There was plenty to learn when 27 delegates to INMA’s Media Subscriptions Summit in Amsterdam took time out for a two-day study tour, visiting three news companies on the first day.
This report by INMA senior editor Dawn McMullan.
The day started with an executive briefing of the Dutch media, led by INMA Readers First initiative lead (and organiser of the summit) Greg Piechota, newsroom transformation initiative lead Amalie Nash and assistant professor Hannes Cools from the University of Amsterdam.
DPG’s growth strategy is driven by a long list of acquisitions. Taking full advantage its array of individual brands, the company has a single sign-on for digital subscribers, bringing it coveted first-party data.
Pictured: DPG innovation manager Lars Anderson gave attendees a brief overview of the news company’s collaboration efforts
DPG chief marketing officer told attendees Bert Willemsen, “The strategy is very simple and very clear: We are focusing on the size and impact.
“That’s our first main objective. We believe we need to scale to survive and make the digital transition.”
At some point this year, more than 50 per cent of subscribers will be digital – a big moment, Willemsen said.
With 27 titles, Roularta is one of the Netherlands’ leading magazine publishers. The company bundled all of those titles, as well as its newspapers and TV station, into its MinjMagazines, one app with a single log-in with access to all of its brands.
“We can really increase personalisation and understand better the way people are reading our content,” Nele Baeyens, marketing director/digital brand innovation, told the group.
Margot de Wijn, marketing director at Roularta, explained the benefits of subscriber sharing.
Sharing this mega subscription is a key part of the strategy. Research showed almost 63 per cent of users wanted to expand their subscription (to the bundled option) and 28 per cent wanted to share that subscription, mostly with family members.
“Sharing news draws in a new and younger audience,” de Wijn said. “There’s 20 years difference between the one who is the member/subscriber (a parent) and the one who is reading with the subscription (their children).”
NRC launched its first audio product in 2017, a daily news podcast. They were the first in the local market to do so. Now, the central-Amsterdam-based company has a newsroom audio department of 20 people — just shy of 10% of its total newsroom staff.
NRC deputy editor-in-chief Lucas Brouwers shares detailed information about the company's audio strategy.
“All podcasts are free at the moment, but at some point, they’ll become part of subscriptions,” Brouwers said. Almost eight years in, he has these recommendations for the audio strategy of news companies:
-Focus on quality;
-Put your audience first.
He recommended asking, ‘who do you want to reach’, ‘what would they want to listen to’, ‘what can you provide that’s unique’.
The study tour through Amsterdam was followed by summit sessions.
Dawn McMullan/INMA with thanks