Monday 21st November: Why consumers really quit magazine subscriptions

November 21, 2022

Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Chris.

Do you know what - amid all the chaos of the past few weeks in media I'd forgotten what it was like to read a really good, solid strategy article! I'd highly recommended reading this one, particularly for the explanations of what actually makes consumers quit a subscription package. As we head into a cost of living crisis, retention is at the forefront of all our minds.

Luke Magerko, head of data science for Mather Economics, says: “Consumers are actively reducing the amount of subscriptions, but what we are finding is that it’s not based on price. You can still have a very solid relationship with your customer while simultaneously increasing their lifetime value without having much concern about the effect it is going to have on the overall churn rate."

That's welcome news for the magazine and newspaper industry, who are facing historic price rises for materials and need to pass that on to the consumer. That said, part of the article also acknowledges that consumers now see media subscriptions as being in competition with all subscription products for their money, so it's more vital than ever that we don't take them for granted.

Condé's been a mainstay of the magazine world for over a century at this point. But longevity is no proof of future success. Since taking over as CEO in 2019, Lynch has been attempting to futureproof the business, as explained in this interview.

"Galactica was supposed to help scientists. Instead, it mindlessly spat out biased and incorrect nonsense." That's how you get me to read an article. For all our reliance on Big Tech, this is a great reminder that they miss as often as they hit.

Yeah, Trump's back on the platform, its head of ad sales is out less than a week after Musk asked her to stay, Mastodon just hit 2m users and it's looking likely that some critical piece of infrastructure will fail in the near future. But it's worth reflecting on what journalism will lose if the bird app disappears.

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New podcast:

This episode we're joined by Simon Owens to explore how publishers are weathering the 'crypto winter' and general disenchantment around emerging technologies. Will early experiments in the metaverse pay off for publishers, and why is AI image generation so exciting? Listen to find out!

Our annual report launches on Wednesday November 30th! It's taking a look at everything that's occurred in media over 2022 - so it's a small task, obviously. You can join us and a few very special guests for the launch event. We'd love to see you there!