How do publishers acquire new readers, keep them and make money out of them (conversion and monetisation)? This is the question which Jim Edwards sought to answer for Press Gazette in the first of a new series of “Ultimate Guides” for publishers.
Jim spoke to leading publishers to share their insights for the guide, which also includes new data revealing subscriber conversion rates for 25 of the top subscription news websites in the world.
Introducing the ten-page special report, former Insider editor-in-chief Edwards said: “It’s getting harder to reach new readers, harder to fund free news with advertising, and harder to turn casual eyeballs into paying customers because the major tech platforms have turned away from news.
“The days of being able to fund a newsroom with viral Facebook traffic and a good programmatic ad stack are behind us.
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“Now, publishers are being forced to rethink the ‘acquisition funnel’ when it comes to users.
“It means developing your own audience strategies to persuade readers to come directly to you, skipping the platforms completely, collecting their data and attributing sales to them. The good news is, many publishers are already figuring this out.”
An exclusive ranking of subscription newsbrands with the highest ratio of digital subscribers to online audience included in the guide finds The Athletic and News Corp financial newsbrand Barron’s topping the list with a conversion rate of above or close to 20%. This conversion rate metric was worked out by dividing monthly visitors by total subscribers.
They were followed by Wall Street Journal with 24.7 million monthly visitors and 2.7 million subscribers, giving it a conversion rate of 15%.
The guide concludes with eight key action points for publishers seeking to improve their acquisition and conversion rates.
These are headlined around: technology hostility, ad revenue challenges, shifting acquisition strategies, engagement and data collection, diversification of revenue streams, walled garden strategies and challenges around the mass traffic model.
Expert sources quoted in the Press Gazette Ultimate Guide to Acquisition, Conversion and Monetisation for Publishers include:
- Chief revenue officer at Reach, Piers North
- Independent chief data and marketing officer Jo Holdaway
- Citywire founder Richard Lander
- Vice president for digital at Welt Michael Reiner
- Mill Media founder Joshi Herrmann
- And Scott Messer, founder of Messer Media.
This Press Gazette guide was made possible thanks to sponsorship from Norkon, the live reporting platform for publishers.
Share your email via this link to download the guide.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
