“Having a machine-learning framework to say who’s likely to churn, register, and subscribe has been a critical step in us making those experiences more tailored.”
Being a Quartz Member ($100/year) will now be required for access to all of its stories — one more case of a quality publisher finding that advertising revenue isn’t enough to allow a readership without limits.
The billionaire owner on unions (“I think they did the unionize thing out of desperation”), esports (“We must start fighting for the 16-year-olds all the way to the 30-year-olds, because that’s not our demographic”), and hiring the intern.
It’s a few years behind its East Coast brethren in New York and Washington. But tens of millions in new investment and ambitious digital plans are showing a path back to its former prominence — and beyond.
What’s the kind of story worth putting outside a hard paywall? The kind of civic storytelling that shows that you’re “covering the city like no one else.”
One finding: “Need-to-know material converts (related to how to live your life, understand the world), while nice-to-know (guides, arts, reviews) converts badly but is key for retention.”
“My team believes that by investing in the subscribers we have and making the subscription experience better and better, we’ll be able to help all parts of the subscription business.”
Non-subscribers visiting WSJ.com now get a score, based on dozens of signals, that indicates how likely they’ll be to subscribe. The paywall tightens or loosens accordingly: “The content you see is the output of the paywall, rather than an input.”
Wang, Shan. "After years of testing, The Wall Street Journal has built a paywall that bends to the individual reader." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 22 Feb. 2018. Web. 25 Jan. 2020.
APA
Wang, S. (2018, Feb. 22). After years of testing, The Wall Street Journal has built a paywall that bends to the individual reader. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved January 25, 2020, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/02/after-years-of-testing-the-wall-street-journal-has-built-a-paywall-that-bends-to-the-individual-reader/
Chicago
Wang, Shan. "After years of testing, The Wall Street Journal has built a paywall that bends to the individual reader." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified February 22, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2020. https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/02/after-years-of-testing-the-wall-street-journal-has-built-a-paywall-that-bends-to-the-individual-reader/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/02/after-years-of-testing-the-wall-street-journal-has-built-a-paywall-that-bends-to-the-individual-reader/
| title = After years of testing, The Wall Street Journal has built a paywall that bends to the individual reader
| last = Wang
| first = Shan
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 22 February 2018
| accessdate = 25 January 2020
| ref = {{harvid|Wang|2018}}
}}
