Hey, my name is Greg Piechota. I study news media business models for INMA and write about innovations in digital subscriptions and beyond in this regular newsletter.

In today’s newsletter:

• Discover the latest data on paid online news internationally (it’s positive!).

• Dive into subscriber onboarding best practices from The Washington Post.

• Learn why the Brits are invading the United States again and how much gold is behind this rush.

If you have questions or suggestions, e-mail me at greg.piechota@inma.org.

Strong news cycle and bundling pushed online paid news to new high

The average proportion of consumers who have paid or used paid online news increased to 18% (+1 percentage point or +6%) in 2025.

This is based on my analysis of the new survey data released in June by Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in its annual Digital News Report 2025.

Eighteen percent is an average for 20 rich media markets worldwide, which the Institute has surveyed consistently since 2014. 

Over the last 10 years, this average consumer penetration nearly doubled (from 10% to 18%).

The growing markets: Among the 20 selected markets, half or 10 countries saw an increase in the proportion of the survey respondents paying or using paid online news in the past year. 

Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland saw the highest spikes (eight, five, and three percentage points, respectively). This translates into 57%, 30%, and 21% respective increases year-on-year.

Seven markets saw small one- to two-point decreases, and three saw no change.

Interestingly, most countries with already high penetrations saw increases, e.g., Norway to 42% (+2 percentage points or +7%). 

News publishers in the growing markets might have benefited from: 

• An unusually high news cycle in 2024 (such as elections, Olympics, UEFA Football Championship).

• Accelerated digital transformation of news media (e.g., Mediahuis Ireland announced hitting a milestone of 100,000 subscribers). 

• And bundling (e.g., Norway’s Amedia and Schibsted scaled their very successful multi-product subscriptions — with 16% of Norwegians subscribed to Amedia’s +Alt and 8% subscribed to Schibsted’s Full tilgang).  

The local news awakening: I found a correlation between the overall penetration of online paid news and paying for local news. 

I observed that in countries where more people are paying for local news, more people are paying for any news overall. 

Specifically, the countries with the paid online news penetration above 20% see double the share of payers for local news among all payers vs. lower penetration countries (on average, 37% share of local news vs. 18%).

Correlation doesn’t indicate causation, but could a success in digital transformation of local news media lead to a breakthrough in paid online news penetration?

Across the world, local and regional news brands tend to lag in online engagement and subscription metrics when compared to national news brands, per INMA Subscription Benchmarks. 

• For example, in Q1 2025, across 274 news brands, a median regional news company saw on average 2.3 sessions per user per month and a median national brand saw 3.4. 

• A median regional brand sold 397 new subscriptions per every 1 million users per month, and a median national one sold 702.

During a private INMA benchmarking meet-up, news executives speculated that many local and regional news businesses started their digital transformation later and simply needed to catch up. 

This is perhaps happening in some markets, as the surveys captured. The local media sector is mobilising and consolidating, and rapidly upgrading their technology, products, and marketing capabilities.

How do news consumers change? Join this week’s INMA Webinar for the Reuters Digital News Report’s findings presentation and discussion with lead author Nic Newman and media scholar Lucy Küng: Wednesday, July 2, 10 AM New York time.

One minute case study: The Washington Post subscriber’s first 100 days

Subscriber retention hinges on early habits, and data confirms the first 100 days are make-or-break.

Why 100 days and not fewer? Per Piano Benchmarks, in 2024 most new subscribers on monthly plans churned within the first three months.

A well-executed onboarding experience over the first 100 days significantly boosts retention, recommended Adam Frank, engagement manager at The Washington Post, at the recent INMA Subscriber Retention Master Class. 

Ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the Post redesigned onboarding to enhance early subscriber engagement:

• Click-through rates doubled.

• Opt-outs fell by one-third.

• Onsite engagement and adoption of habit-forming actions increased.

Here are the six best onboarding practices from The Washington Post:

1. Build habits early: Push newsletter sign-ups, app downloads, and audio article listens.

2. Personalise immediately: Tailor onboarding based on user behaviour, product type, and engagement levels.

3. Show variety: Balance CTAs across content, apps, and core coverage areas like politics, lifestyle, and climate.

4. Be transparent: Clearly state messaging frequency and make opting out simple.

5. Prevent fatigue: Schedule intentional week-long breaks in the onboarding sequence.

6. Keep optimising: Regularly test messages and designs based on performance data.

An INMA poll in May found 54% of subscription marketers ranked improved onboarding as their most impactful retention tactic, far ahead of personalisation (35%) and win-back campaigns (25%).

Read the full case study written for INMA by Adam Frank of The Washington Post.

The world’s biggest paid online news market attracts foreign players

U.K. public broadcaster BBC News has just launched an online paywall and subscription in the United States. No wonder: The U.S. is the single biggest market for paid online news in the world.

I estimated the total size of the market of payers and users of paid online news in the U.S. in 2024 at 54-64 million people.

I further estimated the total annual value of the paid online news market in the United States at US$5.9-US$6.9 billion. 

If my estimates are correct, the U.S. paid online news market has already become larger than the U.S. online news advertising market, which was estimated at US$5.2 billion in 2024.

(Please find my methodology at the end of this newsletter.)

The foreign invaders: In recent years, the United States has seen an influx of foreign news media brands, particularly from the United Kingdom. 

They represent all market segments, from popular news brands to quality and elite. Most were originally attracted by the world’s richest ad market, but many have already diversified to subscriptions or contributions.

Among the most visited 50 news Web sites in the U.S., per Similarweb, there are seven foreign brands with BBC News — which launched its paywall this month — in a high ninth position.

Others are: The Daily Mail (14th position), The Guardian (19th), Reuters (24th), India Times (45th), the Sun (46th), and the Independent (49th). All but India Times are British companies.

The foreign press is not only popular among Americans, it’s also trusted. Per the Reuters Institute’s survey, BBC News is the most-trusted national news brand in the U.S. (52% Americans trust it) ahead of CBS, ABC, The New York Times, or CNN. 

Only local TV and newspapers are more trusted by Americans than BBC (59% and 55%, respectively).

BBC is primarily funded through a mandatory licence fee paid by U.K. households. It used to charge for its TV channels or online streaming abroad, but the news paywall in the U.S. is the first.

At the launch, BBC offered a subscription to news articles and a livestream for less than US$1 a week (US$49.99/year or US$8.99/month). In the next phase, it plans to add ad-free documentary series and films, podcasts, and exclusive newsletters. 

Market sizing methodology: My U.S. market size estimates are based on the 2025 surveys by Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Pew Research Center.

The former found 20% of U.S. consumers paid or used paid online news in the last year, and the latter found 17% directly paid or given money to a news source.

For the market sizing, I applied these proportions to the U.S. online population of 318 million, per estimates of the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union.

For the paid online news market value estimate, I applied the INMA Subscription Benchmarks data on average digital-only subscription revenue across 64 news brands in North America. A median was US$9.08 monthly in Q1 2025.

The source for the online news advertising market value is the PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024.

Next in the Readers First Initiative

• INMA Subscription Masters Webinar: I will interview Luis Baena on July 23 about how he and his team made Spain’s El Pais into one of the world’s fastest-growing digital subscription success stories. Register now.

• INMA CEO Roundtable: I will brief the world’s top media CEOs on business model trends and innovations as they gather at Napa Valley in California on August 19-21. The event is sold out. Apply for the waiting list.

• INMA Media Innovation Week: I will be leading a study tour of the Irish news media right before our annual European conference in Dublin on September 22-26. What’s new? A two-day Newsroom Innovation Hub curated by Amalie Nash. Check the agenda and register your seat. 

About this newsletter

Today’s newsletter is written by Grzegorz (Greg) Piechota, INMA’s researcher-in-residence and lead for the Readers First Initiative and Subscription Benchmarks.

E-mail Greg at greg.piechota@inma.org, message him on Slack, meet him in St. Helena in August at the INMA CEO Roundtable or in Dublin in September at INMA Media Innovation Week.

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