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Tech stack for a digital reader revenue model

Avatar photobyMadeleine White
10 October 2024

First things first, build or buy?

Don’t build your own; it’s not worth it because you’re not in the software business.

This is proven by the separation of many media companies who did develop their own tech – The Washington Post & ArcXP, The Globe & Mail & Sophi.io…

  • Speed. The technology is often already figured out, and making your own doesn’t give you an edge
  • Expertise. For these tech companies, researching, testing and developing these tools for a specific goal (CMS, subscription…) is all they do. Focus on what you know (your readers) and leave them to keep you ahead of the curve in the tech area
  • Return on investment. ROI should of course be calculated for each specific case, but don’t forget the cost of continuing to develop and optimize your tool to stay ahead of competitors
  • Develop on top. You can always develop on top of tech provider’s solution to add more complexity whilst benefiting from their expertise, the ease-of-use of the solution (marketing autonomy) and the foundations that they’ve already created

Tech providers

Note: if you’re a tech provider and interested in featuring or providing more detail for this article, email [email protected]

CMS

Everything a modern media company needs in one product. Articles, DAM, Video, Subscribers, CDN, and content planning. Built inside one of the best media companies in the world, The Washington Post.

> Case study on The Audiencers: Migrating 1.2 million articles to Arc XP: a look behind-the-scenes as l’Express changes CMS

Glide Publishing Platform, based in London, UK, is a pioneering Content Management System (CMS) co-founded by Denis Haman and Rich Fairbairn. It serves top clients like The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Hello! Magazine and Prospect with a 70-person team. Glide offers a transparent pricing model starting from £4,000  per month and scales up depending on the number of live sites, or based on private cloud needs, emphasizing no traffic surcharges and customizable services for those opting for the private cloud.

> A must-read if you’re looking for a CMS: Optimizing News Production and Distribution: 4 CMSes for Modern Media Organizations

Others of note: 

CRM

Engagement & community

Provides SaaS solutions for audience engagement through live publishing with Live Center, financial news with Pulse, and gamification with Fantasy Funds.

> Case study on The Audiencers: How DN leveraged gamification to attract a younger audience, and got almost 35,000 new registered users

  • Viafoura (❤️‍🔥 used by The Audiencers)

Boost on-site engagement, increase user registrations and subscriptions and generate valuable first-party data with the Viafoura Digital Experience Platform (DXP).

> Case study on The Audiencers: From community to reader revenue: lessons to learn from The Independent and Reach PLC

Non-blocking engagement modules on-site (pop-ups, banners, content inserts…) to encourage newsletter sign up, app download, promote events, etc.

Anthm is the gaming platform designed for media. Focusing on activation, engagement, and revenue, Anthm enables media outlets to create captivating user experiences at scale through gamified interactions and streamlined integration. The plug & play solution, intuitive design, scalable infrastructure, and extensive game catalog allow media organizations to easily adopt and benefit from the strategies that revolutionized the New York Times.

> From the founder of Anthm: Dopamine & the Hook model: how The New York Times harnesses the power of games

Others of note: 

  • Open Web (community, engagement, identification)

Paywall and subscription management

  • Poool Access (❤️‍🔥 used by The Audiencers) – dynamic paywall/registration

From the team behind The Audiencers, The Audience Conversion Platform, to dynamically turn your anonymous readers into members and subscribers.

Poool Access gives marketing teams the autonomy to segment audiences based on level of engagement, source of traffic, location, content type or your own data set, building, testing and analyzing conversion journeys to increase reader revenue.

Simple integration with subscription management platforms to provide a best-in-breed tech stack for a solid subscription model, incomparable expertise and support, and positive ROI in a few months.

Subscription Management and Finance Digitization software solutions. eSuite, formerly a product of MPP Global, is a Subscriber Management Platform for Global Media and Entertainment companies. By centralizing the entire subscriber lifecycle, eSuite reduces time-to-market and total cost of ownership.

  • plenigo – subscription management

The subscription management platform for modern reader revenue. plenigo supports publishers and media companies of all sizes in mapping diverse business models in the digital and traditional media world on a software-as-a-service platform. Modern, user-friendly and high-performance.

Unlock a lifetime of subscriber growth and retention. Chargebee lets you implement and scale a solid subscription base resilient to external factors affecting global ad spends, so you get to do what you do best – outstanding content.

Others of note: 

PSP (Payment Service Provider)

Offer landing page builder

Member management

  • Auth0 (❤️‍🔥 used by The Audiencers)

Auth0 provides a platform to authenticate, authorize, and secure access for applications, devices, and users. Security and application teams rely on Auth0’s simplicity, extensibility, and expertise to make identity work for everyone. Safeguarding billions of login transactions each month, Auth0 secures identities so innovators can innovate, and empowers global enterprises to deliver trusted, superior digital experiences to their customers around the world.

Automation/paywall decisioning

Sophi’s suite of sophisticated AI-powered solutions were developed by The Globe and Mail to drive newsroom efficiency and optimize revenue potential. Sophi’s content paywall engine weighs the opportunity for subscriber revenue against expected advertising revenue for every piece of content and presents a paywall accordingly. Sophi’s dynamic paywall engine maximizes the potential to drive the optimal mix of ad revenue, registration and subscription revenue as the user interacts with the page.

Native integration with Poool Access to present registration and paywalls to the right reader and on the right content.

Retention

Non-blocking engagement modules on-site (pop-ups, banners, content inserts…) to onboard and engagement your subscribers. Encourage newsletter sign up, app download, promote events, re-engage, etc.

> Case study on The Audiencers: L’Équipe: limiting churn when increasing the price from a highly discounted subscription offer

Analytics

The Content Intelligence Platform.

Build synergies and alignment across teams with data-informed decisions to unlock the full potential of your content and your audiences. Produce impactful content that attracts more visitors and deliver personalized experiences to maximize outcomes. All in real time, all in no-code.

  • Chartbeat
  • Matomo (a more privacy friendly alternative to Google Analytics) “less user-friendly and has fewer options compared to GA. Whereas GA collects as much data as possible, Matamo forces you to think more about what you want to collect and set that up.”

Others of note:

Analytics for mobile apps:

Consent management

Push notifications

Batch lets CRM teams power personalized user experiences at scale using Email, SMS, Mobile push, In-app messaging and Web push.

Datavizualisation tools

A/B testing tools

App & platform development

“The Pugpig Bolt app platform engages publishers’ most loyal audiences. It easily and beautifully blends live content, digital editions, podcasts, video and more across iOS, Android and the web.”

Supports large and medium-sized companies in the development of platforms, apps and AI solutions that boost their efficiency and growth.

DMP/CDP

Datalake

PDF reader

Newsletter builder

Technical partner (for support with integrations and migrations)

  • code.store: one-stop technical partner. Clients: L’Express, Irish News…
  • 10up: build websites and tools for content creators. Clients: Politico, Monocle…
  • The AppLab: digital product consultancy specialising in content and subscription products. Clients: The Daily Mail, Hearst…

Strategy-building/marketing partners

  • InDigital: Agency of performance marketers brought “in-house” as an extension of your team. Clients: The Independent, Monocle…

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