push some wretched app they bought off a CDN, and any niche tech news site feels unimportant if it doesn't push an app on every visitor.

Meanwhile I have BBC's rather pleasant news app, and consume my other news in-browser or off-phone.

So, while I agree with you: do they care I you read the article? They probably don't make any money off of you at all: you are just a waste of their resources. Actual local customers might be slightly more interested in their app, and the app may be something that massively ups their revenue in some indirect way.

I have to wonder if it's worthwhile though. Aren't they also chasing away a lot of potential local readers? If there's two or three local news options in my locality, I'm going to settle on the one that's least annoying. I don't disagree with your proposed logic, but I think they're mistaken in believing that only non locals will bounce.

They probably don't care about the locals who bounce either. Readers who won't pay and who won't even download an app are just parasites.

But how else are they going to push-notify you about their new Local Deals section comprised of ads?

You get what you pay for!