Subscription drives worked, now firms are playing defence

Rich first-party data, engaged audiences, and a predictable revenue stream: subscriptions matter to publishers, with major firms now making significant hires to retain momentum.

Why it matters

Subscriptions have always been important to the publishing business, but as subscriptions expand into the business models of other industries, these techniques are becoming even more important to the broader field of marketing. This also raises the threat of subscription fatigue extending across industries.

What’s happening?

• Publisher marketing departments are investing heavily in staff to attract and, equally importantly, retain the strong growth made over the last 18 months, Digiday reports.
• News brands like the LA Times, which has a history of churn problems, is getting smarter with its use of first-party data to inform creative messaging and to test content against specific user segments. Running this operation has required the publisher to hire across a wide range of marketing skills, from media planners to retention and engagement specialists.
• For other publishers, strengthening a subscriber offer to maintain growth is less about competing on every front but about finding what distinguishes the brand and doing that extremely well.

Sourced from Digiday, WARC