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Publishers driving conversions with subscriber-only content — digiday.com

The baseline for any paid-content play is that your content is worth paying for and, increasingly, publishers are making the point by reserving their best content exclusively for paying customers.

Digiday is reporting on several US newspaper publishers that are hiding more content behind their paywalls as they learn more about what content will drive sign ups. The Philadelphia Inquirer made the digital version of its “Let’s Eat, Philly!” annual dining guide exclusive to subscribers for four days; the test increased subscription starts by more than 50%.

Tribune Publishing has been using editors in Baltimore and software in Chicago to decide which stories will drive conversions if they are put behind the paywall. And The Dallas Morning News has seen almost 40% YOY subscriber growth over the last six months by making 10% of its daily output exclusive to subscribers.

Making people pay to read the good stuff is a business model as old as the hills, but the interesting part of this story is how these publishers are working to learn exactly what the good stuff is.

Outbrain to join newsletter goldrush — www.axios.com

Axios is reporting that Listory, a newsletter curation app created by the content-recommendation company Outbrain, is launching this week. The app will help people manage the flood of newsletters coming into their inboxes. Wonder if it's related to the launch of a paid-newsletter service by podcast-advertising website builders Squarespace earlier in the week?

10 pitfalls for indie publishers to avoid — speciall.media

Holding an independent publishing business together in a volatile advertising market, with remote teams and uncertain distribution channels is a major challenge, says Carolyn Morgan. We agree, so here are the 10 things Carolyn says you should really, really try to avoid.

Kids comic Beano ventures into political satire — www.theguardian.com

Fresh from the front-page of the Daily Star, sartorially challenged former spad Dominic Cummings is joining Prime Monster BoJo in a one-off Beano pull-out. The comic's BeanOLD 'supplement' will also feature Beano regulars Dennis and Gnasher as well as good guys Greta Thunberg and Marcus Rashford. Wonder if Jacob Rees-Mogg makes a guest appearance as Lord Snooty?

This week's podcast:

Project 23 co-founder Gary Rayneau on building diverse and inclusive media — voices.media

This week Gary Rayneau, co-founder of Project 23 tells us about about his time leading a diverse team at Dennis, the impact of Black Lives Matter in 2020, and how publishers can approach diversity and inclusion in the right way.

Conversations: Discussing the value of the open internet to advertisers in a cookie-less world — voices.media

This special Conversations episode of Media Voices, sponsored by Lotame, discusses the importance of an open web to advertisers, the realities of our new cookie-less world and how identity solutions add value to the entire ecosystem.