As third-party data crumbles and regulatory pressure intensifies, first-party data isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s becoming the lifeblood of sustainable media businesses.

Across the industry, leading news publishers are rethinking how they identify, understand, and engage their users — and the strategies emerging point to a fundamental shift in how value is created.

FT: balancing reach and recognition

For the Financial Times, first-party data is no side project — it’s one of only two company-wide OKRs. The team is actively debating how far and how fast to push user identification, even exploring LinkedIn-style mandatory registration. The tension is clear and makes for a hard decision: Require users to register too early and risk losing reach, or wait too long and lose valuable data signals.

Der Spiegel: high-value data over high volume

German publisher Der Spiegel took a bold step by requiring app registration. The result: an initial dip in user numbers but a significant boost in the quality and value of the registrations they did collect. This deeper relationship pays off downstream too, as it enables direct subscription sales without relying on app store intermediaries, improving margins and customer ownership.

Condé Nast: from broad to brand-specific

Condé Nast is evolving its approach from mass registration efforts to more targeted, brand-level strategies. Newsletters remain the single biggest driver of sign-ups, but the company is now layering on more sophisticated tactics designed to align with user intent and context.

One promising avenue: evolving basic “save” functions into wishlist and planning tools. These not only deepen engagement but also offer powerful de-anonymisation opportunities, especially in e-commerce environments where users build shopping wishlists or track items over time.

The Hindu: consent without complexity

At The Hindu, the decision has been to avoid consent-or-pay altogether. The publisher uses TrustArc for compliance, but because its advertising model involves limited personalisation, it hasn’t felt pressure to gate content behind consent walls. This shows first-party strategies don’t have to follow a single path — they should align with the underlying business model.

What we can learn

The business case for investing in richer data is undeniable. The gap between low-value, untargeted ads and high-value targeted ones can be as much as 10x, meaning each incremental signal about a user’s identity or preferences can translate directly into revenue uplift.

And among all the data points, one is emerging as a particularly potent predictor: age. More than location, device type, or even engagement patterns, age consistently correlates with how users behave, what they expect from a product, and how likely they are to pay.

Key takeaways

• Quality beats quantity. A smaller pool of identified users is often more valuable than a large anonymous audience.

• Context drives consent. Games, newsletters, and wishlists all offer natural, low-friction points to capture registration.

• First-party data enables business model control. Owning the customer relationship opens doors to direct sales and higher ad yields.

• Age is gold. Among available data points, it’s proving to be one of the most powerful predictors of user behaviour. You can follow this topic in 2026 with INMA’s Young Audiences Initiative.
  

The common thread across these strategies is clear: The shift to first-party data is as much about product design as it is about data collection. Publishers that build smart, contextual entry points — and align them with revenue goals — are the ones most likely to thrive in a world where identity is everything. 

If you’d like to subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, INMA members can do so here.

Banner art: Adobe Stock Lumos Maxima.

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