The transition from print to digital has fundamentally changed how audiences discover and consume news.

For younger generations, local journalism is no longer a default part of everyday life but something they must actively choose — within a media landscape dominated by global platforms such as Meta, Spotify, and Netflix.

Like many news companies, Swedish NTM’s local newsrooms have been facing a clear challenge for many years. While we have a strong subscriber base, it is heavily skewed toward older generations.

Younger audiences have often had low awareness of local news brands, a limited willingness to pay, and consumption habits shaped by social media and mobile platforms. To secure long-term sustainability, we are in great need of both reaching younger audiences and creating a meaningful first relationship with them.

Our North Star goal is 250,000 digital subscribers at the end of 2027. Of these we aim for having at least 100,000 of them who are younger than 50 years old.

Meeting younger readers where they are

Winning the young ones is a tough challenge, and growth has been too slow for us. In 2025, we chose to try something new.

The objective of the initiative was to bolster next-generation readership by lowering barriers to entry and meeting younger audiences where they already are, while maintaining trust, security, and long-term business viability.

A central part of our strategy was the launch of a whole new subscription package for readers under the age of 25. The offer includes access to the Web site and app for free until the day the reader turns 25 years old.

We have realised that, for younger people who are used to getting news for free via social media, free trials only mean that sometime soon you must start paying, and no discount is generous enough. This time we wanted it to be free with no strings attached — for real.

Our promise to the young audience today is crystal clear: You don’t have to pay a dime until you turn 25 — even though this might be two, three, four, or five years (or more!) in the future.

This has been a game changer for us, offering unlimited reading — for free! Account sharing is both prohibited and impossible, underscoring the value of what we now give our young readers.

Quality journalism trumps all

To be successful in subscriptions, it’s important to create true value. That true value is journalism.

To create relevant and valuable journalism, our newsrooms have listened to the digital audience for many years. All reporters have access to personal dashboards to follow audience engagement.

In 2025, we turned things upside down. We adjusted to younger audiences by “muting the grumpy old men” in our data. We only show audience data from readers younger than 50 years old.

Why? If we want to succeed with attracting young readers, we need to listen to what they engage in.

Our editorial strategy is simple:

• Focus on our seven prioritised topics.
• Aim for 30- to 39-year-old readers with our stories.
• Always aim to expand stories when it comes to a user needs’ perspective. Try to fulfill a user need other than “update me” such as “guide me,” “move me,” or “explain to me.”

In addition to an attractive offer and clear editorial focus, we also tailored onboarding journeys designed specifically for younger readers. And, in a close, unpretentious collaboration between newsrooms and the business-to-consumer (B2C) team, we made a major editorial investment in Instagram and TikTok as discovery platforms to align editorial content, marketing, and product design.

Together, these elements formed a coherent strategy focused on awareness, trust, engagement, and long-term conversion — rather than short-term subscription wins.

Audience response

The younger audience responded well. The initiative delivered strong and measurable results across audience growth, engagement, and business performance.

At the beginning of 2025, NTM had 34,240 subscribers under the age of 50. By the end of the year, that number had grown to 50,057, representing a 46% increase.

The launch of the “under 25” free subscription played a key role in this. Introduced as a pilot at two newsrooms in June 2025 and rolled out across all 16 titles in September, the initiative attracted 13,174 subscribers under the age of 25 by year’s end.

Importantly, 90% of these subscribers had no prior relationship with NTM, confirming the initiative reached a genuinely new audience. Only 3% had previously held a paid subscription, limiting cannibalisation.

The new offering gained traction quickly, largely driven by close collaboration between the consumer revenue team and newsrooms, with social media campaigns highlighting relevant journalism and young, profiled reporters.

In 2025, newsrooms sharpened their focus on Instagram and TikTok, building closer relationships with audiences through more reporter-led content.

The results are clear, with strong growth across social channels. Instagram followers increased by 43% overall, adding more than 80,000 new followers across 16 newsroom accounts. One title grew by more than 200% during the year. A stronger focus on video content has also boosted average Instagram reach by more than 180%, driven by high publishing frequency and a better understanding of audience preferences.

Growth has been further supported by paid Meta campaigns amplifying high-performing editorial content.

The engagement and discovery were primarily driven by this strong social media strategy. These audience gains translated into business impact. Digital subscriptions across all age groups grew from 125,132 to 151,802, surpassing the 2025 target of 150,000.

Despite adding a large number of free subscribers, NTM exceeded its average revenue per user target, and digital reader revenue increased by 34% in 2025.

For the first time in many years, NTM also reversed a long-term decline in total subscribers. In 2025, total subscriptions — including print — actually increased. Not by much, but the 3% increase is a turning point for the company as a whole.

Together, these results show investing in next-generation readership can drive growth, engagement, and revenue without sacrificing existing audiences or business stability.

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