You're reading The Audiencers' newsletter #63 sent out on May 14th, 2025. To receive future newsletters straight to your inbox every two weeks, sign up here.
In today’s newsletter:
- Digital reader revenue will power Le Monde’s newsroom in 2 years, despite the newsroom doubling since 2010!
- Bridging product and editorial teams at NZZ
- Working on registration? Check out these articles
- 🔗 Links links links – to add to your reading list
Digital reader revenue will power Le Monde’s newsroom in 2 years
The leading French media Le Monde has doubled the number of journalists since to 2010. AND, within 2 years, digital revenues alone will cover the entire newsroom costs.
Since taking over as CEO of Groupe Le Monde in 2010, Louis Dreyfus has pursued a clear ambition: proving that high-quality journalism can be economically sustainable — primarily through digital subscriptions. At the WAN-IFRA, he shared a series of concrete editorial, tech and marketing decisions that have powered the group’s consistent growth.
1️⃣ Expanding editorial mission to broaden audience
Le Monde has significantly widened its editorial scope to cover underreported topics and attract new audiences.
Key developments include:
> Thematic supplements on feminism, sexuality, climate, and the launch of public events (Le Festival du Monde)
> The launch of weekly magazine M 14 years ago, modeled after the New York Times Magazine, leading to an immediate +30% boost in traffic at launch, now accounting for 25% of advertising revenue
2️⃣ Heavily investing in the newsroom
One of the group’s key moves: hiring.
The ambition: offer exclusive, in-depth, international content that justifies subscription value.
3️⃣ Winning over young audiences on social platforms
Le Monde made a clear bet: meet under-18s where they already are — Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube.
4️⃣ Investing in 3 distinct app products
Le Monde now offers:
> A PDF replica app (faithful to the print edition)
> A “Le Monde” app publishing 21 articles per day, 7 days a week
> A Tinder-like news discovery product (“La Matinale”) that delivers a curated daily briefing
The goal: match mobile-first habits and improve retention through tailored experiences.
5️⃣ Subscriptions: growth, profitability and the end of the deficit
Key 2024 metrics:
+8% digital subscription growth
Average ARPU (monthly revenue per subscriber): €11.84
6️⃣ Fighting password sharing — and turning it into revenue
When the team found that some accounts were being used by over 5,000 people (!), Le Monde launched an upsell strategy inspired by Netflix — using an in-house tech tool called Capping:
> Pop-ups triggered by suspicious simultaneous usage
> Automated upsell to duo or family plans
The result: Thousands of subscribers upgraded to more profitable plans
7️⃣ A fast-growing international edition
50% of new international subscribers now come from this edition.
Translations are also now handled by OpenAI instead of DeepL or human translators, with only light editing by in-house journalists — lowering costs significantly.
> Full article summary on The Audiencers
Bridging product and editorial teams at NZZ
“In product management, empathy for users is key. But in media, success starts with empathizing with those who create the experience: journalists. Their work is the foundation upon which all product experiences are built. Without understanding their needs and challenges, no product can truly succeed.”
Alban Mazrekaj leads the Editorial Product Development team at Switzerland’s NZZ, establishing a new way of working that respects journalism while making it more audience-centric, going beyond traditional journalistic performance metrics to align with broader business goals.
The team
3 of the team are editorial-minded – one focuses on digital workflows, another is Newsletter PM, and finally Editorial PM for off-platform work. Each of them spend 2 days a week in their original editorial roles and the rest of their time in a more product-focused role with Alban.
In practice
When launching a new audience feature, an Editorial Product Manager doesn’t just look at engagement metrics. They also analyse how it impacts storytelling and how it fits into the workflows and constraints journalists face under tight deadlines. This understanding is crucial for developing products that support rather than hinder the newsroom.
What does success look like in this role?
Their work contributes to overarching business goals as well as journalistic performance metrics, but ultimately engagement is the key success indicator, serving as a proxy for harder KPIs like subscription sales and cancellations.
Success is also about empathizing with journalists: helping their stories gain the value they deserve from both audiences and the business. Journalists sometimes feel that their role is becoming less important – when in fact, the opposite is true.
> Full interview with Alban on The Audiencers
Session spotlight: Robin Booth on where AI should come in on the quest for subscribers
Robin Booth, Managing Director at EMAP, will be joining a panel at The Audiencers’ Festival this June 24th, to share how the combination of content and AI is revolutionizing EMAP’s subscription model, enhancing both the quality and quantity of articles and user experience.
For Robin, innovations like AI-powered personalization and hybrid search are at the forefront, with successful implementations like ASK Nursing Times, where 200,000 questions were answered in 12 months and article click-through rate has reached 6.5%.
AI’s integration into content strategies is not just about technological advancement but a reimagining of how content is delivered and experienced. By prioritizing user experience and leveraging AI for personalization and efficiency, publishers can unlock new revenue streams and strengthen their relationship with audiences.
Working on registration? Check out these articles
Blick.ch -> 600k registrations through hiking, raffles, commenting and more
Bloomberg and Reworld -> Data, subscriptions and LTV thanks to registration
Réussir group -> How registration came to be at the heart of Réussir’s subscription model
OneLog -> A single account across Switzerland
CBC, Graham Media and Toronto Star -> Registration success stories
Recommendations to add to your reading list
- Congratulations to the team at Aftonbladet who launched Hej Aftonbladet and HeiVG – two AI-powered chatbots developed by Aftonbladet and VG – last week. You can test it out (in 50 languages!) here.
- Building and serving communities with Ryan Y. Kellett, Financial Times and THECITY
See you in two weeks for the next newsletter,
Madeleine
