Quality. Habit. Loyalty. A sustainable business model for journalism. Data-informed, Experiment driven, Journalism-focused Growth Strategies Martin Jönsson, Head of Editorial Development, Dagens Nyheter/Bonnier News INMA Subscriptions Summit, New York, Feb 27 2020
This is Bonnier News • 4 500 employees • 2 000 journalists • Revenue: 920 m USD • 1,3 m subscribers • 36 m pv/vv daily
Business press: Growing total number of subscribers
Local: HD/Sydsvenskan growth 2019
Tabloid : From 0 to 70 000 in a year
DN:s digital transformation 2015-2019 2017-2019 +26% total +182% digital only subscribers subscribers
Digital subscriber effect on earnings Reader revenue 2019: 72 % of total revenue Growth in reader revenue operations (revenue growth + lower costs) = 60% of EBITA 2019
4 stages of growth • Paid content & conversion EDITORIAL • Acquisition READER REVENUE • Optimization/work flow • Anti-churn • Engagement • Lower costs • Habit • Integration & upsell • DIGITAL QUALITY BUILDS DIGITAL LOYALTY
10 things we (may) do differently
We plan and publish as if print did not exist • Optimize publication times for each individual story • Total make-over of newsroom culture, to mobile first • Strong focus on habit-forming and loyalty • Major shift in audience, grow in new market areas, • 75 % of page views on mobile, 82 % direct traffic
We never show that we have a paywall • The paywall changes over time and between individuals • Talk about value, not borders • We show what you get as a subscriber
We don’t have a paywall. We have many. • We developed a ” dynamic, data-infused, hybrid paywall solution ” • Our metered & premium models = 35-40 % of all conversions • Our dashboard model (puts high-performing content behind a paywall after 3-4 hours) = 60-65 %
We have no fixed prices. • Offer packages based on propensity to pay • Optimize life time net value (margins) • Do ridiculous amounts of A/B-testing • Offer upsells/change of payment method directly at first sell • Use product innovation to upsell • Use give away-flow to reward loyal subscribers
Our editor-in-chief is also our CMO • Truly cross functional organisation • Agile processes links newsroom, analytics, developers and reader revenue staff and fosters faster innovation • First meeting of the day: yesterday’s conversions & churn • Newsroom focus on engagement, habit & loyalty
We have cancelled most external campaigns • Telemarketing down from 40 % to 3 % in three years • Cut down drastically on social media marketing • Only use in-house agency and mostly our own channels or crossselling within the Bonnier News ecosystem
Our ads and reader revenue departments work together • Yeah. Really! • Offer free trial periods to customers to large advertisers • Conversions rate up to 20 %. And cost-free marketing. • Create integrated deals
We have shitloads of dashboards. And everyone uses them. • Data informed, not data driven • Total transparency around data • Focus on quality metrics: total reading time, active days, the number of articles read per logged in user
We don't believe in algorithms & personalization • (Almost true, actually) • Editored packaging increases reader engagement • Focus on prolonging the shelf life of great stories: repackaging for discovery • Strong reader views on personal integrity
And yeah, we just bought our own train • Uppselling in new market areas • ”Journalism on rail” • Innovate in 360 degrees
Some final words on churn
Thank you! martin.jonsson@dn.se
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