You're reading The Audiencers' newsletter #62 sent out on April 30th, 2025. To receive future newsletters straight to your inbox every two weeks, sign up here.
In today’s newsletter:
- A practical guide to product strategy execution
- AI-powered audio: How Clarín is redefining news consumption
- Prove financial value of registered & subscribed users with 2 simple charts
- 🔗 Links links links – to add to your reading list
A practical guide to product strategy execution
The latest article on The Audiencers, by Abby Reimer at The Composition Collective, provides a practical guide to product strategy execution, and it’s really not one to miss – here are her 5 essentials:
> Visualize your strategy
…to convince your peers in marketing, sales or editorial to go along with you. Product design is a key part of strategy, not a response to it.
> Embrace design sprints to solve your “vortex” problems.
…to “co-build” with clients and build trust within cross-functional teams.
“Design sprints and hackathons enable deep focus and help teams move creatively and quickly. They’re especially helpful to solve “vortex problems” — those big challenges that spark endless meetings, working groups or internal arguments. The next time you’re sitting in the middle of a vortex, consider tackling the problem with a cross-functional design sprint. Dedicating 3-5 days of focused energy will save your team endless hours in spin.”
> Beware the shiny object
Too often, design sprints and hackathons are centered around a technology or pre-defined solution, not an audience or business problem. The result? “Shiny objects” that may look cool but don’t solve a real problem.
When choosing a “starting point” for your strategy, make sure you have a strong problem statement — one that’s rooted in real audience needs.
> Be ready to kill your darlings
…force yourself to remove clever bits of writing that don’t serve your overall narrative. Set appropriate expectations and trust the expertise of your colleagues
> Remix and reformat to reach different internal audiences
Different (internal) audiences appreciate different formats and care about different aspects of our strategy.
Don’t ask “What will resonate with the newsroom?” but rather “What resonates with the editor who attends our roadmap meetings?” From there, you can put together a targeted plan for disseminating your strategy and getting buy-in.
> It’s a seriously brilliant article from Abby, on The Audiencers
Clarín is Redefining News Consumption with AI-Powered Audio
As news consumption shifts to on-the-go experiences, Clarín, Argentina’s largest media group, embraced AI-powered Text-to-Speech to enhance engagement and accessibility.
Opinion Section, Now in the Journalist’s Own Voice
Clarin integrated Powerbeans’ AudioPlayer into its Opinion section, using voice cloning to replicate journalists’ voices. Readers now listen to articles narrated by the writers themselves, making for a more immersive experience.
The impact? A 5% CTR, well above industry benchmarks
Curated News Playlists on the Homepage
Clarin also launched an audio news playlist, featuring five daily stories users can listen to while commuting, working, or multitasking—tapping into passive consumption habits.
Why This Matters
AI-powered audio keeps users engaged longer, increases accessibility, and unlocks new ad revenue streams. With more audiences shifting to hands-free content, integrating audio isn’t just an option—it’s the future.
> Full article on The Audiencers
Session spotlight: Getting the most out of each article: how to capitalize on User Needs for a reader revenue model
You know that user needs has become a popular model. You know that it’s valuable for engagement & conversion. But how do you actually put it into place? How do you build a cross-functional team to serve user needs? How do you maximize its value for a reader revenue model?
This session is all about that how.
The brilliant Khalil A. Cassimally – a true product ambassador for journalists – and Oliver Kemp – the mastermind behind TBIJ’s user needs model – will take to the stage in the afternoon of our Festival to discuss exactly this, with concrete case studies from their work, recommendations to take back to the office and maybe even a downloadable playbook or two.
> Save your spot at The Audiencers’ Festival, happening this June 24th in London
Prove financial value of registered & subscribed users with 2 simple charts
In their latest Trendlines & Headlines newsletter, FT strategies shared two charts:
> The distribution of your audience based on 5 user types
> The value (ARPU) of each of these different user types
What you’ll likely see is that 85 to 95% of your audiences belong to the anonymous group, 5 to 10% are registered and a tiny minority pay for access. It’s actually quite shocking… but don’t worry, most publishers are the same.
The value in building these 2 charts however is to help you to make financial projections based on moving users from one group to another.
For example, transitioning an unknown user to a registered user may translate to a 8-12x increase in advertising value (from £0.50 to £5) as a result of an uplift in page views and higher CPMs for demographic targeting.
These projections help to project or quantify the value of marketing and product initiatives, helping to support investment decision-making, such as for tools like Poool who support publishers in increasing annual reader ARPU.
Recommendations to add to your reading list
- Stop pretending journalism matters on its own, from Patrick Boehler: “The strongest media organizations I’ve encountered understand that people don’t seek out journalism for journalism’s sake – they want solutions to problems, ways to improve their lives, recognition, community.”
- More clarity, more value: how Contexte overhauled their subscription offer
- Experience over content? How to reach young audiences, an interview with Liesbeth Nizet, Head of Future Audiences Monetization at Mediahuis group
See you in two weeks for the next newsletter,
Madeleine
