Tuesday 3rd May: A 'taxonomy of paywalls' brings nuance to subscriptions

May 03, 2022

Good morning! Tuesday's newsletter is brought to you by Peter.

With his Medialyte newsletter back on Substack after a year on Ghost (you're not allowed to ask why), Mark Stenberg is writing about the increasing sophistication with which publishers gate their content. Ignoring the CNN+ debacle, Mark says rather than fade away, digital subscriptions are evolving.

And rather than thinking of subs as a win or lose scenario, he suggests thinking of subscription products as an equation. If a publisher creates a digital subscription program that fails to gain traction, they need to adjust the variables around price, nature and volume of content, marketing, sales pipeline and the strictness and type of paywall.

The bulk of Mark's newsletter is dedicated to what he calls a 'taxonomy of paywalls', breaking down the various kinds of paywalls, who uses them, why and how they work. Great stuff if the recent news from CNN+, Netflix and Quartz has you second-guessing your paywall strategy.

Social media platforms are rolling out the red carpet for influencers and creators as their marketing clout grows. From tip jars to full creator programs, the platforms are trying to create pathways for creators to monetise their work and keep them on their channels. This report from Digiday looks at who is treating creators best.

This is a summary I wrote of the key findings from the latest full-year Internet Advertising Revenue Report by IAB and PWC. The headline number is 2021's revenue growth of 35%, the highest jump in digital advertising spend since 2006, with increases seen across all digital channels.

Gossip site Page Six is reporting that OK! Magazine will no longer publish weekly in print. Launched by erstwhile pornographer Richard Desmond in the US in 2005 after the success of its British namesake, the title will continue to publish occasional special issues. But owner a360 does not run the OK! website and is expected to make a significant number of layoffs.

Podcast Awards

Huge congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted publishers in our 2022 awards. The standard this year was incredibly high, and a number of our categories were very near deadlock. If you're looking to discover a great listen, we can recommend all the podcasts on this list as a starting point.

We may be on Easter break from the podcast, but you may have noticed it's not much of a break! We've needed a LOT of coffee this week. If you're able to contribute anything either as a one-off or a subscription to keep us going, we really appreciate it.