Creating a premium content strategy for a Spanish news publisher

A Spanish legacy publisher, part of a larger media group, was changing its access model from metered to freemium. They wanted to understand which of their existing content could be considered premium: i.e. what different reader segments value and are willing to pay for. The challenge was to identify content that would optimise conversion, while minimising the impact on advertising revenue.

Our team led a comprehensive data analysis exercise to assess which of the client’s content had the most views and engagements. We then compared this for the different audience segments. We co-developed a survey on the client’s home page to understand what content readers value and are willing to subscribe to. Additional qualitative research included reader interviews and focus groups to gain a deeper view of why people value it. Following this, we applied a disciplined framework to identify and recommend which of their content (by type, vertical and author) should be treated as premium vs free that their teams could use going forward.

• Deeper understanding of the publication’s reader base, brought to life by a persona study to amplify strengths and underline unmet needs and untapped segments
• Clear premium content recommendation and roadmap, detailing which of the existing content formats, categories, brands and authors could be locked behind the paywall for the access model change, based on a combination of traffic, engagement, value to customer and propensity to convert.