From\u00a0The New York Times<\/i>\u00a0to Honolulu Civil Beat, we see sites large and small pursuing multiple revenue sources. We set out to document this complicated calculus, and, in the process, found reason for hope.<\/p>\n
Over the last three years, we\u2019ve interviewed staff from dozens of news organizations that are pursuing direct revenue from audiences in the form of subscriptions, donations, and\/or memberships,\u00a0including ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, De Correspondent, Stratechery, and Slate.<\/p>\n
These arrangements support a more collaborative vision for the relationship between journalists and the audiences they serve than news organizations have historically engaged in. Many outlets are taking the massive economic and technical changes rocking the news business as a prompt to act differently, and they\u2019re finding that audience engagement and audience revenue are two sides of the same coin.<\/p>\n
In collaboration with the\u00a0Tow Center for Digital Journalism<\/a>, the\u00a0Membership Puzzle Project<\/a>, and the\u00a0Institute for Nonprofit News<\/a>, we\u2019re publishing the full findings from our research in a \u201cGuide to Audience Revenue and Engagement<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>This report is aimed at publications in the early stages of exploring how to use audience engagement to drive both revenue and loyalty.<\/p>\n Could your site be a candidate for this kind of implementation? Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/p>\n For publications with subject-area or region-specific journalism and a strong audience base in their coverage areas, a product-based subscription offering can work. If readers, listeners, and\/or viewers see a site\u2019s news and analysis as providing enough unique value, subscription might be a viable revenue strategy. A subscription strategy can work especially well for publications\u00a0with strong institutional audiences in specific industries and when subscribers\u2019 employers can pay the cost of work-relevant media.<\/p>\n A subscription strategy can work especially well for publications\u00a0with strong institutional audiences in specific industries.<\/p>\n There are a few notable examples of publications that are growing subscription revenue with paid email products on top of free-access membership models.\u00a0The politics and public policy site The Texas Tribune publishes\u00a0The Blast<\/a>, a \u201cpremium daily newsletter\u201d that is used by elected officials, lobbyists, consultants, and political junkies looking for insider intel beyond what they can get on the site for free. Politico publishes\u00a0Politico Pro<\/a>, a paid \u201cpolicy news service offering indispensable policy news in real time\u201d which includes two exclusive daily newsletters, breaking news alerts, and special events.<\/p>\n\n