At the Audiencers’ Festival Montréal, Corinne Osnos, VP of Subscriptions and Marketing at Foreign Policy, shared three low-effort, high-impact tactics her team uses to bring in readers despite running one of the strictest paywalls in media.

With a hard paywall leaving practically zero articles for free, Foreign Policy prioritizes low-effort, high-impact tactics, three of which were shared at Audiencers' Festival Montréal:
> Build one segmented "win-back" email, targeting lapsed-but-recent visitors
> Test an exit-intent registration wall instead of loosening your paywall
> Turn your best columnist into a short email course for readers who aren't ready to subscribe yet

Foreign Policy was founded in 1970 at Harvard by two professors, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, originally as a forum for views on US foreign policy that weren’t getting airtime elsewhere. Today it covers geopolitics globally rather than just American foreign policy, and its subscribers reflect that: about 60% US, 40% international, with Canada as its second-largest market.

Subscriptions are the core of FP’s revenue, split between individual subscribers and group subscriptions (organizations like the UN, Yale or the US Department of Defense buying access for their entire staff), which make up about 25% of subscription revenue. FP runs no programmatic advertising at all on the subscriber website, which means, in Osnos’s words, every single page view has to be optimized toward subscription rather than traffic. The other half of the business is partnership revenue: custom research, podcasts, and events built with outside organizations. FP’s biggest annual moment isn’t an election, it’s the UN General Assembly each fall.

The organization is small for its output: about 70 full-time employees total, with a three-person marketing team.

The paywall is genuinely strict, and getting stricter

FP offers essentially no free content. Osnos was upfront that this is unusual – freemium is perhaps the most popular model in Europe, whilst in Canada a lot of content is freely accessible and many media are government supported. And their model has only gotten more restrictive over time. In 2018, the meter allowed around five free articles a month. Today it’s practically zero. Because there’s no ad revenue to fall back on, every article needs to justify its existence through subscription value.

Four problems sitting underneath that strategy

Osnos framed FP’s current position around four challenges, several of which will be familiar to most publishers reading:

• Top-of-funnel erosion. Organic discovery through Google search, historically a major channel, has dropped off significantly, even though FP isn’t chasing traffic.

• A demographic gap. FP’s core paying audience skews over 50. But it also has a large 18-to-23 segment, driven almost entirely by university group subscriptions. Those students are a meaningful exposure channel (Osnos says it’s one of the most common things she hears from subscribers she meets: “I used to read FP at university”), but they arrive through IP-authenticated access, meaning FP has no contact information for them, and loses nearly all of them the moment they graduate.

• High pricing on a strict meter. Because there’s no ad revenue, FP has to price for value and hold the line on access, which creates real friction for readers who aren’t ready to pay upfront.

• Rising competition in a moment that should otherwise favor FP. Geopolitics is dominating headlines, which sounds like a tailwind, but it also means FP is now competing directly with much larger outlets like The Washington Post and The New York Times for the same coverage. Osnos noted that FP used to see clear, isolated traffic and subscription spikes tied to major geopolitical moments (the clearest being the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war). More recent moments, including developments around Venezuela, have still moved the needle, but far less distinctly, because so many outlets are now covering the same stories simultaneously.

Given a small team (3 on the individual subscription side, 2 focused on group subs), Osnos’s operating principle is to prioritize low-effort, high-impact tactics, three of which she shared with us in Montréal: 

Win 1: The weekly trending digest

This is a weekly email combining a curated feed of articles, with marketing messaging at the top and bottom. Its effectiveness comes almost entirely from precise targeting and testing, not from the format itself.

Targeting: the email goes to users who visited the site in the last 30 days but haven’t visited in the last 7, a segment the team calls “Active 30, Dark 7.” These readers haven’t seen the last week’s stories, so the email surfaces what’s new rather than repeating content they may have already seen, and it re-engages them before they drift into a fully at-risk state. Readers still inside that 7-day window get more direct subscription-offer messaging instead, since they don’t need a content refresher.

Article selection: the team tested a blend of signals (last-touch conversion attribution, subscriber engagement time, and Apple News performance as a proxy for general news interest) against Sailthru’s personalization engine. Curated selection matched or outperformed the automated personalization engine consistently. Osnos’s read: curation still beats algorithmic personalization here, even though full automation would have been the lower-effort path.

Format specifics, tested directly: seven articles per edition, chosen after testing five, seven, and ten; seven won. The email always ends with an “end unit,” a final clickable item (a magazine issue, a new feature, a limited offer) so the reader has somewhere to go after the content rather than the email simply stopping. The top of the email is segmented into four different versions depending on who’s reading it, students and academics with .edu addresses see different pricing and messaging, former subscribers see a different version again, and existing subscribers never see price or offer messaging at all (they instead see messaging to reinforce sub benefits e.g. gift links, new issues, FP Live).

Effort and what’s next: the whole build takes under 30 minutes a week and consistently lands in FP’s top 10 monthly conversion sources (by campaign). The team is now testing an internally built AI tool that analyzes FP articles for conversion and subscriber-traffic performance and generates optimized headlines and decks, since the email leans almost entirely on headline and deck to pull readers back to the site.

Win 2: The exit-intent registration wall

FP has tested hard paywalls against softer meter strategies repeatedly, across every audience segment (known, unknown, newsletter subscribers, everyone), and hard paywalling consistently converts 5x better. That’s why 80% of FP’s traffic sees a hard paywall 100% of the time.

The remaining 20% is where the exit-intent wall comes in. When the system detects a reader about to leave the page (or swipe away on mobile) without paying, it offers a registration prompt instead: create a free account, get that one article. This avoids cannibalizing the primary hard-paywall conversion moment while still capturing readers who weren’t going to pay this time but are worth keeping in the funnel.

What happens after account creation matters as much as the wall itself. New registrants go through on-site onboarding and a structured nurture sequence: an explanation of why FP exists, a set of “greatest hits” articles with the paywall temporarily removed, a note from a subscriber-favorite columnist, and promotion of newsletters, which the team has found to be one of the strongest drivers of paid conversion among registered-but-not-subscribed readers, along with FP Live, FP’s video series. The average time from account creation to paid subscription across this flow is 14 days.

Win 3: Newsletter courses

FP’s first newsletter course, an introduction to core international relations theory, was launched in 2026 and authored by Stephen Walt, a Harvard professor and one of FP’s top-converting columnists (also featured in the onboarding nurture sequence above). The format is a five-part email series covering foundational IR concepts.

The logic behind it: geopolitics is increasingly relevant to people well outside FP’s usual readership, but without some grounding in the basics, a general reader has a hard time getting real value from FP’s actual coverage. The course is designed to meet a younger, less specialized audience where they are and bring them into FP’s orbit gradually.

In its first six weeks, the course drew roughly 9,500 signups. 40% of signups were net new to FP, meaning they’d never previously been in FP’s email system. Paid acquisition for the course is running at a $1 cost per lead, against FP’s normal average of roughly $3. These users are driven to the FP website rather than using an ad platform email capture, a strategy that may lead to higher CPLs but means higher quality leads.

The course also functions as a self-contained subscription funnel. Throughout its five parts, it embeds subscription messaging: “homework” assignments using gift links to relevant FP coverage, and promotion of specific benefits, like FP’s podcasts, that the team believes will resonate with a similar audience. Rather than offering a broad free trial that risks prompting cancellations among existing subscribers, FP built a narrower incentive: completing the course earns a 30-day free trial, available only to that specific, already-engaged cohort. So far, 18% of readers exposed to the trial offer go on to claim the trial.

Because the course is built once and requires no ongoing maintenance to keep running, it fits the same low-effort, high-impact principle as the other two tactics: a small team’s structural bet, built on the front end and left to keep converting on its own.

For any publisher weighing a stricter paywall against the traffic it might cost, Osnos's session is a useful reminder that the constraint didn't stop growth, it forced the team to continuously innovate and develop tactics precise enough to convert when article access can’t.

The post 3 acquisition tactics from Foreign Policy, a publication offering near-to-zero free articles appeared first on Audiencers.

At the Audiencers’ Festival in London, Ross Wilmot, Director of Reader Revenue at Broadsheet, shared how implementing a registration wall served as the cornerstone for a highly resilient digital subscription model. By transforming anonymous audiences into known, authenticated users, Broadsheet unlocked a powerful engagement framework that directly accelerated conversion rates.

After months of testing, Broadsheet found registration works best as a step before the paywall, building a direct relationship while readers are still deciding

> Registration selects for quality: Superfans register at 127 times the rate of casual Fly-bys, with 38% willingly authenticating

> Newsletters are the conversion engine: registered, newsletter-engaged readers hit the paywall 3.5 times per visitor against 0.1 for anonymous ones, a 35x difference

> The compounding effect: that cohort is 0.7% of the audience but drives 43% of all digital subscription conversions, an over-index of 61x. Direct offer emails to readers already warmed by daily editorial account for a further 18%

The strategy behind registration

To pave the way for their subscription model, Broadsheet deployed a registration wall in December 2025, strategically positioning it as an essential precursor to the full paywall, which followed on 21 April 2026, both built and launched using Poool. This sequential approach was designed to achieve several key outcomes:

• Accelerating conversion: By unlocking specific engagement features, the team could efficiently increase user exposure frequency to the upcoming paywall.
• Unlocking direct channels: Secure marketing permissions during the registration process to establish direct lines of communication, which heavily influences ultimate conversion.
• Setting the tone: Introducing a clear value exchange on the site, conditioning readers to understand that completing an action is required to access premium content, ensuring a smoother transition to a paid model.
• Boosting confidence: Confirming the audience’s willingness to complete an action built immense internal confidence within the company regarding the viability of the model.
• Guiding product strategy: Capturing known user identities allowed Broadsheet to develop personalised services tailored to specific reader needs.

Five key findings from Broadsheet’s registration data

Despite being in the early stages of the paywall rollout, Broadsheet data has already yielded critical insights regarding user behavior and the reader revenue funnel.

1. Registration captures high-quality readers

Broadsheet segments its audience into four distinct engagement cohorts based on monthly session frequency: 

• Fly-bys (1 session)
• Regular Readers (2–4 sessions)
• Engaged Regulars (5–9 sessions)
• Superfans (10+ sessions)

The data reveals that registration penetration rises sharply alongside engagement. Specifically, Superfans exhibit a registration rate 127 times higher than casual Fly-bys, with 38% of them willingly authenticating. This confirms that a registration wall successfully establishes a direct relationship with the most loyal segments of the audience, those with the highest propensity to buy a subscription in the future.

2. Newsletters initiate the conversion journey

Authentication acts as the primary gateway to newsletter adoption, which serves as a massive catalyst for paywall hits.

While registered users who actively engage with newsletters account for less than 1% of the total audience, they drive a staggering 7% of all paywall exposures. This means that this specific segment over-indexes for paywall hits by an impressive 10x, successfully drawing high-intent readers straight back into premium, monetisable touchpoints.

3. The newsletter is the core conversion engine

The daily newsletter serves as a continuous, automated nudge that repeatedly invites authenticated users back to the site, where they naturally encounter paywalled boundaries.

Registered users who are signed up for newsletters hit the paywall an average of 3.5 times per unique visitor, representing a 35x higher exposure rate compared to the average anonymous reader, who sits at a mere 0.1 exposures.

4. The compounding effect drives the majority of subscriptions

When high-intent audiences are paired with a high frequency of paywall exposures, the compounding effect generates the vast majority of subscriber growth.

The numbers paint a clear picture: the cohort of registered, newsletter-engaged users, which accounts for a tiny 0.7% fraction of the total audience, drives a disproportionate 43% of all digital subscription conversions. This equates to an extraordinary over-indexing factor of 61x. Registration hooks the high-intent reader, and the newsletter sequentially delivers the repeat paywall exposure required to close the sale.

5. Registration unlocks direct offer emails

The marketing permissions captured during the initial registration step open up a highly profitable parallel conversion path: direct offer emails.

By targeting prospects who are already kept warm by daily editorial newsletters, these high-impact, immediate sales emails successfully account for 18% of all subscription conversions.

The registration flywheel

The compounding dynamics of Broadsheet’s strategy form a self-sustaining lifecycle designed to maximise reader value:

1. Register: Capture invisible, anonymous readers via the registration wall to unlock the newsletter engine.
2. Engage: Deploy targeted newsletters to consistently return these authenticated readers back to paywalled content.
3. Expose: Systematically increase the frequency of paywall exposures over time.
4. Convert: Activate premium digital subscriptions through a combination of repeated paywall prompts and direct offer emails.

Next steps for Broadsheet

To refine the registration flywheel and further optimize conversion rates, Broadsheet is focusing on five core strategic enhancements:

• Refining analytics tracking: Adjusting internal analytics tracking frameworks to compile a completely transparent picture of user engagement metrics both immediately before and after registration
• Revamping user onboarding: Overhauling the initial post-registration onboarding flow to actively encourage the early adoption of editorial newsletters across the new database
• Introducing dynamic onsite experiences: Moving away from a static, one-size-fits-all approach to deliver tailored onsite journeys based on an individual’s specific engagement cohort
• Segmenting email campaigns: Categorising and filtering direct offer email campaigns to match the specific engagement levels of different user cohorts
• Continuous A/B testing: Initiating rigorous A/B testing variations directly on the registration wall interface to continuously optimize structural conversion efficiency

The post Broadsheet’s path from reader to subscriber: The registration flywheel in action appeared first on Audiencers.

At the Audiencers’ Festival in London 2026, Patrick Rademacher, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Ringier Media Switzerland, shared how breaking down internal silos and calculating holistic Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is transforming their revenue model, and informing decision making across the entire organisation. 

For the first time, the publisher has the hard data to prove that investing heavily in deep, direct user relationships is entirely worth the effort.

> Publishers have long treated one reader as two entities: the ads team chasing reach, the subs team chasing exclusivity. Ringier built a single Customer Lifetime Value combining both, and found the conflict doesn't exist

> Subscribers keep generating strong advertising value precisely because they're the most engaged. Exclusivity doesn't cost you ad revenue the way the org chart assumes

> On Blick.ch, a logged-in user is worth well over 30 times a consent-only one, and a Brand Lover over 50 times a casual reader

> But logging in isn't the magic. The value comes from what follows: more page views, and an email address that cuts churn. Ringier built "Follow My Team" so registering buys something, and doubled daily logged-in users in a year

“One reader is not two different entities” 

For a long time in the media industry, publishing teams have worked in silos. Users were treated as entirely separate entities depending on the department looking at them:

• The advertising side: Focused purely on maximising reach and ad impressions to drive advertising revenue.
• The reader revenue side: Focused on exclusivity and conversions to drive subscriptions.

This division creates a constant conflict: advertising teams demand more reach to scale ad revenues, while subscription teams countered by demanding more exclusivity to lock content behind paywalls.

However, in reality, one reader is not two different entities, it is one and the same person. A single user can generate both advertising and reader revenue simultaneously, meaning the perceived target conflict doesn’t actually exist. 

What’s more, publishers have long suspected that registered audiences hold a significantly higher value than anonymous users. But without the concrete data to prove it, this debate remains stuck in opinion-based, gut-feeling discussions. 

So, Patrick and the team set about establishing a holistic, comprehensive Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) that combines both revenue streams.

To break this down:

• Reader Revenue CLV is calculated by multiplying the Average Revenue Per User by the subscription lifetime.
• Advertising CLV is calculated by multiplying the Average Revenue Per User by the readership lifetime.

Measuring users on two dimensions

Testing this new metric out, the team started with Ringier’s digital-only, German-speaking reach brand in Switzerland, Blick.ch.

While the project started as a complex manual spreadsheet exercise, the team is currently working on automating the process directly within their data lake. Patrick emphasized that these preliminary results are meant to show “t-shirt sizes” (relative proportions) rather than precise, absolute financial figures, the main goal being to prove that the ads vs subs conflict doesn’t exist.

The Blick user base was analysed across 2 distinct dimensions: funnel depth and loyalty.

Dimension 1: Funnel Depth

Dimension 2: Loyalty

What the data revealed

1. Funnel depth unlocks LTV

The data clearly proved that moving a user deeper into the funnel unlocks exponential lifetime value. Preliminary results suggest:

• Giving consent increases the value compared to “No Consent”.
• A logged-in user delivers a significantly higher CLV, well over 30 times that of a “Consent Only” user
• Moving from a login to a monthly subscription doubles the value, and a yearly subscription multiplies that even further

2. Subscribed users still drive ad value

The results exploded the myth of the ads vs subs conflict: subscribed users continue to generate strong advertising value. When looking at monthly and yearly subscribers, their advertising value remains high because they are highly engaged with the platform. 

This was also something shared by Bonnier Media at WAN-IFRA’s World Congress in Marseille: subscribers not only have a subscription ARPU of €300, but an advertising ARPU of €75.

3. The more loyal, the higher the LTV

When analysing the loyalty dimension, the lifetime value growth was even more staggering. A Brand Lover has a total CLV well over 50 times higher than that of a casual or one-time reader.

The final monetisation matrix

When combining these dimensions into a heat map, the value disparity becomes clear. In short, a high CLV directly correlates with high loyalty and a deep funnel stage.

While the high-value buckets are incredibly lucrative, the core issue for Blick.ch, and most reach publishers, is that the vast majority of the audience currently sits in the “Consent Only” bucket, which yields relatively low monetisation per user.

Speaking on a panel about registration as a solution to this challenge, Patrick highlighted how this data provides a clear financial incentive to log audiences, guiding users deeper into the funnel. 

However, Patrick clarified that registration isn’t a magic wand – the value does not come from the act of logging in itself. Rather, it comes from two secondary effects:

1. Engagement: Logged-in users consume more page views, creating more ad impressions and higher ad revenue.
2. Lifetime: Having a user’s email address establishes a direct relationship, reducing churn and making it far easier to eventually convert them into monthly or yearly subscribers.

Putting CLV into practice

To put these CLV insights into practice, Ringier Media Switzerland has shifted from just gating content to building features designed to deepen user relationships.

Because Blick.ch is well-known for its sports coverage, they launched a feature called “Follow My Team.” Sports fans can select and follow their favorite local clubs, national teams, or specific sports, creating a highly personalized feed and specialized team detail views. Of course though, if a user wants to save these preferences and access this tailored experience, they must register and log in.

By building a product that naturally incentivises identity over anonymity, they are successfully guiding casual users into the logged-in ecosystem.

Patrick highlights that understanding user value is becoming yet more critical with the rise of AI search and AI browsing modes. In an AI-driven ecosystem, publishers are most likely to lose the traffic of users with low loyalty who visit anonymously without a login or subscription. Building a walled garden of logged-in, loyal users is no longer just a revenue optimisation strategy, but a survival mechanism.

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By aligning their teams and product strategy with a holistic Customer Lifetime Value, Ringier Media Switzerland doubled their number of daily logged-in users over the last year.

For the first time, the publisher has the hard data to prove that investing heavily in deep, direct user relationships is entirely worth the effort.

The post Knowing the value of our users: Ringier combines revenue from readers and advertising to calculate holistic Customer Lifetime Value appeared first on Audiencers.

Broadsheet, Australia’s leading cultural publisher, is embarking on a bold new chapter. Founded 16 years ago, the brand has become synonymous with the best in food, drink, fashion, and design across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. Now, they’re taking their successful model to London whilst also moving towards a reader revenue strategy.

We sat down with Nick Shelton, Founder & Publisher of Broadsheet, and Ross Wilmot, Director of Reader Revenue, to discuss their international expansion strategy and the development of a subscription revenue stream, layered on top of their advertising model.

> Broadsheet Media treats advertising and subscription as complementary rather than competing, with engagement as the thread running through both

> Readers said they'd pay for quality content, but only bundled with things they couldn't get elsewhere: exhibition tickets, free coffee, and tools to curate their own Broadsheet experience

> Subscription isn't marketing's project. Broadsheet already ran 'Squads' against 90-day, one-year and three-year goals, so they formed a new audience monetization squad spanning editorial, product, data and CRM

> They launched registration ahead of the paywall, which built internal confidence before the subscription launch as much as it built the audience data

A consistent lens for diverse markets

For Broadsheet, the move from Australia to London is built on a repeatable editorial framework. Nick Shelton describes Broadsheet’s core product not as a list of recommendations, but as a specific lens that can be applied to any global city.

“The way we think about Broadsheet editorially is that it’s a framework,” Nick explains. “What you see through that lens differs depending on the city, but the values of the lens itself – quality, celebration, and curation – remain constant.”

Rather than relying on local intuition alone, Broadsheet uses this framework to solve a universal problem for urban audiences: the paradox of choice. By applying the same rigorous standards in London that they do across Australia, they maintain brand integrity while respecting local nuances. This city-agnostic strategy allows the brand to:

• Curate rather than catalog: Instead of exhaustive listings, they use a highly curated approach where they “don’t write about things we don’t like.”
• Prioritize the premium enthusiast: By maintaining high editorial standards, they attract a specific high-value audience cohort regardless of geography.
• Operationalize local reporting: By treating London as just another “market” within a proven system, they can scale quickly without reinventing their brand identity.

“We learned this lesson in Australia long ago,” Nick notes. “Sydney and Melbourne are fundamentally different markets with different behaviors. Going into London wasn’t about having expectations of what the city would look like; it was about reporting on it through that consistent, high-definition lens.”

Engagement: the common thread between ads and subscriptions

One of the biggest challenges in the publishing industry today is the perceived conflict between advertising and subscription revenue. Broadsheet, however, sees these models as complementary, with engagement being the common thread. 

“We’re not a traffic-based model, we don’t sell programmatic advertising. It’s not about more people equals more money; it’s about the depth of engagement. And we’ve long had the muscle and mindset in the business of engagement. The better engaged the audience, the better we do as a business, something that applies across both advertising and subscription revenue goals.” 

In short: by focusing on engagement, everybody wins. 

Ross, Director of Reader Revenue at Broadsheet, who recently joined Broadsheet after working at a legacy media publication, explained that by moving even a small subset of their flyby audience into a medium-engaged cohort, they see an exponential increase in page views, the currency of traditional commercial models. This approach is useful for showing teams the clear benefit of engagement to the advertising side of the business while simultaneously building a base for subscriptions.

Whilst they measure a collection of engagement metrics, focused very much on quality over scale, frequency is their most important, north star metric. 

The five pillars of a successful subscription strategy

Broadsheet’s transition to reader revenue is built on five key pillars, as outlined by Ross:

• An audience-centric approach: A laser focus on the most engaged readers, understanding their motivations, pain points, and what adds value to their lives.
• Compelling value proposition: Ensuring the subscription product addresses the needs of engaged readers. Initial research at Broadsheet showed that their readers would be prepared to pay for high-quality content, but that it needed to be combined with unique experiences like exhibition tickets, and perks like free coffee as well as tools to help them curate their Broadsheet experience.
• Cross-departmental alliance: Moving beyond a traditional marketing-led view of subscriptions to ensure buy-in across the entire business, from editorial to product, data, and CRM. At Broadsheet, they already had established ‘Squads’ associated to 90-day, one-year and three-year goals, so when moving to subscription, a new audience monetization squad was formed.
• Culture of test and learn: Continuous experimentation with subscriber journeys, funnels, pricing, and offers to drive sustainable growth.
• End-to-end lifecycle marketing: Delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time, supported by a robust data infrastructure and access to the right platforms.

“There are of course many other aspects to consider, but in my opinion, these 5 are the ones that move the dial the furthest”

Building a value exchange through registration

A crucial component of Broadsheet’s reader revenue model is the registration wall. Launched in Australia in December 2025, a few months before their subscription model, the registration wall has already outperformed industry benchmarks: 

Specifically, a conversion rate (% of unique visitors who encountered the reg wall and converted) of 5.5% on the registration wall, compared to the industry benchmark of 3-5%.

“Registration serves us on several different levels,” Ross says. “It gives us the ability to communicate more directly with our most engaged audience, gather insights into their needs, and personalize their experience. And of course, it helps us reduce the reliance on third party platforms for our audience, which is going to be more and more crucial.”

Crucially, the registration wall introduces a clear value exchange on the site. “Previously, people were completely free to browse the site as they wished,” Ross explains. “The registration wall helps set the tone for the eventual introduction of a paywall, ensuring it’s not a shock when certain content becomes paid.”

Registration has also built confidence internally ahead of their paywall launch

“The insights from our research proved that there was definitely an appetite to pay as long as it’s the right proposition and that a subscription adds significant value to an individual’s life. And that’s where we’ve been focused on these three aspects of the subscription proposition, the content being the inspiration, the experiential side of things, and the utility aspects as well, pulling all those different ingredients together.”

Nick added that, ultimately, the team believed in the strength of their brand. 

“We’ve been running this for 16 years. We know we have a strong brand. We know we create a product worth paying for. So let’s do it. Having a reg wall in place was valuable for validating our assumptions on conversion rates through the steps in the funnel. We exceeded every single one of those assumptions. Of course, more people provide data for registration than handing over a credit card, but we consistently exceeded benchmarks since the launch, so we didn’t feel we needed to wait around for subscription. We just had to go for it, with confidence.”

London: building a cultural footprint, Australia: Broadsheet digital subscription

Currently, Broadsheet’s London operation is focused on audience acquisition and brand awareness. Before switching on monetization features, they are busy establishing themselves as the ultimate London city guide.

While London is about growth, Australia is the testing ground for the brand’s most ambitious move yet: Broadsheet digital subscription. Launched just days ago (April 2026), this membership program represents the official transition from a free-to-read model to a premium value exchange.

Ross highlights that early data from Australia has been “very strong,” already exceeding industry benchmarks for conversion. The model isn’t just about a hard paywall but rather an integrated experience:

• Exclusive experiences: Members get early access to ‘Readers’ Preview’ dinners at the city’s hottest new restaurants
• Perks and rewards: The program includes ‘The Vault’ (high-value giveaways) and daily rewards like free coffee or discounts at local partners
• Journalism access: Unlimited access to Broadsheet’s trusted journalism for A$1/week

The current content access model is a static meter, where audiences have access to a set number of articles per month before being asked to register and then subscribe, but the goal is to move towards a dynamic model adapted to a reader’s level of engagement via Poool.

What’s next?

Of course, the launch is just the beginning! Ross shared that the team is already focusing on:

• Identifying optimisation opportunities that exist within their key conversion journeys and subscription checkout funnel
• Leveraging those insights to inform a cross-departmental working group focused on CRO, building a roadmap of experimentation and executing
• Introducing new forums to share actionable insights with editorial: what content is driving conversion (last click and participation) and engagement to inform content and commissioning strategy; identifying opportunities to potentially convert a higher proportion of readers below the superfan engagement cohort 
• Building CRM muscle through talent acquisition and data engineering: unlocking capabilities within their Customer Engagement Platform (Braze) and Customer Orchestration Platform (Poool) to become more personalised and dynamic across owned channels 
• Building further value into the subscription proposition through product development of utility tools

The post From Melbourne to London: how Broadsheet is scaling culture and reader revenue appeared first on Audiencers.

Catherine Léger, Director of Performance Marketing, & Mathieu Therrien, Director of Products, at Radio-Canada share why and how they required readers to login to access their app, a gamble that has paid off.

> Radio-Canada put a hard registration wall across its entire app suite in July 2024, a global first for a public broadcaster. Internal sceptics pushed back: "we're not Netflix"

> A year on, monthly active accounts are up 83% and engaged visits up 14% excluding the Olympics, with peaks above 800,000 registered visitors a month. Reading and listening time held steady

> The feared backlash never came. Complaints about mandatory sign-in made up under 2% of support tickets, and most of those were people asking for help rather than objecting

> The bigger shift was internal: nearly 90% of teams say it advanced the company's digital maturity, and 9 in 10 already have concrete uses planned for authenticated data

The why

Let’s talk about the fear that keeps product managers tossing and turning at night: the soul-crushing fear of alienating your audience. There’s nothing quite like the stress of watching users churn because you dared to put a barrier in their way.

Yet, a little over a year ago, Radio-Canada decided to stop holding its breath and start taking risks. We did the unthinkable for a public broadcaster: we implemented a hard registration wall across our entire app suite. It was a global first for a public news entity—a move driven by equal parts boldness and strategic necessity. We realized that if we wanted to remain relevant and maintain a long-term relationship with our audience, the “status quo” was no longer an option; it was now or never.

In this article, we share the results of this “high-stakes gamble” one year on. From transforming our internal digital maturity to seeing a massive +83% surge in monthly active accounts, we’ve proven that you don’t lose trust by asking for an account—you lose it by pretending you can build a future with anonymous visitors.

What we feared

Like everyone else in the industry, we had the same fear: if we block access, we block the audience. We worried that users would become discouraged, that the most impatient would leave, and that the trust we had built up over decades would be undermined. Internal skeptics argued that people would never create an account just to listen to the radio or read a quick news story, noting, “we’re not Netflix.” In short: the wall was supposed to cause people to flee.

The tipping point

And yet, we had to go for it. A wall was deployed on July 3, 2024. We launched on iOS, Android, and connected TVs, followed by a partial web rollout ahead of the Paris Olympics. On that day, we took the risk of frustrating our users in the name of long-term relationships.

What really happened

Spoiler alert: Not only did people not leave, but they came back in greater numbers and with accounts.

• +83% monthly active accounts in one year.
• +14% engaged visits to our platforms (excluding the Olympics).
• Peaks of over 800,000 active registered visitors per month.
• Stable engagement: No collapse in reading time or listening, and no abandoned applications.

Regarding user reaction, comments related to mandatory authentication accounted for less than 2% of user tickets, and the majority of those were simply requests for assistance.

Key lessons

We learned that registration is not perceived as an obstacle when it is justified, clearly explained, and respectful of the user experience.

Internal surveys show the impact on our organization:

• Nearly 90% of internal teams believe the initiative advanced the company’s digital maturity.
• 75% have a better understanding of the potential of authenticated data.
• 9 out of 10 already see concrete uses for this data in the coming year.

Why we must persevere

The wall is not an end; it’s a foundation. You can’t build lasting relationships with strangers, and you can’t personalize blindly. Mandatory authentication is an act of digital sovereignty that allows Radio-Canada to better understand, serve, and activate our audiences.

TLTR: Trust is not lost by asking for an account, but it can be lost by pretending that we can build the future with anonymous visitors. For a public media outlet like Radio-Canada, the status quo was and is impossible.

Written by Catherine Léger, Director of Performance Marketing, & Mathieu Therrien, Director of Products.

The post Obligatory registration at Radio-Canada: a successful gamble appeared first on Audiencers.

As media organizations shift from volume-based traffic to value-based reader revenue models, the challenge often lies in bridging the gap between an anonymous click and a loyal subscriber. Sadly, this isn’t like Married at First Sight… this relationship won’t be built in a day, nor with a paywall alone. It takes time, energy and a variety of formats to develop. 

Milenio, one of Mexico’s most influential news groups, has well understood this. Their answer wasn’t found in aggressive paywall tactics, but in cultivating a highly engaged community within its own ecosystem.

We spoke with Chief Reader Revenue Officer Juan Manuel Nava Madrazo about how, by strategically pivoting toward conversational tools and gamified loyalty, Milenio has successfully tripled user time-on-site and established a sustainable pipeline for its January 2026 paywall launch.

> Milenio, one of Mexico's biggest news groups, ran its comments on Facebook for years. It leaked audience to a platform it didn't own, forced a double login, and let toxicity drive off the readers it most wanted

> Bringing comments in-house with single sign-on, hybrid AI and human moderation, and avatars drawn from Mexican culture changed the economics. Commenters average 4 minutes 40 seconds on site against 1 minute 48 for everyone else

> Comments became an acquisition channel rather than a cost centre. They now drive 10-11% of daily registrations, roughly 2,000 to 2,500 people a month, making commenting the fourth-largest registration source

> Puntos Milenio rewards reading, commenting and sharing with points redeemable at Starbucks and Amazon, and Milenio Plus subscribers earn double, turning the loyalty scheme into a reason to subscribe

> Milenio scores commenters as "Lovers" worth 70 points against 10 for a casual reader. Half of all registered users now qualify, and that is the pool its January 2026 paywall launched into

Moving beyond “social media friction”

For years, Milenio relied on Facebook for its comment sections. However, this led to audience leakage, where users were pulled away to external social platforms, and a double login friction that stifled local community growth. Worse, the lack of moderation created a toxic environment that excluded younger audiences and alienated quality readers.

“We needed to centralize data and convert anonymous readers into loyal registered users, all within our own ecosystem,” 

To reclaim its audience, Milenio replaced its social media plugin with a proprietary community engine, Logora, focused on three pillars: 

• Unified login (SSO): Eliminating friction by integrating the comment system directly with Milenio’s registration.

• Smart hybrid moderation (AI+Human): A robust moderation that drastically reduces toxicity and ensures a civil debate.
• Local identity: Total customization, including avatars specifically designed to reflect Mexican culture (e.g., Frida Kahlo), strengthening the sense of belonging.

• New editorial product (“Realidades”): Creation of a new video-debate section that fosters deep discussions on everyday life topics (Mexican lifestyle and social topics).

This ownership of the community, with attention to details that help encourage participation, is paying off across the board: 

1. Community growth

• Volume: +150% in daily comments in the first year and an additional +100% in the second year
• Engagement: Over 120,000 comments accumulated with 80–85% approval rate (vs. 60% previously) and 120,000 interactions (likes/votes)
• Quality: Users went from leaving emojis or short phrases to writing reasoned paragraphs and reading others’ opinions

2. Retention and time spent

• All Milenio users: 1 minute 48 seconds
• Registered users (non-commenting): 2 minutes 20 seconds
• Registered users using commenting: 4 minutes 40 seconds (+200% vs. average)

3. Conversion driver for registration

• 10-11% of new daily registrations come directly from the comments widget
• Between 2,000 and 2,500 new users register each month to participate in comments
• Commenting is the 4th most important registration source for the media outlet, surpassing many content sections

The new video series “Realidades” shows:

• +20% higher participation
• +10% more users writing arguments, not just voting

Gamifying loyalty: the points milenio program

A central component of Milenio’s retention strategy is Puntos Milenio, a loyalty program that rewards high-value behaviors with redeemable points.

To bring Puntos Milenio to life, 3 key elements were needed:

• The talent of the Milenio team (Development, Business, Data, etc.).
• External platforms that understood their needs
• Trust in the project

With these three elements, they had to integrate and adapt different technologies so they could coexist and function as a single system. In addition, it was essential that operations and configuration were as simple and scalable as possible.

The end user was always the focus: “someone for whom we aimed to create an easy, hassle-free experience and who clearly understands the value of staying informed through reliable journalism”.

Users aren’t aware of how they earn points in detail, to avoid cheating of the system, but internally these are built up by:

• Engaging with content: commenting, reading multiple articles, or reaching specific scroll depth targets
• Watching videos (encouraging long-form consumption)
• Referrals: sharing articles to social platforms (to bring in new potential registrants)

Although the project is still in a maturation phase, the initial results already show strong signs of impact:

• More than 2,500 users are currently participating in the program
• They have generated more than 1 Million points, mainly by reading news, playing EntrenaMentes, listening to podcasts, watching videos, and commenting on content

These points can be exchanged for tangible rewards, such as discount coupons for Starbucks, Amazon, and Google Play. Critically, subscribers to Milenio Plus receive double points for their activities, adding a layer of perceived value to the subscription itself.

Community “Lovers” as a qualified pool for subscription

Registration is widely recognised as a valuable model to launch pre-subscription. It helps to build a qualified, engaged audience of potential future subscribers, as well as providing a testing ground for conversion tactics. Mileno, however, have gone a step further by building a community around registration, ensuring these audiences are engaged enough to convert when faced with a paywall. 

Commenting is placed behind the registration wall, establishing a simple value exchange that builds engagement whilst collecting key data points. 

Using Marfeel’s scoring, Milenio identified commenters as high-value “Lovers” (70 pts vs. 10 pts for casual users). With 50% of registered users classified as lovers, this community is the prime target for the subscription revenue to come in 2026.

The post Owning the community and gamifying loyalty: Inside Milenio’s engagement strategies appeared first on Audiencers.

According to the 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, digital subscriptions have hit a plateau. Across 20 countries, only 18% of people pay for online news, a figure that has barely budged since last year. So if you feel like you’re hitting a ceiling with your core audience, you aren’t alone.

However, in their latest report on the power of registration, the 2025 FT Strategies and Google News Initiative (GNI) Subscriptions Academy found that the most successful publishers are stoping the “anonymous-to-subscriber” leap and focusing on the “middle ground”: Registration. By converting anonymous visitors into known users through a lightweight value exchange, you aren’t just collecting emails, you’re building the resilience needed for a privacy-first, platform-fragmented market.

The post Building resilience with registration appeared first on Audiencers.

Launched in 2018, Republik digital magazine belongs to no one, but to each of their 30,000 members a little bit. The team’s mission? To strengthen democracy with journalism, publishing just 2 to 3 stories per day, prioritizing the highest possible quality, and today funded entirely by subscriptions. 

I spoke to David Bauer, Head of Product Development, to hear about how they leverage editorial products for growth.

> Republik, the Swiss member-owned magazine with 30,000 subscribers, used to block browsing on its own site while giving away any article reached by a direct link

> They flipped it. You can now browse everything, but content sits behind metered registration, and new accounts get a week to explore before the subscription ask. Every story became a landing page

> Email courses turned out to be the strongest acquisition product. "Bye-bye Big Tech" took 2,500 registrations in two hours and 12,000 in three weeks, a third of them people Republik had never reached before

> The logic is problem then solution: the journalism explains what's wrong, the course offers something to do about it. David Bauer: "what better moment to offer a solution than when you've just pointed out the problem?"

> Courses are free and send nothing else while they run. The pitch comes at the end and stays in context, selling the magazine as keeping an eye on powerful tech companies rather than as general news

A bit of context: From April 26 to May 31, 2017, Project R, a non-profit cooperative, ran a crowdfunding campaign to launch a digital magazine in Switzerland. It was an overwhelming success: over 13,000 supporters, together with the Project R development team, aimed to make a significant difference in the media landscape. The magazine, named, “Republik” launched on January 14, 2018 – uncompromising in quality, reader-funded, ad-free, and without any unnecessary frills. (source: Project R)

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Engagement, visibility and a touch of frustration; here’s a list of strategies to successfully convert your free registered members into paying subscribers.

1. Increase engagement

Successful conversions are all about balancing frustration and engagement. You can block members with a paywall all you’d like, but if they aren’t engaged, and if they don’t believe in your value proposition, they won’t convert.

Increasing engagement is therefore an essential part of moving free members down the funnel. Of course, this should be done through the classic techniques – quality content, a variety of formats (games, newsletters, app…) etc. – but you can also consider the below strategies, specifically for registered users.

Onboard new members

Just as you (hopefully) do for paying subscribers, you should lead new members through an on-site onboarding journey to deliver immediate value, increase engagement and personalize a user’s experience.

Importantly, they should be designed according to what a “valuable member” means to you.

The New York Times, for instance, recently implemented a new onboarding journey for registered users and it tells you exactly what’s valuable to their wider strategy.

Based on this onboarding journey, it’s clear that for the NYT a valuable user:

• is engaged in multiple verticals – news, cooking, sport, audio, games, reviews
• is signed up to one or more of their newsletters, an important content format for building habits and bringing readers back to the site
• plays games, something proven to form habits and bring in new audiences (think of the Wordle trend, where those who didn’t play daily felt left out of conversations). Interestingly, they even added a “Go to games” link at the end
• downloads and uses the app

Plus, they’ve added a banner on-article to promote their paid offering directly after someone creates their account.

The lesson to remember: Onboarding is essential, but should be adapted to your audience – what features, content or benefits are the most valuable to you (often calculated based on engagement/retention)?

Ideally, you even have a different journey for existing members when they log in, vs. for new members, like The Telegraph.

Push highly engaging content and features

Banners, pop-ups, epics and content inserts can be used to promote products that increase engagement and retention amongst subscribers, such as thematic and habit-forming newsletters, content series, your app, audio, video, events, community spaces, etc.

For sleeper members, remind them about access

A month after creating an account on nederlands dagblad, members receive an email informing them that they have access to 3 articles again for free as part of their metered model. This strategy cleverly encourages less-engaged members to make use of their quota of articles for engagement.

2. Increase premium offer visibility

The decision to subscribe isn’t made in a day (as we well know!), it’s built up over time through continued value and engagement. But in order for this to successfully lead to conversion, you also need to educate users on the premium product itself – the fact it exists, the price, any special introductory offers you have, the product value, features and factors that reassure, such as “cancel anytime”.

These can of course be found on the subscriptions offers page, but this requires the user to come to you. Instead, you should gradually bring this information in front of the reader over time.

Promotional banners, pop-ups and paywalls can be included in this visibility strategy, but even simply having a “Subscribe” button in the header can play a role here.

The New York Times, for instance, even includes the price of subscription in the button. They’ve also added a short text and CTA in the registration journey, giving us easy access to discover their offers.

Employ a double wall – registration and paywall

Instead of a simple registration wall alone, many publishers have moved towards a double wall, promoting both subscription, for full access, or registration, for limited access. Again, the idea isn’t necessarily to convert readers into subscribers here, but to promote subscription and highlight the value of this product compared to the free one.

However, worth noting that one publisher we’ve spoken to found that putting these two options next to each other meant that there was too much choice for users.

The Economist for instance has tested various options for this conversion moment, working out whether it’s best to promote registration, subscription or the free trial.

Highlight the value in subscribing

For instance during member onboarding, or whilst a reader is navigating the site.

The example below from L’Équipe, a banner showing what content is coming soon on the site, is displayed to subscribers for retention purposes, but could definitely be applied to the conversion strategy.

CTA on content

A less frustrating moment to convert is through a call-to-action above the fold on articles, like Le Point.

“Epic” at the end of articles

Learning from the likes of The Guardian, you could consider an end-of-article module to promote subscriptions at the end of free articles.

> Read about The Guardian’s impressive strategy to continuously optimize their epic and develop their support proposition

Homepage top banner

A classic for promoting subscriptions, but slightly less invasive than a bottom banner that needs to be closed.

Homepage bottom banner

Foldable or closable banners are useful for promoting subscription, but should be timed and targeted to not frustrate the reader too much.

These modules often promote special offers or re-emphasize the value proposition, but for Chicago Sun Times this is a moment to present the subscription offers, reducing a step in the funnel and bringing the offers page to the reader.

Article bottom banner

These banners can of course be placed on the article itself, especially for free content. Many publishers make use of this in a metered model to inform readers that they’re reaching the end of their quota of free articles.

Promotion in the menu

With a bit more space to add price, reassurance and maybe even a short value proposition point, the side menu bar can be a useful place to increase visibility of your premium product, like La Croix.

Special offer pop-ups

Alongside the classic pop-ups, consider special offers for registered members.

To go a step further, use targeted messaging for these readers. Despite being an example of converting anonymous readers into subscribers, Blick.ch showed how inventive and targeted you can be here, testing 3 different messages: one focusing on social proof, another saying thank you and a final version targeted to their most engaged readers, congratulating them on being in the top % of readers.

Link to premium content in free newsletters

Free newsletters are a valuable way of engaging readers, building habits that bring them back to your site on a regular basis. It’s also a great opportunity to promote premium content.

Many publishers link premium content in the newsletter, providing a summary of the article without giving too much away. This provides a form of teaser, before the reader is blocked on the article on-site with a paywall.

Make premium features visible

Whilst saving content for later, commenting, gifting articles or other UX features might be reserved for subscribers, you can keep these visible across the site to highlight the value of subscribing.

The Telegraph does this brilliantly, making use of the feature to promote its value to non-subscribers.

Offer trials and discovery passes for premium

Many popular e-learning and lifestyle apps, such as Strava and Duolingo, automatically move free members to the premium offer for a limited time, allowing them to discover the features and functionalities available to paying subscribers. After the trial ends, users have a better understanding of the advantages of subscribing.

3. Build relationships whilst frustrating slightly

Engagement is great, but it doesn’t pay the bills when the reader is browsing for free! Thanks to this engagement, you can frustrate the reader a little to convince them to subscribe. And, with all the data you have on this audience, you can build relationships through personalization and targeted experiences, making the subscription ask more convincing.

Promote subscriptions via a message from your team

People connect with people, not brands, so putting your team at the forefront is vital for building during relationships with readers.

Although an example aimed at retaining subscribers who have cancelled their plans, this pop-up from L’Équipe’s Editor-in-chief could easily be applied to the conversion journey, explaining why someone should subscribe, what value is on offer and providing some insights into the journalists working behind-the-scenes to make their work possible.

Dynamic paywalls, personalized to a member

Targeting paywalls helps to directly address the reader and make them feel like the subscription is built for them. And this doesn’t even have to be anything too complicated – Harvard Business Review and Clarin for instance simply add the member’s name into the wall. Medium goes a step further by including the author of the article currently being read, as well as examples of similar authors.

Dynamic paywalls, adapted to level of engagement

Paywalls can also be targeted to a readers level of engagement, something you’ll have plenty of information on thanks to the user being logged.

The example below is from Jeune Afrique, who tested various messaging and offers for each audience segment, finding that the optimal strategy was to group readers by location and engagement score.

Readers in low propensity to subscribe countries with a low engagement (Recency, Frequency & Volume) score were presented with a paywall that:

• Offered a €1 month trial offer
• Highlights the brand’s value proposition – who they are, what they stand for
• Aims to reassure the reader: “cancel anytime” “discovery offer”
• Includes the CTA “Make the most of this offer”

Readers in high propensity to subscribe countries, with a high engagement score were presented with a paywall that:

• Offered a 50% reduction on an annual subscription
• Includes the CTA “Join the community”
• Listed the benefits of subscribing (these readers likely already know the brand’s value proposition. They’re already engaged, and want to know what else they can have access to)

Dynamic paywalls, adapted to content type

Adapt the messaging, images and first few benefits of subscribing to the content type, highlighting to the reader that your subscription product is adapted to their interests.

ELLE Magazine increased conversion rates by 20% with this contextual paywall strategy, building 7 targeted paywalls with Poool to cover cooking, fashion, design, psychology-relationships, sport, beauty and society.

Dynamic paywalls, adapted to user status (ex-subscriber)

Ex-subscribers who are still logged can be easily targeted with dedicated messaging and offers. The Washington Post’s unique pop-up for ex-subscribers is an inspiring one!

Abandoned cart pop-up

A strategy that has been normalized in the e-commerce industry but not used enough by publishers is that of cart abandonment. Whether a user doesn’t finish the subscription process, or simply visits the offers page but doesn’t subscribe, you can consider a pop-up or email to bring them back.

This example from Texas Monthly is great, but you can go further by highlighting the value proposition, a benefit of subscribing, reassuring the reader or offering a discount/trial.

Streamlined subscription process

An obvious one, but make sure subscribing is effortless! You can pre-fill form fields, and offer popular payment methods (e.g., PayPal or Apple Pay) based on the user’s location for instance.

The post How to turn registered members into subscribers appeared first on Audiencers.

Regular commenting below articles has always been a frequently-used engagement feature on DER SPIEGEL. In fact, Product Manager Laura Badura shared that at the peak 1.7M comments were left in a month… too much for AI and human moderation to manage and too much for users to read . 

Not only this, but conversations on a single topic were happening in multiple places across the site, diluting the potential value of this feature. Debates on the US elections for instance took place in the comments section of several articles covering the topic a day. 

So, when the time came to review the feature and evaluate tools used, Laura and the DER SPIEGEL product team decided to run some user research to understand the popularity of comment sections, why users turned to DER SPIEGEL for debating instead of X or Reddit, and find ways of improving the feature.

> DER SPIEGEL peaked at 1.7 million comments a month, beyond what moderation could handle or readers could read, with the same argument scattered across several articles a day

> Research found only 5% comment regularly, and that non-participants, women especially, wanted a safe space. So dislikes were dropped and real names were not required, though accounts are verified

> The Times went the other way, moving real-name commenting from 37% to 98%. Toxicity fell, attacks on writers dropped 25%, and comment volume rose. Two credible publishers, opposite conclusions

> Reading a debate needs only a free account. Commenting, reacting, seeing the vote split before it closes and proposing topics are all subscriber-only, so participation itself is the paid product

> Ten thousand people logged in within seven hours of launch. The first year brought 900 debates, three million votes and 400,000 comments, with the comment acceptance rate rising slightly

A lot of research later… 

Quantitative analysis meant asking questions such as “How much do you use the space?” and “Do you prefer active or passive participation?”, revealing that only 5% of users are commenting on a regular basis.

This is supported by industry research in Germany by Reuters Institute. The graph below shows active participation in news reporting since 2013, with the yellow results representing commenting.

Qualitative research found that users associate trust and safety with these conversations when they happen under the DER SPIEGEL branding. There’s a mutual appreciation for the publisher’s work, and a reputation that users appreciate. Moderation means that users know that not every comment gets through to be published, and that journalists can vaguely guide discussions if needed. Overall, interaction options are highly appreciated by users as they have a clear desire to engage and know others’ opinions.

For those users who haven’t yet participated, the term ‘safe space’ kept coming up, particularly amongst women. Some mentioned interest in using the feature but a worry of publishing under their real name as well as deliberate choices over which topics they want to participate in.

Re-building the feature with this research in mind

To build trust with users and ensure they feel confident that they’re in a safe space, clear branding and custom design allows the debates to fit perfectly into DER SPIEGEL’s site.

Their tool for implementing debates into the site, Logora, allowed for plenty of features, but it was important for DER SPIEGEL to evaluate which would be the most relevant to their audience. 

For instance, one of Logora’s features is a form of rewards system for high commenters that sends a congratulatory message after a certain number of comments. But the team decided not to implement this at the launch to give readers the chance to test and interact with the debates un-interrupted. However, today, one year on from launching, and they’re considering ways of rewarding high engagement such as this. 

The team also decided to omit ‘dislikes’ on comments to support the creation of a safe space. 

Interestingly, they’ve also decided against making it obligatory for commenters to use their real name to allow users to feel safe. However, they have an account verification process, even for free members, and are continuously evaluating this decision. 

Real name commenting at The Times

At The Audiencers’ Festival London, The Times & Sunday Times shared how they did the opposite, aiming to reduce toxicity by reducing anonymity in their comments section. The idea: “people should know who they’re speaking to if you want a high quality conversation.”

At the time, only 37% of commenters were using their real name, today they’re at an impressive 98%.

“It was a long process involving many different departments at The Times, and lots of communication around it. Subscribers were told early on that they needed to use their real name, and there was a 3-step process to do this. But since making the change we’ve seen toxicity come down – it’s a safer, more welcoming community, and attacks on writers were down 25% – and an increase in the number of comments. People who don’t use a real name stick out for a bad reason – they’re now blocked and then become compliant.“

Debating in practice

For SPIEGEL Debatte, you only need to create a free account or log in to read the debates. 

But in order to actually comment, react, see the distribution of votes (before the debate has ended) or suggest a debate topic, you need a paid subscription. 

The feature is promoted in subscriber onboarding to increase regular usage amongst subscribers.

And debates are integrated into editorial content and vice versa to encourage recirculation. Notice the high visibility of premium (S+) content here to promote the value of subscription.

This premium article below is accompanied by a debate topic open to all, allowing free members to engage in the debate to an extent without being able to benefit from the full experience and accompanying content – a great balance between engagement and frustration to encourage conversion.

To reach new users and draw attention to the digital platform, they sometimes show comments from SPIEGEL Debatte in the print magazine and link to the Debate Space via a QR code. And finally, they also draw attention to the debate on social media channels such as LinkedIn or Instagram by publishing quotes or voting results, linking to the debate.

The goal wasn’t necessarily to increase conversions or retention, but commenting and interactive engagement has been an important feature of DER SPIEGEL’s site, so improving this feature was important, especially for subscribers who have full access to debating.

Some initial results

• Within the first 7 hours of launching, 10,000 users logged in within the debate space
• In the first year, the team created over 900 debates with more than 3M votes and about 400K comments.
• The quality of comments has increased with feature changes. “That is a qualitative observation for now. But it is also reflected in the rate of accepted comments, which has risen from 80-85 to 85-90 percent.”

Thank you Laura for taking the time for this interview!

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