New report: Reader revenue success is all about people, you have to know your readers

Denmark's Zetland, for example, has gained 40,000 paying members and offers every story it publishes as either text or audio. Interestingly, the organisation has learned that its consumers prefer the audio version 80 percent of the time.

Something else Zetland has learned is that it's crucial to become "a brand that people really relate to," says CEO Tav Klitgaard. "And we do that by being what we call a human brand. We try to be very human, we try to be very personal and personable in our experience and our output and that is what actually creates the beauty of the business model."

This report is free for WAN-IFRA Members who can download it here.

Membership builds retention

South Africa's Daily Maverick has positioned itself as a defender of truth and its investigative pieces have endeared it to readers around the country who pay to become Maverick Insiders. This is happening despite the fact that Daily Maverick does not have a paywall and does not require people to subscribe. It does encourage them to become Insiders though, and 30,000 people are now regularly donating to Daily Maverick. It also turns out that those who do are far less likely to churn.

"Readers are paying for a free service, so the emotional connection that they have is very, very hard to break," says Fran Beighton, Daily Maverick's General Manager of Reader Revenue and Grant Funding. "Before they put in their credit card details, they've already decided in their hearts and in their minds that they are going to support journalism. And what that does for us is allow us to retain them for so much longer."

This focus on readers, and their wants and needs, is a good thing for news publishers. And it puts publishers in the same practical position as most other producers of products and services that are made for mass consumption and general audiences.

For consumers and informed by consumers

It also turns out the keys to success are largely the same as those for other industries with their familiar goods and services. Success comes from offering a reliable, high quality product or service with a good user experience (UX), produced by a brand that consumers believe in and want to be associated with.

Be it cars, clothing, food, etc., most manufacturers in most industries rely on the people who use and consume their products and services to sustain their businesses. If you want someone's business and you want them to come back, you have to deliver what they want and expect. It's both as simple - and sometimes as complicated - as that.

Talking to your consumers and getting their feedback is crucial for success for most businesses, and the more successful the business, the better their management usually is at knowing its consumers and what they want.

In this report, we feature eight news organisations from eight countries scattered throughout the world that are building meaningful - and profitable - relationships with their readers and communities.

Focus on your consumers

These eight news organisations vary from traditional legacy publishers to modern digital-only enterprises. But they are all succeeding by providing quality content, packaged and delivered the way their consumers want and expect it, while being, or becoming, brands their consumers strongly identify with and want to be part of.

In addition to the above mentioned Zetland from Denmark and South Africa's Daily Maverick, the other six case studies in the new report are:

• Newslaundry, India
• The New York Times, USA
• Bonnier News, Sweden
• Telegraph, United Kingdom
• Denník N, Slovakia
• The Daily Star, Bangladesh

Brian Veseling

[email protected]