According to an INMA database of nearly 300 news publishers, most report having twice as many past subscribers as they have current subscribers. Greg Piechota, lead of the INMA Readers First Initiative, said he sees this as something to keep in mind for growth.

“In theory, if we won them back, we would triple our subscriber base,” Piechota said durig the recent Susbcriber Retention Master Class. “So you could say one of the biggest growth opportunities for most publishers is not just look for new readers but find a way to engage their past subscribers.”

With a focus on retaining current customers, media leaders from News Corp Australia, Público, The Guardian, and Tiroler Tageszeitung shared how their companies are implementing systems to help improve retention and reduce churn.

Newspass redefines retention at News Corp Australia

Launched in January 2024, Newspass was News Corp Australia's answer to a rigid binary: subscribe or leave. Instead of demanding an upfront commitment, it allows users to register for free and access a limited number of premium articles over a fixed time, no credit card required.

Daniel Barratt, senior manager of subscriptions growth at News Corp Australia, said this off-boarding tool is not only reducing churn — it’s also boosting resubscription rates, deepening engagement, and reshaping the company’s subscriber base.

From the moment a user signs up, they begin a thoughtfully designed journey. They’re nudged to explore newsletters, try new sections, and use up their article allowance. As they near their limit, the messaging shifts toward conversion.

“That journey is curated almost like a win-back journey,” Barratt said. “It nurtures them to use that content … and then convert them over a period of time.”

Newspass isn’t just a fallback. It’s woven throughout the subscription lifecycle. Using smart paywall technology, it’s selectively offered to audiences with low conversion potential.

“Our lowest converting and worst retaining editorial traffic gets targeted with Newspass instead of, or as well as, a subscription offer,” Barratt explained.

This lets News Corp offer a low-friction way to sample the brand. On the other end of the funnel, Newspass serves as the last option in News Corp’s save flow — a “soft landing” for users ready to cancel, Barratt said: “It’s the final option to maintain an open door for our subscribers.”

Público tackles payment problems to reduce churn, boost retention

When Público in Portugal wanted to combat its high churn rates, it discovered the problem wasn’t with content or a lack of subscribers. Instead, the outlet found that one of its biggest threats to retention came from how people paid for it.

Subscriptions Director Leonor Soczka said with a broad range of subscription products, Público customers have a wide selection. Frequency of payments ranges from weekly to annual, with both standard and premium options, and customers use multiple payment methods including credit cards, PayPal, and local Portuguese options like Multibanco and MB Way.

However, not all payment methods perform equally, so the choice the customer makes at the beginning of the transaction will have an impact on retention.

“When we looked at how we were handling payments, we were confronted by the fact that our payment methods were controlling us and we were not in full control of the payment methods,” Socza said.

“We were surprised with the malfunctioning of payment options way after the problem started. The problems took a long time to be identified and resolved.”

To address its challenges, Público created a multi-disciplinary task force focused solely on payment performance and reorganised its approach. The team included representatives from subscriptions, customer support, analytics, and IT — all working together with weekly check-ins, shared tools, and clearly defined responsibilities.

A real-time dashboard monitored payment-related churn and escalated relationships with payment providers, ensuring faster diagnosis and resolution of issues.

Through this new approach, Público uncovered a series of previously invisible issues: “If I knew what I know now,” Soczka said, “I would’ve started with building a dashboard — and I definitely would’ve started sooner.”

The Guardian’s churn-risk programme

The Guardian in the U.K. has launched a sophisticated churn-risk programme that identifies supporters with decreasing engagement.

Emilie Harkin, senior vice president of growth in the United States, Tiphaine Junjaud, senior commercial strategy lead, and Aislinn Mallon, head of CRM/engagement, walked attendees through the company’s strategies and challenges to reduce churn and increase engagement.

“We identified four segments that were at a higher risk of churn,” Mallon said. “Our churn-risk programme is based on or centred around an increase in engagement.”

The four segments at risk for churn are:

• Dropoffs, or those who go from high engagement to low engagement.
• Burnouts, who go from not being engaged to being highly engaged.
• Toe-dippers, who only slightly increase their engagement.
• Low flyers, who stay in lower segments or drop into the next lower segment.

The Guardian has also identified five stages in the customer lifecycle. The goal is to get readers past the first year of support, when churn is highest. Teams use first-party data to personalise messaging and focus on encouraging high-value actions that are shown to reduce the risk of churn. These actions include signing in, newsletter subscriptions, app downloads, and engagement.

“When people complete these actions, their risk of churn decreases,” Mallon said. Then they receive e-mails that encourage frequency and to delve deeper into the journalism.

Both The Guardian and readers benefit from the dual approach that allows it to operate from both a non-profit mission-based playbook and a subscription playbook. This structure allows the organisation to appeal to readers’ values — and it works.

Many supporters are motivated not by exclusive access or perks but by the belief that journalism should be free and independent.

“The motivations that get people to open their wallets for you and keep paying for you oftentimes are emotional ones,” Harkin explained, adding that is something all publishers should take note of.

Tiroler Tageszeitung created dedicated team to address churn

In 2023, Tiroler Tageszeitung in Austria experienced “a sharp increase in subscriber losses,” Christoph Unterkofler, lead on the product development team, said.

A previously established cross-functional team of 10 was utilised to address the issue. The team found that a major driver of the loss of subscriptions in 2023 was due to multiple promotions expiring simultaneously. Additionally, a trial subscription that started that summer yielded “quite a high number of immediate cancelations.”

The team focused on informing subscribers of the benefits of their subscription, offering a discount and recording a user's phone number in order for customer service to personally reach out. A newer process necessitated a more efficient, data-driven and user-centric experience with the overall goal of reducing cancellations.

“We set up an extensive e-mail automation for different subscription types, highlighting the best of the benefits of the subscriptions,” Unterkofler explained. “The automation really starts with an instant confirmation, including prominent notice that the subscription can be reactivated at any time before the access even expires.”

Additional notifications — via Web site and e-mail — were sent prior to the end of the subscriptions, as well as two more after the subscription was completely deactivated. At the post-30 day mark, a special offer is sent.

All these efforts fall into two categories: prevention of a cancellation or encouragement of resubscription following a cancellation.

These efforts have paid off, Unterkolfer said: “The changes of the cancellation process resulted in 20% of cancellations.”

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