Alma Media has reshaped its products and user experience by using AI and first-party data to better understand its readers and deliver more personalised journalism. 

The Finnish media company, which operates across 11 European countries, has integrated AI into its paywalls, registration strategies, and product features to strengthen direct reader relationships in what its executives describe as a “post-platform era,” during recent INMA Webinar How to Use AI to Gather First-Party Data.

At the center of this transformation is Kauppalehti, Alma Media’s leading financial daily, where AI-driven tools now determine when to show a paywall, when to prompt users to register, and when to leave articles open.

By combining real-time audience signals with content analysis, the outlet has increased registrations and boosted daily active users, while maintaining editorial integrity and reach.

Johanna Strandholm, vice president of content business, said the company’s work with AI has led to several key insights: Registrations are as strategically important as subscriptions; older content can be just as effective as new stories in converting users; and timing matters more than volume when it comes to asking readers to sign up.

First-party data initiatives succeed only when they are treated as organisation-wide projects, not purely technical experiments, she said:

“Acquiring registrations today is just as challenging as acquiring paying subscribers, and it needs to be taken just as seriously. AI helps us find the right moment to show a registration wall and remove unnecessary friction from the reader experience. We’ve also learned that older content can perform extremely well if the reader is motivated at that moment.”

From anonymous traffic to logged-in users

For Alma Media, the shift toward first-party data is closely tied to the decline of third-party cookies and platform-dependent traffic. Logged-in users, Strandholm explained, are consistently more valuable than anonymous readers, both in terms of engagement and advertising revenue. That insight has shaped how the company measures success and evaluates product decisions.

Rather than focusing only on subscriptions, Alma Media now treats registration as the first step in a long-term relationship. In this model, paywalls function not just as revenue tools but as identity tools that help the company understand who its readers are and how they use content.

“Registration is the beginning of a customer relationship, and it should be treated with that seriousness,” Strandholm said. “If you offer registration at the right moment, you can create more permanent users and open the door to collecting more data over time.”

Product features that create habits 

Much of Alma Media’s first-party data strategy is driven by product development rather than hard access restrictions. At Kauppalehti, many features are built around market data, an information utility that naturally encourages habitual use, similar to weather updates.

Tools like My Portfolio, which allows users to track assets independently of banks, have proven especially effective in driving repeat visits and registrations. These features, Strandholm said, must deliver clear value if they require users to sign up.

“If you create products that demand registration, they really need to be good,” she said. “People need a reason to come back, and that reason has to be genuine value, not just curiosity.”

AI-powered paywalls and real-time decisions 

The most significant shift came when Alma Media adopted an AI-powered dynamic paywall system that evaluates reader behaviour and content propensity in real time. Instead of relying on static rules, the system decides whether to show a paywall, a registration wall, or no barrier at all during each session.

This approach allows articles to remain open when conversion is unlikely, reducing frustration, while surfacing registration prompts when users are most receptive. The result has been a sharp increase in registrations without sacrificing reach or advertising inventory.

“We wanted a smarter solution that could evaluate both the audience and the content in real time,” Strandholm said. “The goal was to remove unnecessary friction and still respect editorial integrity.”

AI as a test-and-learn tool, not a silver bullet

Alma Media has also experimented with AI-driven features such as chatbots built on its archive of journalism. While these tools appeal primarily to logged-in users, they have reinforced an important lesson: Simply adding AI does not automatically generate new registrations.

Instead, Strandholm sees AI as a way to test hypotheses, learn from audience behaviour, and refine when and how readers are invited to engage more deeply with the product.

“AI can help us spot the right moment to initiate a relationship, but it doesn’t replace the need for strong journalism and useful products,” she said. “The technology supports the strategy, it doesn’t define it.” 

Organisational buy-in matters more than technology

One of the clearest lessons from Alma Media’s experience is that AI and first-party data projects succeed or fail based on organisational alignment. Strandholm stressed the importance of transparency, shared metrics, and continuous communication across editorial, product, and business teams.

Dashboards that clearly show performance, experimentation with low-risk test phases, and open discussions about results have helped reduce skepticism and build trust internally.

“The technology is not the hardest part,” she said. “The real work is mindset, getting people to understand what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how it supports the reader in the long run.”

Banner art by Adobe Stock By Gorodenkoff.

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