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.
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile