In partnership with Atlas, the recurring revenues growth consultancy, The Audiencers recently ran a survey to find out how media companies with a paywall model decide which articles to block and which to leave open to all audiences. The findings revealed that the majority of publishers base this decision on the content alone – often its reach and conversion potential. Is this the best approach, or can new technology and customer insights help to optimize this key decision?
However, instead of considering which articles to block, which paywall model to employ, what percentage of articles should be blocked, etc., the advice given throughout this article is that publishers should be considering how to maximize the value of each individual reader, building dynamic models to adapt to more than just the content type.
> A survey by The Audiencers and Atlas found most publishers still decide free versus premium on the article alone: short news free, in-depth features paid. The reader barely enters the calculation > Business Insider's automated paywall reads habits, source and genre propensity instead. In testing, 60% of new conversions came from stories that would never have been paywalled under the old rules > The context that reframes everything: research suggests 95% of users are unengaged, spending under two minutes active on a site per month. One wall cannot serve them and your regulars > The recommended fix is a grid, not a rule. Engaged or not, on free or premium content, gives four situations wanting four different asks, from a newsletter prompt to a hard sell > The importance of testing shouldn't be underestimated: what works for one publisher may not work for you
