Subscriptions Workshop

Doors open to the Westin workshop room at this time. Pick up your badge and registration credentials for World Congress in advance of the workshop – and network with peers with a welcome coffee.

Where subscriptions are going next for news media is the focus of this half-day workshop curated by Readers First Initiative Lead Greg Piechota.

INMA remains at the forefront of media subscriptions, and this opening keynote will bring you up to date on what news companies need to know in this fast-moving space. Learn more about the big trends in 2023: how digital subscriptions are shifting from volume to value, the emerging subscription segments for media, and how to organise for subscription growth.

Amid the market headwinds, such as rising costs and slowdown in advertising, we see mature subscription programs shift focus from growing market share to profits. But how to increase prices when consumers’ budgets are tight? How to retain subscribers when news cycles are low? How to create lasting value so they don’t think about leaving?

Identifying, reaching, and habituating new audiences remains essential for scaling subscriptions In the post-pandemic world. But how to talk to new audiences when many actually avoid the news? How to expand demographically, geographically, and across political, societal, and economic divisions and stay true to our brands and values? How to claim consumers’ time spent not only on reading but also on listening and watching?

INMA’s Subscription Benchmark Service links performance to long-term strategy but also internal alignment, operational excellence, and readers-first culture. But how to get any alignment when advertising and reader revenue goals collide? How to make people collaborate when internal walls are still high? How to run more experiments when people even don’t look at the data?

How to acquire and engage news subscribers amid the attention recession and economic slowdown is the focus of this case study presentation. Walk away with practical ideas, smart segmentation, attracting casual and out-of-market readers, and best practices in pricing.

In this case study, learn how a leading news brand converts trialists to full price and upgrades long-time subscribers, adds features to subscriptions to make them indispensable, personalises the way one talks to subscribers, and predict which relationships are worth saving.

Subscription bundling remains one of the hottest trends among the elite media brands, yet is inconsistent with many local brands. In this session, learn what is working in subscription bundling – and, importantly, what is not living up to the hype.

After takeaways from today’s workshop, learn what the Readers First Initiative is doing next – and how you and your teams can participate.