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New report with insights from the 2024 EMEA Subscriptions Academy programme

FT Strategies – in collaboration with the Google News Initiative – is pleased to share the key findings from the 2024 EMEA Subscriptions Academy programme. 

During the programme, we observed publishers were grappling with several well-documented challenges – such as the implications of AI disruption, the distinct preferences and needs of next-generation news audiences, and a variable willingness to pay for news across markets.

The programme provided participants with insights, frameworks and best practices across these areas and more to help them succeed in an evolving landscape. This report highlights four key themes in particular: 

  1. Optimising content for value: Redirect focus from low-impact content by adopting an audience-centric approach for reviewing content - such as the User Needs Model - to create outputs that more effectively support audience goals.
  2. Adopting dynamic access models: Offer varying levels of content access to different types of readers based on their behaviour, location and preferences, to encourage sampling, and foster engagement.
  3. Leveraging flexible pricing approaches: Adjust pricing throughout a subscriber’s tenure based on engagement - reducing churn and increasing lifetime value through tactics such as gradual step-ups or price freezing.
  4. Developing new offerings: Unbundle subscription packages to offer lower-cost entry points, while exploring new, affordable propositions to convert adjacent segments with comparatively lower willingness to pay. 

With the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the past two years, publishers can now leverage the technology to deploy the tactics outlined above more quickly and effectively. To support this, the report also explores practical examples of how AI can be used to enhance these efforts.

Download the report below to explore these tactics in more detail, along with experiments conducted by participants to improve their subscription performance - offering ideas you can apply within your own organisation.

Download Report