In a time of rapid transformation and shifting consumer behaviours, the news media industry must navigate the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. This includes finding strategic solutions to balancing different revenue models, such as subscriptions vs. advertising or online vs. offline. 

During INMA’s Media Subscriptions Summit, speakers from Bloomberg News, Fortune Media, and The Atlantic discussed common pitfalls in managing digital products and how to ensure a great user experience without sacrificing revenue opportunities.

Bloomberg Media

Bloomberg Media in the United States has adopted a strategic focus that marries the company’s objectives with its audience’s expectations through an “audience-first” approach.

This strategy highlights the nuanced decisions required to harmonise product development, content delivery, and revenue streams with deep audience engagement and satisfaction.

Marissa Zanetti-Crume, head of product at Bloomberg News, explained the company’s strategy has several pivotal trade-offs:

• Subscription paywalls vs. advertisement impressions: A balance between securing subscription revenue and maximising advertising impressions is crucial. The challenge lies in deciding how much content should remain free to attract a wide audience and generate ad revenue versus content that should be gated to encourage subscriptions. Achieving this balance is vital for long-term financial health and ensuring content remains accessible to grow the audience base. 

• Consumer vs. enterprise subscriptions: Bloomberg caters to individual and enterprise clients with unique needs and expectations. Consumer-focused content must be diverse and engaging, while enterprise solutions require in-depth data, analytics, and integration capabilities. Resource allocation between these segments significantly influences product and marketing strategy development. 
• Technical enhancements: Investments in technology to elevate the user experience require careful evaluation of the potential value to the audience compared to costs and resource allocation. Decisions revolve around prioritising new features, performance upgrades, and integrating third-party products that benefit the audience most.
• Portfolio promotion: With a vast array of content and services, effectively promoting the entire Bloomberg portfolio without overwhelming the audience involves curating and presenting content in a manner that ensures visibility for all offerings while keeping content relevant and engaging.
• Scale vs. engagement: To widen its reach while maintaining high engagement levels, Bloomberg Media seeks to balance general interest and niche content. This strategy ensures the content appeals to a broad audience without compromising the depth and quality that loyal users expect.

The audience-first strategy starts with a deep dive into understanding the audience’s needs, pain points, and preferences through data analytics, NPS surveys, customer interviews, and brand tracking. This foundational understanding informs targeted research and product development. 

Fortune Media 

Established in 1930, Fortune Media in Germany has consistently led the way in business journalism, documenting the global economy’s triumphs, challenges, and shifting paradigms.

However, the advent of the digital era introduced a fresh set of challenges and opportunities, necessitating a strategic overhaul of Fortune’s approach to content delivery and monetisation. 

Selma Stern, chief customer officer at Fortune Media, said the company’s transformation journey began with the launch of Fortune.com in 2014, marking its foray into digital. A paywall was deployed in 2020 and now Fortune’s global visitorship exceeds 25 million and its subscriber base surpasses 600,000.

At the heart of Fortune’s digital strategy is optimising revenue models, which involves balancing subscriber lifetime value (LTV) and advertising revenue per mille (RPM). Fortune’s methodology aims to maximise the value derived from every digital interaction.

By prioritising content quality, optimising page speed, aligning with the news cycle, and focusing on user engagement metrics, Fortune navigates real-time monetisation decisions to bolster revenue yield on a per-pageview basis. 

A crucial element of Fortune’s success has been its pricing optimisation and paywall targeting, significantly increasing the average revenue per user (ARPU) and paywall efficacy. This agile approach to monetisation mirrors a wider shift in media culture, transitioning from print-centric to digital-first.

It shows the transformative power of data-driven insights, the indispensability of dynamic paywall management, and the supportive role of technological infrastructure in facilitating AI-enhanced optimisation processes. 

“It turns out that was exactly the right decision,” Stern said. 

Fortune’s digital metamorphosis reflects a strategic pivot from merely balancing subscriber value against advertising revenues to a comprehensive digital experience optimisation.

By leveraging real-time data, emphasising content excellence, and employing technology for paywall management, Fortune significantly expanded its global audience and subscriber portfolio. 

The Atlantic 

The Atlantic is a pioneer in storytelling, investigative reporting, and fostering intellectual debate. It has a unique connection with its audience, thanks to its exploration of compelling ideas, publication of urgent essays, and dissemination of essential literature. 

In the past year alone, it has earned Emmy Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and the ASME for General Excellence. Such accolades underscore its dedication to delivering top-tier journalism across diverse topics, including family, politics, culture, global affairs, and technology. 

Megha Garibaldi, chief growth officer at The Atlantic, said the company wants to amass one million subscribers by the end of 2024, using a multifaceted revenue approach encompassing advertising, consumer subscriptions, institutional sales, and strategic partnerships.

The Atlantic is not merely focused on growth but is committed to cultivating a culture that values collaboration, sets clear goals, and adheres to core principles of truth, diversity, curiosity, and quality. 

The Atlantic champions a collaborative work culture that is deliberate and methodical in promoting a positive, inclusive workplace. This culture prioritises organisational achievements over individual accolades, fostering a spirit of unity and shared mission among employees.

At the heart of this collaborative spirit is emphasising building positive, cooperative relationships throughout the organisation. Recognising the importance of trust and openness, The Atlantic regularly engages in transparent information sharing, keeping all team members informed and actively involved. 

Cross-functional working groups are standard practice, encouraging participation from various teams and levels. This spurs innovation and creativity and ensures that multiple perspectives are considered in decision-making, leading to more comprehensive and effective outcomes. 

“Most of our big projects, or medium-sized projects for that matter, have a representative from editorial, advertising, product and tech, and consumer at the minimum,” Garibaldi said. “[This] allows people to understand the other teams’ business models and the way that they work.” 

Garibaldi emphasised that accountability is fundamental to this framework, with every level of the organisation having clearly defined responsibilities, including appointing directly responsible individuals (DRIs) for specific projects. This clarity of roles ensures focused and effective task execution.

Through these initiatives, The Atlantic has cultivated an organisational culture that supports its business objectives while embodying its fundamental values of rigour, diversity, curiosity, and quality. This collaboration is instrumental in driving the publication’s continued innovation and success.

The INMA Media Subscriptions Summit is sponsored by AdvantageCS, Chargebee, Chartbeat, Google, FT Strategies, Piano, United Robots, WordPress VIP, and Zuora.

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