'Subscription Sleepers' - re-engage with them before they churn PLUS News consumption slump and product thinking about journalism

July 21, 2022

Axios has done an excellent quick summary of the recent Piano report that I highlighted last week. The numbers that jumped out at me were that there was a slight, but statistically significant, rise in the number of digital subscribers who became inactive after 24 hours of purchase, from 39% in 2021 to 43%. Moreover of those who disengage, 90% very soon after they make a purchase, and these "subscription sleepers" account for a third of churn. Again, click through to the actual report from Axios because there are some excellent suggestions on how to keep new subscribers engaged.

The MediaPost goes back to the recently released Reuters Institute digital news report that looked at, amongst other things, an increase in those who are actively avoiding news. One of the reasons given was that they found news hard to follow. What struck me about this was that the AP did an ethnographic study of millennial news consumption around the world, summarised here expertly by Ethan Zuckerman. What's striking is how similar the findings of that study are with the current Reuters research. Even then, the AP reported that people were experiencing news fatigue and turned to lighter news such as entertainment or crime stories because they had a sense of resolution. From my experience, product thinking in journalism has found more acceptance when we are designing for the content experience rather than designing for the content itself. Long-held professional beliefs about how journalism is done and deeply help values regarding the independence of journalism from outside influences - and this simply means outside the newsroom - make it challenging for product thinking to get a toe hold in the newsroom. But we're losing audiences because they are turning off. I know that my news consumption has dropped off a lot in the past two years. If a news junkie has dialled it back (a lot), then what does that say about the average person, who is only casually engaged with news?

PLUS:

  • A new generation of news startups is powering a podcasting boom in Europe - What's New in Publishing

  • TV news magazine programme Today targets younger audiences who normally turn to lifestyle mags - Variety

  • Facebook is turning its attention away from news products - Wall Street Journal

  • Substack local journalism award winners say the company gave them little business support - The Fine Print NYC

  • Knight Foundation announces grants to help newsrooms upgrade their tech

Many subscribers stop reading once they pay. When they "wake up" and remember they're paying, they cancel.

There won’t be Rogan-like podcast deals in Europe, although if you watch closely, a new generation of news startups are increasingly relying on podcasts to gain younger audiences Recently the Financial Times reported on the acquisition of Will Media, a Millennial and Gen-Z focused news startup launched in early 2020, by Chora Media, a “rival digital startup” focusing on podcasts, …

News Consumption Slump - Is It Because News Stories Are 'Hard To Follow'? - 07/20/2022

NBC's long-running 'Today' is making a bid for younger viewers by luring fans of lifestyle magazines like Vogue, People and Cosmopolitan

Last April, Substack committed $1 million to a program to give grants for local journalists to launch publications, but now that the funding has run out, most of the newsletters are no closer to being sustainable businesses, and some are shutting down

Senior executive tells employees that News tab and Bulletin newsletter platform will be put on the back burner

Twenty-five newsrooms will receive $20,000 grants to deploy an improved publishing solution, in third year of Knight initiative in partnership…