Subscriptions are on the mind for every publisher as Facebook and Google continue to cannibalize ad dollars. But while a lot of media companies aren’t new to the concept (hi print), the industry is very early in exploring the different subscription frameworks in a digital world. That will change.
So let’s start with the basics. What is a subscription? At theSkimm, we define a subscription product as:
Ultimately, a subscription product is something that hits all the points above. Some may be free, some may be premium. At theSkimm, we think of all of our products as subscription — all users are subscribing to a point of view or a value proposition, even if they aren’t paying. Our newsletter is a subscription product — our audience reads it every day in their morning routine to understand what’s happening in the world. Our calendar is a premium subscription — our audience pays to know what’s coming up in the news and zeitgeist every day.
As media moves into uncharted territory, we’ll start to learn lessons from other industries. So let’s break a few down.
1. Volume: This is purely transacting on amount of content. It’s the same product and content, but users pay for more. This is the traditional publisher route — The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc. are all heavily based on volume.
2. Content A vs. Content B: This is transacting on an entirely different type of content that is considered to be “premium.” Some examples are YouTube Red or ESPN Insider — the core product is free, but users pay to unlock premium, differentiated content.
3. Features: Users pay to have a better experience or additional features within the same product. This is where most non-media companies are operating: Amazon and two-day shipping, Spotify and offline listening, dating apps and unlimited messaging, and many many more. With all these examples, the core experience is the same, and users are paying to unlock a valuable “must-have” feature. The most common route here for media companies is paying for no ads, but it’ll be interesting to see where else they can play in this space that’s traditionally dominated by tech companies.
4. All or nothing: Pretty simple. Pay or get nothing. Most video streaming services operate here — Netflix, Hulu, etc. It’s risky but can work if you have obvious, upfront value.
5. Superfan: Users pay to get special access to things like events, swag, and behind-the scenes looks, generally transacting on brand loyalty and affinity. We’re seeing more publishers try this route, often as “memberships.”
This is not an exhaustive list by any means, and we’re starting to see a lot of companies offer a mix-and-match version of these different models. It’s an exciting time for publishers to rethink their entire value proposition and how that can fit into a subscription model.
Dheerja Kaur is head of product at theSkimm.
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile