INMA today released The Keys to Paywalls From 8 Subscription Masters, a new report exploring how leading news organisations are rethinking subscription strategies as growth slows and audience behaviour shifts.

Authored by INMA Researcher-in-Residence Greg Piechota, who heads the INMA Readers First Initiative, the report synthesises interviews with eight global subscription leaders and industry experts, offering a practical, experience-driven view of what is working — and what is changing — in reader revenue models today. 

At a time when digital subscriptions have become the news industry’s default growth engine, the report finds the model under increasing pressure: Acquisition is harder, retention remains the key constraint, and discovery is fragmenting across platforms and AI-driven interfaces.

“The paywall is not the model,” Piechota writes. “It is only one part of a system publishers need to build.” 

The report synthesises interviews conducted between March 2025 and March 2026 with senior executives and experts from across the global news media ecosystem, including:

• The Economist
  

• El País (Prisa Media)
  

• Le Monde
  

• Financial Times

• The Guardian
  

• Substack 

As well as leading independent experts shaping subscription strategy:

• Robbie Kellman Baxter
  

• Robert Skrob 

Together, these perspectives span a wide range of models — from premium subscriptions and bundled offers to voluntary contributions and creator-led platforms — reflecting the diversity of approaches emerging across the industry. 

The report concludes that the next phase of subscription growth will not come from optimising paywalls alone but from aligning product, audience, and business models into cohesive systems designed for long-term engagement. 

Across the interviews, five consistent priorities emerge:

• Compete on value, not access: In a world of abundant information, readers pay for insight, context, and usefulness — not just headlines.
  

• Build direct relationships at scale: First-party data and owned channels are critical to pricing power and resilience.
  

• Design for frequent use: Habit and engagement are stronger predictors of retention than reach.
  

• Expand beyond a single product: Growth comes from portfolios — subscriptions, bundles, and premium offers — not one-size-fits-all models.
  

• Shift focus from acquisition to retention: Long-term value is driven by keeping the right customers, not just acquiring more. 

A central theme of the report is the evolution of subscriptions from transactional models to relationship-driven systems.

Insights from contributors such as Robbie Kellman Baxter and Robert Skrob highlight the growing importance of retention, onboarding, and long-term customer value.

The report also explores structural industry shifts, including:

• The rise of creator-led models through platforms like Substack.
  

• The increasing role of brand as a “destination” amid fragmented discovery.
  

• The importance of editorial quality and trust as drivers of willingness to pay.
  

• The move from funnel-based thinking to lifecycle and engagement systems. 

Based on INMA benchmarking data, reader revenue now accounts for approximately 60% of total revenue for news media companies, underscoring its central role in funding journalism. 

The report argues that the ability to build durable subscription businesses is increasingly tied to the sustainability of journalism itself — from maintaining editorial independence to investing in quality reporting.

“The next phase of growth will not be defined by better optimisation alone,” Piechota notes. “It will require a deeper shift in how publishers think about value, relationships, and systems.” 

The Keys to Paywalls From 8 Subscription Masters is available to INMA members via INMA.org.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .