Founded in 1891, Irish News has long been considered the paper of record for Northern Ireland.
Today, the top selling regional daily newspaper in the UK and Ireland, it continues to lead the way in print whilst steadily investing in a digital-first future, grounded in editorial integrity and community connection.
I spoke with Paul (CTO) and Annette (CMO) about the transformation underway at Irish News and to understand how they’re building and scaling their premium digital offer.
Rather than chasing headlines or quick wins, the team is focused on building long-term sustainability by aligning technology, editorial, and audience insight with strong foundations, and an honest view of the work still ahead.
Protecting print while growing digital
From the outset, the Irish News team made a clear strategic choice: digital growth would not come at the expense of print. With print still playing a vital role in the community and business, this transformation has been about complementing, not replacing, the legacy product.
This strong print position has been a real advantage. Without immediate pressure to shift wholesale to digital, the team has had the breathing space to make thoughtful decisions, test ideas, and invest steadily in a model that will support Irish News in the long term. What’s more, the ability to recognise readers online, compared to anonymous print readers, would prove invaluable to their wider business strategy.
The process of digital transformation at Irish News:
Step 1: Build solid tech stack foundations.
A digital transformation begins with infrastructure – integrating best-in-class technology including Poool’s dynamic paywall and registration tools, with a strong focus on actionable data.
While still early in their journey, the goal is a foundation that supports deeper audience understanding across the funnel (registration, engagement, conversion, retention), better targeting, and ongoing optimisation. But they’re the first to say the work is far from done.
“We’ve made real progress integrating the basics – tighter paywall metering, landing pages, but we know our data isn’t fully there yet. We’re putting the blocks in place.” – Paul
- CMS and subscription management: ArcXP
- Paywall, landing page, promotional modules, onboarding and cancellation: Poool
- Payments: Stripe
- Tech partners: code.store
- Strategy partners (at various moments): FT Strategies & Atlas (a recurring revenues growth consultancy)
Step 2: Customer segmentation and prioritisation
The Irish News’s digital transformation began with a clear focus on identifying and prioritising audience segments. Rather than treating all readers the same, initial segmentation has focused on high-value groups such as frequent newsletter subscribers, engaged GAA (Gaelic Games) fans and Politics readers, registered users as well as lapsed subscribers.
These segments are beginning to shape decisions around messaging, offers, and user journeys and has allowed them to tailor content, messaging, and offers to the needs and behaviours of each segment, ensuring that the most valuable and engaged groups are at the heart of the strategy.
Step 3: Funnel optimisation, KPIs & next best action
User journey mapping has been a major focus and is an evolving area.
The team is actively working to improve each stage of the funnel with clear KPIs: from anonymous visitor to engaged reader, subscriber, and retained customer. One of the strongest learnings so far is the power of simple changes like dynamic subscription prompts and homepage banners to drive results.
What’s already in play:
- Subscription promotion: Dynamic offers tied to editorial moments and brand consistency across channels.
- Metered registration model: A key driver of first-party data and user engagement.
- Landing page optimisation: Focus on benefit-led messaging, journalist credibility, and price framing.
- App engagement: Supporting retention by encouraging usage of the app among new registrants and subscribers.
- Structured onboarding: Both for registered users and new subscribers.
- Offboarding: Launching soon.
This funnel thinking is now shifting toward retention especially as Irish News sees churn emerge alongside subscriber growth. Building strong onboarding, engagement, and habit loops will be central to sustaining momentum.
“We’re working to get as much of Poool’s infrastructure on site as we can – including more dynamic elements, including walls and promotional messaging adapted to the content – as we’ve seen it works. For instance, when we don’t have the banner on the homepage, the traffic going through to the subscription page is more or less gone” – Annette
An essential to every step: content marketing, editorial collaboration & brand consistency
The Irish News is in the early stages of developing a content strategy that sits above the daily editorial cycle designed to support both brand and subscriber growth.
The most notable success so far has been with GAA-focused campaigns, which have clearly driven registration and subscription lifts. These trials have proven the value of editorial-marketing collaboration, and future campaigns will aim to replicate that success across other core interest areas including politics and opinion.
Crucially, writers are now put front and centre in both content and marketing, helping to build trust and emotional connection with readers.
Community remains central to The Irish News’ brand positioning.
The transformation has been about more than technology – it’s also been about being unmistakably clear on who they are and what the brand stands for. The recent rebrand was a pivotal moment in positioning Irish News for the future, ensuring that every reader touchpoint reflects the depth of its journalism, values, and connection to community.
This renewed clarity informs everything from content strategy to marketing messaging, ensuring consistency across channels while strengthening recognition and trust. As The Irish News grows its digital audience, using digital tools to create engagement opportunities, this brand clarity will be a key driver of both acquisition and retention connecting with readers not just on what we cover, but why it matters to them.
The results: steady, sustainable growth
The Irish News is now seeing consistent subscriber growth, with digital making up a growing share of total revenue. Since March, their total subscriber base has grown by over 15%. This has been driven in part by a 109% increase in new subscription orders compared to the previous six months.
“We’re making progress, but we’re still learning,” Annette explained. “Some months we hit our targets, other months we don’t and that’s okay at this stage. We’re learning quickly about what drives long-term relationships with readers and we know there’s work to do.”
The next phase will be focused on deepening engagement and improving the subscriber experience. That includes strengthening onboarding, supporting habit formation, and building a more deliberate content strategy to better serve subscribers and keep them engaged for the long term.
Step 4 & beyond: Transformation never stops! This is only the beginning…
For The Irish News, this is a thoughtful, steady transformation. They’re building a model rooted in editorial strength, audience insight, and a realistic understanding of the journey ahead.
There’s a long road still to go but the momentum is real, and the strategy is sound. Print remains strong. Digital is growing. And the foundations are being laid for a business that will endure well into its next century.
“We’re still at the start of our journey,” Paul said. “Phase one is a three-year plan, and we’re only a year in but digital is now firmly at the centre of how we think about the future of Irish News. It’s no longer an add-on; it’s shaping the way we build, test, and grow.” – Paul
For instance, a new Subscription Manager will own these projects going forward, ensuring that Irish News continues to test and optimise their strategy. One of the first projects will be to add more dynamic elements to increase conversion, particularly with the goal of expanding Irish News’ international subscriber base, those who can’t buy a physical paper.
“The great thing about Irish people is that we only seem to get more Irish when we’re abroad! It’s a huge potential market for us… We just want to make sure that we know what works with our audience here before taking all of that learning when we spread our wings a bit more!” – Annette
