I send out this newsletter every 2 weeks, and I promise you EVERY time it falls on a week when we have a Festival 😂 But so excited to share articles from our time in Hamburg!
But so many great subscription success stories coming in at the moment. Plenty in today's newsletter:
Lessons on breaking the subscription plateau from Forum Communications' Chief Revenue Officer
For many, subscriptions are rising even as traffic shrinks
Behind The Guardian's record-breaking end-of-year campaign
Links to add to your reading list (including a debate on whether the NYT is still a news company...)
Lessons on breaking the subscription plateau from Forum Communications
Don’t overlook the subscriber acquisition goldmine that is archived content !
As publishers, we tend to obsess over today’s headlines.
At Forum Communications, they decided to looked at 30+ day-old content.
Stephanie Schroeder, Chief Revenue Officer, told me that when they checked Google Analytics, they discovered that ~10% of page-views were on articles older than 30 days.
And unlike homepage traffic, this content is typically accessed via search, social and direct links, which means users are actively seeking out this content.
> High intent = high propensity
So they tested hard paywalling 30+ day-old articles.
The results: > Conversion rate doubled compared to standard paywalls > 15–20% of all subscription conversions now come from archived content walls
(and no, they didn’t notice any negative SEO impacts as a result of this change!)
> This is just 1 of the many small tweaks that have culminated to having a big impact on helping Forum Communications to break the subscription plateau
Ever thought "I'd love to know what tech other publishers use" ? Or maybe more like "Which tech do publishers LOVE using"?
Well you'll soon be able to answer both of these, across marketing, editorial & tech, thanks to Sciences Po's Tech Stack Study!
🇫🇷 Since 2021, The Tech Stack Study has helped French publishers to evaluate which technology to use for each part of their stack.
🎯 The goal: to build a shared, anonymised industry reference to help us all make better decisions.
🌍 Today, the Study is becoming international!
But before we can release a valuable report, we need you to share information on your tech stack: - Which tools do you use (marketing/subscription, editorial, tech)? - Why did you chose them? - How satisfied are you with this tool?
The more publishers who fill out the survey, the more valuable the results! (and it barely takes 10 mins per team)
The future of media, and the survival of journalism isn't about page views, but relationships.
Behind The Guardian’s record-breaking US End of Year campaign
The Guardian's end-of-year support campaign, running from early November, through Giving Tuesday and on to midnight on December 31st, is the most critical window in their financial calendar.
And their 2025 EOY campaign surpassed expectations:
$3.1M total raised in cash (beating the $3M goal).
$8.6M lifetime value including recurring gifts.
An 83% increase in value over the 2023 baseline
So what were the secrets behind this success?
> Phasing, using lessons built up through the year:
The campaign isn't a single burst of energy but a carefully choreographed sequence that leverages cultural and political moments.
For instance, the campaign starts early, in November, launching on the anniversary of Trump’s 2024 victory to lean into the “defense of the free press” mission)
> Test & optimize in real time:
While traditional A/B testing is the industry standard, it’s often too slow for the “winner-takes-all” windows of Giving Tuesday or New Year’s Eve. To combat this, the Guardian team uses multi-armed bandit testing to optimize messaging in real-time
> Deeply root the campaign in the newsroom:
Georgia Warren, US Executive Editor and VP, Reader and Supporter Strategy at The Guardian, serves as a bridge between journalists and commercial teams.
Every public-facing module is reviewed by an editorial eye to ensure the tone is a seamless extension of the journalism, not a jarring commercial break
Audiencers is a B2B media & community by Poool. We provide digital media with a dynamic journey builder to boost subscription conversion, engagement, and loyalty — delivering autonomy, speed and results.
Think dynamic paywalls, engagement-increasing banners and pop-ups, onboarding journeys, anti-churn modules, subscription offer pages... the potential case study list is endless!
