Subscription Sticker Shock: Should You Raise Your Prices?

12/04/24 • 40 min

Paywall Podcast - Subscription strategies for news and magazine publishers

In this episode of the Paywall Podcast, sponsored by LeakyPaywall, Pete and Tyler discuss strategies for increasing subscription prices without affecting subscriber retention. They stress observing industry giants like Netflix for pricing cues and recommend annual over monthly subscriptions to avoid frequent small charges.

The discussion includes trial-based promotions over deep discounts to maintain content value and provide examples of successful subscription models and price adjustments by publishers like Heisenberg Report and Small Boats. Additionally, they highlight the benefits of clear messaging and tier simplification.

Lastly, they advise publishers to regularly review and raise prices in line with inflation and added value, ensuring services remain financially sustainable.

Lastly, they advise publishers to regularly review and raise prices in line with inflation and added value, ensuring services remain financially sustainable.

Previous Episode

Black Friday Without the Profit Burn

In this episode of the Paywall Podcast, sponsored by LeakyPaywall, Pete and Tyler discusses the optimal Black Friday strategies for news and magazine publishers, emphasizing the importance of offering time-based discounts over monetary discounts to reduce subscriber churn. The conversation covers various pricing structures and ways to elevate subscribers to higher commitment plans, such as annual subscriptions and premium tiers. They critique a Black Friday promotion by the Olive Press and suggest alternatives to better maintain the value of the content.

The discussion also includes a review of successful pricing tactics used by the Salem Reporter and offers practical advice for publishers to enhance their subscription models.

Next Episode

How content restrictions drive subscriptions

In this episode of the Paywall Podcast, sponsored by LeakyPaywall, Pete and Tyler discuss the various content restriction strategies for news and magazine publishers. The hosts discuss different phases of paywalls: hard paywalls, metered paywalls, and free registration.

The discussion include the benefits and challenges associated with each, using examples like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Salem Reporter. They also address common concerns such as making exceptions for certain content, how to increase email lists, and the importance of newsletters in converting free users to paid subscribers.

Lastly, the discussion concludes with insights on when it's appropriate to use hard paywalls based on brand strength and audience engagement.