How Publishers Keep New Subscribers

Good morning,

It's no secret that one positive to come out of the Covid-19 crisis is that news organizations have seen an increase in subscribers as they published vital coverage related to the pandemic. The question they now have to answer is how they can retain them all? It's a crucial revenue source now more than ever, as advertising budgets have changed and in-person events have become impossible to hold.

If they want to retain subscribers, marketing experts said media businesses should focus on collecting that good, good first party data on these new readers (which for some publishers have skewed younger and more diverse than their typical subscriber). Most news outlets have gotten smart about collecting as much information about new readers as they can, prompting them to select things like which authors they want to read from the site and the newsletters they'd like to receive in their inboxes (:wink:).

While that's a great tactic to use especially as the industry phases out third party cookies, news outlets will need to return to their roots to retain subscribers and foster reporting that readers want. Then, those readers will consider paying.

Elsewhere out of our newsroom, we have a look at just how white ad tech continues to be (very) and news from Jack Dorsey to honor Juneteenth for all his companies' employees.

What change do we still need in media and tech? Let me know at sara.jerde@adweek.com. If we don't chat there, I'll see you here this time tomorrow.

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Jack Dorsey, who leads both companies, tweeted the news about June 19.