Over the past year, the news ecosystem has seen some major shifts: declining social media traffic as Facebook and X de-prioritize news, changes in Google’s algorithms, not to mention privacy and artificial intelligence regulations. All of these developments have encouraged publishers to think more about time on site, data, audiences, and especially subscriptions.

However, charging for newspapers has never been easy. It is not as simple as blocking readers and asking them to pay. Some newspapers have become “experts” in this matter and are doing very well with positive subscription growth rates year after year.

Increase "ask" decrease "collect"

The Guardian, a British newspaper, is a remarkable story of turnaround in the world of journalism. In 2016, The Guardian was still losing money, about $89 million a year. Although the 200-year-old paper attracted a large readership and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2014, that success did not translate into money.

By the end of 2017, however, the outlook was very different. The effort to reboot readership was paying off. The Guardian’s paid subscribers had grown from 12,000 to more than 300,000 in a single year. In 2021, the paper announced it had reached 1 million members. In 2022, the Guardian announced its highest financial results since 2008, with annual revenue for the Guardian Media group rising 13% to £255.8m.

This achievement is all the more remarkable given that The Guardian does not charge users a subscription fee. Since 1936, the Scott Trust has overseen the paper to ensure its independence. The paper says it has no shareholders or wealthy owners, but “a determination and passion to deliver high-impact journalism, always free from political and commercial influence.”

Instead of charging a fee, The Guardian asks readers to donate. When you finish an article on the website, you’ll see how many you’ve read so far this year. It’s a subtle reminder that you’re getting value from the paper. The higher the number, the more likely you are to feel obligated to dig into your wallet and donate.

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The Guardian does not charge readers in the usual way but asks people to donate to support “independent journalism”. Photo: Press Gazette.

In addition, the appeal for donations emphasizes The Guardian’s “unique” value as the world’s most trusted independent source of news. It works when readers feel anxious about life’s problems and turn to journalism as a solution.

The Guardian understands that not everyone can afford a standard subscription. So rather than turn away interested readers, they offer different donation options, one-off or recurring, so readers can decide for themselves. Additionally, on the landing page, readers learn what benefits they get with each option, such as exclusive newsletters, exclusive ad-free news apps. This is especially important for a publication as open as The Guardian.

Finally, the editorial team also mentioned impressive numbers like “Join the more than 250,000 readers in the US who regularly support us to keep journalism alive” to convince people that they can trust The Guardian. Combined, these points provide an incentive for readers to donate to their favorite newspaper.

Smooth coordination of free and paid

In 2019, fashion bible ELLE began establishing a predictable, recurring revenue stream through digital subscriptions without compromising their SEO, traffic, or ad-based revenue. Five years later, ELLE’s freemium model has been a huge success, with ad revenue growing thanks to the ability to collect valuable first-party data through subscriptions.

According to Matthieu Atlani, Director of User Interface at CMI France, the owner of ELLE, when implementing ELLE Premium, they faced three strategic challenges: diversifying revenue sources, expanding the readership and rejuvenating the readership, and respecting core values. They needed to determine the amount of content to include in Premium and on the website and application based on data.

A common problem for news publishers is that their paid content is often overlooked on their websites. About half of readers get lost in the news maze and people often don’t reach paid articles. Therefore, it is important that the paid section is prominently displayed on the page to guide people and help them discover the value of paid content.

ELLE does this by attaching a call-to-action icon to the post, adding a promotional banner at the bottom, and including a brightly colored tag that clearly states this is paid content.

According to ELLE’s tech partner, frequent paywall changes have a positive impact on conversion rates. The magazine continues to test and tweak paywall designs and colors to reduce boredom and restore click-through and conversion rates. Whether tweaking for summer, shopping season, or the end of the year, they resonate with readers.

Another way to increase conversions is to tailor your paywall to your user engagement. ELLE adapts to where your readers are, whether they’re on mobile or desktop, reading political news or entertainment…

Finally, ELLE reduced the friction of signing up for a paywall by reducing the space between fields on the sign-up page and consolidating every action at a user’s fingertips. Adding tags for easy sign-up and sign-in, as well as bolding “sign up,” significantly improved conversions.

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Register before charging

This is how Bloomberg, the world’s leading financial news agency, has grown to more than 500,000 subscribers after five years of introducing a paywall. In 2018, Bloomberg introduced a flexible fee structure, but in 2022, the newspaper introduced registration, primarily for new users. By sharing an email, readers will have a Bloomberg profile and access to more content before hitting the paywall.

Bloomberg also adjusts based on the source of traffic. For example, readers coming from the Reddit forum will see a soft subscription wall, offering five free articles within 30 days of signing up to increase engagement.

Bloomberg has programmed its sign-up wall to be visible to most new users, and it uses it to test valuable stories that have the potential to reach a wide audience and attract repeat readers. It has also adopted a paywall-removing strategy for key events, such as Bloomberg Green stories during the COP.

Bloomberg said it designed a series of emails for users to sign up, each aimed at increasing engagement (e.g., Sign up for a new newsletter) or conversion rate (e.g., Get a limited-time offer for $1.99/month).

Users are encouraged to sign up for newsletters, download the app, and watch Bloomberg TV — activities that can lead to higher subscriptions; complete their Bloomberg profiles, such as updating their job title and industry; listen to podcasts, and use the Watchlist tool.

More importantly, subscribing means readers get to experience the value of a paid plan, understanding why it's worth it instead of just reading some information on the web.

According to Bloomberg Chief Digital Officer Julie Beizer, they spend a lot of time nurturing and engaging users. If users use a product every day and see value, they will want to stay. When it comes to subscription growth strategies, Beizer says it’s important to think about your audience first and then make decisions.

Box: The success of a paid subscription depends on many factors such as design, frequency of display, format (full screen, in-article or footer), number of free articles offered, landing page strength… Doing any of these poorly will drive away potential payers and hinder sustainable revenue.

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