Handelsblatt Circles: 6 lessons on community from Chief Growth Officer Jan Kleibrink

Membership in the Handelsblatt ‘AI Circle’ costs €2,500 per year. In return, members receive access to exclusive events, discussions with experts and the editorial team, a Handelsblatt subscription, and much more.

With ‘Circles’, Handelsblatt, the German-language business newspaper, aims to demonstrate what a media company can be in the 21st century. In addition to the hyped topic of AI, they’re also focusing on exchange and networking among decision-makers at the PULSE women’s network and the upcoming TECH (Technology Experience Convention Heilbronn) conference.

In one of my recent Subscribe Now podcast episodes (in German), Chief Growth Officer Jan Kleibrink explains how they acquire members for their high-priced communities and what their big ambitions for the future look like.

1. What are “Circles”?

Handelsblatt now has a fairly extensive portfolio of memberships for various areas of interest. These have evolved significantly over the past few years, leading to each having their unique business model.

Their ‘Circles’ products were originally intended to keep people connected between major events. Accordingly, membership was initially free, financed through sponsorships and ticket sales.

Shortly after launching the first communities, a pandemic broke out (some will remember) and the demand for virtual networking was huge. This put Circles in a very good position.

Since then, new circles have been launched (Pulse, TECH). Unlike the others, these are packaged as high-value memberships where it’s not sponsors who pay for the content and network access, but the members themselves.

2. Prices depend on company size and number of licenses

The membership itself and their respective prices vary slightly between circles. For instance, Pulse costs €2,000 or €3,000 per year, the AI Circle €2,500, and TECH €20,000 for three members. Startups receive significant discounts, and those who purchase multiple licenses can save up to 20%.

While that sounds like a lot of money at first glance, Jan says that some people believe that such communities should be offered at a much higher price given their value.

3. Memberships and Professional Briefings are two sides of the same coin

In a previous newsletter, I featured Table.Briefings who, interestingly, charge up to €2,388 per year. They’re in the same price range as Circles, and also offer in-depth coverage for highly interested specialist communities.

The big difference is their approach. While Table.Briefings primarily focus on regular and in-depth content, Circles focus on the network. The AI briefing newsletter is even free at Handelsblatt and serves more as a marketing channel for the Circle.

However, Jan can well imagine that both approaches will converge in the coming years – briefing providers could also increasingly rely on events and Circles could perhaps expand their content offerings.

4. Events are the focus

Circles attract the most members around major annual events like the AI Summit. The AI Summit costs between €990 and €1,550 alone and is included for members. A member could therefore estimate that participation in the Summit alone justifies 62% of the membership fee.

Interestingly, there’s hardly any mention of Circles on the AI Summit registration page. Jan explains this by saying that they don’t want to overwhelm or confuse attendees when purchasing an event ticket, but that participants will be made aware of the Circle after purchasing the ticket and during the event.

5. Subscriptions and memberships appeal to different target groups

In 2016, Handelsblatt launched their business club. The hypothesis back then was that subscribers would become members. Live journalism, networking, and exclusive benefits are just as important for subscription as the editorial content.

There is not much left of the Handelsblatt business club (their sister magazine’s club, WirtschaftsWoche, still exists) and membership has moved away from paid content.

The idea is that events often attract guests who don’t have subscriptions, and many subscribers never attend an event. These are two target groups that only partially overlap and also have very different willingness to pay.

At the same time, the Handelsblatt subscription is also an added value for Circle members and part of the bundle, but it is not the main focus.

(I already wrote about the return of memberships in a previous newsletter)

6. TECH: “The largest single initiative the Handelsblatt Media Group has ever launched”

Handelsblatt has big plans for the “Technology Experience Convention Heilbronn.” The event, which will take place for the first time from May 25-27th, aims to establish itself as a “Technology Davos,” where the world’s most important decision-makers come together to discuss Europe’s technological future.

The website already states that it will be more than just a conference, but rather a membership. TECH is intended to combine learnings from previous Circles and expand them into something truly large. Whether this succeeds remains to be seen in the coming years.