The key role that newsletters play in a subscription business PLUS what the 80-20 means for publishers from @WNIP

November 25, 2022

As economies soften and advertising revenue weakens, subscription revenue will become more important to publishers and competition for subscriber revenue even more fierce. And to understand the dynamics of subscription revenue, publishers need to keep one eye on the dynamics of subscriptions across industries because with recurring payments, publishers are competing with a range of services that employ subscriptions from streaming video services to monthly merchandise subscriptions.

News media companies need to think of new ways to distribute content, and newsletters offer a golden opportunity.

One of the critical factors of building a subscription business is building and maintaining direct relationships with your audience, and newsletters are an important part of that work.

The 80-20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, is the idea that roughly 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. In practice, this might take the form of a farm where 80% of vegetables come from just 20% of crops or a business where 20% of customers account for 80% of revenue. No …

This is a fascinating bit of research from and one of their data scientists that looks at 80-20 rule and what that means for publishers. I used this kind segmenting to understand the features and content that were engaging our most loyal audiences in my previous role. Understanding thus but also understanding what drives people to become loyal and convert is just as important.

The publisher has topped 116,000 digital subscribers since launching a paywall in 2019

“We are not trying to do news—we are nobody’s first-read,” Ignatius said. “That means we have to provide very actionable advice.” Know who you are and what makes you unique. This is a key element of success.

Bookmark this open learning library from News Product Alliance that offers free guides on everything from audience research to revenue models

This episode looks at how the bubble has burst around many of the emerging technologies that had previously excited the industry, and where publishers are looking now for innovation. The ‘crypto winter’ has set back many of the projects we saw begin in last year’s exploration of emerging technology. The crash began early in 2022 due to rising interest …

This podcast covers what we are finding in our research at Pugpig about the publishing industry that the shiny technology of crypto, NFTs and VR are of little interest to publishers. They are more focused on business essentials such as subscription optimisation and features with clear value to audiences such as personalisation.

Recruiters report that 'we've never seen a market quite like this' as tens of thousands of employees flood the market.

It’s a good time to hire talent if you have the budget.

DAN, a US hyperlocal newspaper, built a sustainable revenue stream by charging its 500 subscribers $10 a month for a low-tech newsletter

A simple business model delivers success for a hyper local publisher in the US.

KISS.

Manchester Mill founder Joshi Herrmann speaks about what's next for the Substack-based project after becoming profitable.

Succeeding where other local publishers in the UK aren’t: getting audiences to pay.

Mediagazer presents the day's must-read media news on a single page.

A post-mortem of the recently shuttered tech site,

Industry News

Actor and director Konkona Sen Sharma will launch a podcast on the Luminary platform as it expands into India.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly set to to file an antitrust lawsuit to block Microsoft's $69 billion (€66.3bn) takeover bid for video gam