Situation

National Theatre (NT), a world-leading arts organisation in the UK, successfully launched a brand new online streaming platform, National Theatre at Home, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Having experienced faster than expected growth, NT asked FT Strategies to support NT at Home in co-developing a roadmap towards a sustainable subscription model and practical advice on reducing subscriber churn.

Engagement

FT Strategies collaborated with the National Theatre to build a tailored programme relevant to their needs:

• Discovery phase where we evaluated NT audience data, reviewed existing subscription ways of working and the subscriber value proposition
• Strategy workshops focused on subscription best practices and ways of reducing subscriber churn
• North Star phase where we co-developed a North Star Goal, implementation roadmap, governance structure and the requisite investment ask for the NT Board

Results

The impact of our projects are best described by our clients. Emma Keith, Director of Digital at National Theatre described it in the following way:

“This has been the most valuable consultancy project. The in-depth market knowledge the team provided has increased our confidence in investing in the business and growing for the future. The knowledge of subscription businesses is unparalleled and backed up with real-world experience. They challenged us to think outside our comfort zone in a supported yet rigorous way to establish opportunities for digital transformation within the organisation…

We have come away from the project with a 12 month operational plan to shore up our business and ensure it is set for scalable success. We also have a three year strategic vision and business plan enabling us to invest in growing the business backed up with sound financial planning, market research and data analysis. The FT Strategies team brought skills and experience we don’t have within our organisation and we have been able to benefit from this expertise to accelerate our growth plans.”

"I feel energised and excited about taking on the next phase of development for NTAH and that is purely down to the way in which you’ve steered the project and given us some clear tangible outcomes."

Emma Keith
Director of Digital, National Theatre