Subscriptions Workshop

Join colleagues for a welcome tea or coffee in the fourth floor networking lounge before diving into the day’s workshops.

In the opening session, we will welcome attendees and set the stage for putting readers at the heart of your subscription strategies.

Corriere della Sera and El País, leading news brands in Italy and Spain, have defied skepticism towards paywalls in their markets and emerged as two of the fastest-growing news subscription brands in Europe. Today, they set an example for other hesitant publishers. In 2023, Corriere reached 600,000 digital subscribers, while El País reached 350,000. Learn firsthand how they cooked up this remarkable success and what were the ingredients beyond – obviously – pasta and paella.

Out of more than 30 e-mail newsletters that the Financial Times sends regularly, some are free, some are subscriber-exclusive, and some are also marketed as stand-alone subscription products. Many have won industry awards. Learn how the FT has built and manages its newsletter portfolio to enhance and lead to subscriptions. How do they innovate within editorial, product and technology? Hear how they have worked cross-functionally to launch standalone paid newsletters.

Readers’ journeys to becoming subscribers are no longer the same, as advances in marketing technology and predictive analytics allow for personalised experiences and help optimise different revenue sources – all at once. Hear from industry partner Piano about the latest innovations in digital subscription management.

Instead of going broad, some find success in going narrow and build thriving subscription businesses by tapping into people’s passions. Eurozet has built Poland’s leading podcast subscription by fostering a community among listeners. Scientific American, a 178-year-old institution, is nurturing a dedicated readership united by their passion for science and innovation. Discover how they turn consumers into fans.

For many publishers, getting young readers to pay feels like an uphill struggle. Impossible? NWT Media, a regional news publisher in Sweden, rejuvenated its subscriber base in just two years, bucking industry trends. Their approach involved in-depth audience analysis, creating targeted content and marketing campaigns, and forming a cross-functional working group. Want to know how they pulled it off?

Let us recap the key insights and learnings from the subscription workshop. Learn how to stay in touch with the INMA community through Readers First Initiative newsletter, Slack channel, master classes and Webinars.