2025 Subscription Trends, GroupM’s Tracking Warning, Google Breakup, and More...
Having experienced the Iberian blackout at first hand, and the Covid-like chaos that ensued, I can confirm that the publishers who made it through had (a) solid-state generator backups and (b) Starlink internet access. If blackouts become ‘a thing’ - colour me cynical - then equipping critical team members with the aforementioned could be a very smart, cost-effective move. On a more positive note, it was great to see Spain and Portugal finally achieve Net Zero.
Today’s Long Read is a doozy—Given that 47% of media subscriptions are cancelled due to price hikes, media pricing expert Mark Stiving lays out a clear, practical framework for raising prices without losing subscribers. Clear, applicable, and worth the read.
Let’s crack on…
24K New Subs, 72% Retention: Lessons from Denník N’s Subscription Drive
Speciall Media’s Carolyn Morgan comments, “I have always advised publishers against offering free trials, preferring a low intro price to reduce the risk of churn. But this case study on Denník N adds a new twist: they offered a ‘pay-what-you-want’ and included an incentive to refer friends. Result: 24K trial subs and a 72% conversion rate to full paid.” P.S. One of Slovakia’s leading news outlets.
GroupM: 95% of the Web Will Soon Be Untrackable
Sweeping global privacy reforms will make 95% of the web untrackable “in the very near future.” And it’s not just third-party cookies in Chrome—it’s Apple and Firefox already blocking tracking, alt-IDs under threat, and regulators getting tougher. GroupM is pivoting to a model where data “never leaves the bunker” and remains with its original owners. Programmatic as we knew it could be history…
5 Trends From This Year’s Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Shortlists
Awards Director, Esther Kezia Thorpe, wades through the hundreds of entries received for this year's awards and uncovers five standout trends, including a surge in premium, subscriber-only content, the rise of journalist-led newsletters, and a growing focus on niche audiences and video formats.
OpenAI Adds Shopping Features to Search Results
For publishers heavily reliant on ecommerce and affiliate revenues, a clear threat: ChatGPT is adding product cards with images, prices, reviews, as well as an "Ask about this" feature for deeper product inquiries. TechRadar says it’s like having your own personal AI shopper and could be “the game changer we’ve been waiting for”. Many affiliate publishers would disagree.
REPORT DOWNLOAD: 2025 Subscription Economy Index
Zuora's latest data from 600+ subscription businesses shows why smart bundling is essential: publishers with diversified product offerings have seen a 118% increase in Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) since 2020. The findings are backed up by churn rates, with companies who rely on a single revenue model seeing churn worsen by 3.1% over the past two years—six times higher than media businesses with 2–3 revenue models. P.S. 10x higher than those with 4+ revenue models.
Google Launches the Agent2Agent Protocol (A2A)
Fifty tech partners including PayPal, Salesforce, Deloitte, Infosys, have joined Google’s open source A2A protocol, which looks set to become the de facto standard language ensuring different AI agents can collaborate. The documentation is available on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. Open source? I’ll settle for that...
UK Publishers Launch '#MakeItFair' Campaign to Protect Copyright
The Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) are backing a new collective licence by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA). The aim? To ensure that publishers who cannot negotiate directly with AI developers are fairly remunerated. Key quote: “Training AI models on copyrighted content requires permission and compensation.”
Building a Future-Proof Publisher: What Should It Look Like?
Ex-Bauer Media UK CEO, Chris Duncan asks: if you could design a publisher from scratch, what would it look like — and who’s already close? His answer is radical: freelance-first, audio-driven, digital-first, global, talent-led, and diversified across revenue streams. In short, rather like YouTube, a blueprint he says every media brand should be studying more closely.
DOJ Closes In: Wants Google Broken Up Over AI and Search Dominance
Ricky Sutton’s detailed, ongoing analysis of DOJ vs. Google makes it clear: the U.S. Govt wants Chrome sold, the secrets of how Google search works made public, and an end to its $26 billion backhanders to Apple, etc., to own mobile. It also wants to stop Google “throwing its ill-gotten cash around to scale Gemini” and to be released of its Google Ad Manager (GAM) and AdX exchange. There won’t be much left...
Bain & Co research shows that AI referral traffic is growing 40% monthly and upending the customer discovery funnel. In short, LLMs are starting to act as gatekeepers and publishers must adapt quickly. One solution? Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) which optimises content for questions that users are likely to ask. Featured snippets receive 8.6% of clicks when they appear at the #1 position.
AI TOOL OF THE WEEK: Invideo AI
Invideo AI will create entire videos from a single text prompt, and literally do the rest for you. It’s fast, template-driven, and very social-media-friendly. Drawbacks? Still a little generic but V3, just released, gives a firm insight into what’s just around the corner.
WEBINAR: MediasPionniers
Join David Sallinen, one of Europe’s leading media analysts, in conversation with Edward Rousell, Head of Digital at The Times and Sunday Times, 3rd June. David tells me the event is held in French, so record it, transcribe it and run it through ChatGPT-4 for the translation. Event focus? ‘AI, SEO Shock and Social Media: How to Adjust Your Digital Roadmap’. Un rendez-vous à ne pas manquer.
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: Newsrewired
Final calls for Newsrewired taking place at NewsUK’s headquarters in London, 13/14th May. Join 200 media execs, journalists, academics and industry experts to share the latest insights, trends & innovations in digital publishing. Detailed overview here. Organised by Marcella, Jacob, and the team behind Journalism.co.uk.
LONG READ…Mastering Price Increases Without Losing Subscribers
47% of subscription cancellations are triggered by a price increase, according to the latest Zuora Subscription Economy Index—a clear threat coming at a time of persistent inflation, tariffs, and a widespread cost of living crisis.
Yet, if publisher margins need to be maintained, how exactly do you raise prices at a time when even the smallest hike can trigger a raft of subscriber cancellations?
Enter Mark Stiving — a PhD in pricing from Berkeley, Founder of Impact Pricing LLC, and author of "Win Keep Grow" and "Selling Value" — who in a recent Subscription Insider webinar, shared his experience-backed framework for successfully implementing subscription price increases.
The Importance of Value Framing
Instead of advocating for price freezes, Stiving offers a different viewpoint: you must understand how your subscribers perceive value — and shape that perception long before a price change hits.
He outlined three aspects to value every subscription exec needs to keep front of mind: Perceived Value (what a subscriber thinks they’ll get), Experienced Value (what they feel they’re getting while using the product), and Proven Value (what you can demonstrate they’re getting, using data or outcomes). For media-based products, where offerings may not change daily, this distinction is critical. A user may sign up to read one article, but it's the accumulated value over time that justifies retention—and price increases.
To illustrate proven value, Stiving asked this question: what if Netflix sent users a monthly value summary showing hours watched or family members using the account? That’s "proven value"—and it’s underutilised across media. A similar tactic is available to publishers: send subscribers a monthly digest highlighting article reads, time spent, or most popular sections. Reinforcing engagement helps frame value ahead of any pricing conversation.
Context-Driven Pricing: Charge What Subscribers Are Willing to Pay
At the core of Stiving’s framework is a simple concept: context-driven pricing — charging what a customer is willing to pay based on their specific circumstances. Uber’s surge pricing is a classic example. But Stiving pushes the idea further, showing how publishers can apply the same logic through behavioural segmentation, packaging strategies, or engagement-tied offers.
"Willingness to pay is malleable — the better you communicate value, the more pricing flexibility you earn."
— Mark Stiving
Segment by Problem, Not Persona, to Maximise Revenue
Experienced subscription marketers often talk segmentation, but Stiving reframed it with a sharper focus: segment by problem, not persona. He pointed to The Economist as a case study—their student pricing, premium digital tiers, and "Executive" access bundles don't just reflect different formats; they target distinct needs and willingness to pay. This, he says, is the gold standard: the same newsroom, the same core product—but vastly different monetisation when segments are defined around value perception.
Practical Takeaways for Subscription Publishers
Accept healthy churn: Prioritise lifetime value and subscriber quality over achieving zero churn.
Prove value, don’t just communicate features: Use data to highlight subscriber engagement and outcomes.
Context-driven pricing wins: Charge based on customer willingness to pay, shaped by context.
Test context-based pricing strategies: Experiment with behavioural segmentation, packaging, and engagement-based offers.
Segment by problem, not persona: Focus on the real needs and willingness to pay of your customers.
Raise prices when value is clear, not simply when operational costs increase.
Align internal teams across product, marketing, and analytics to deliver a consistent, value-driven message ahead of any pricing change.
According to Stiving, pricing is a clear reflection of how well you understand your audience. When publishers frame, prove, and segment value correctly, price increases aren't just defensible — they're actually a growth strategy.
As Stiving concludes:
"The better you communicate value, the less fear you should have about raising prices."
In short, mastering subscription pricing isn’t about avoiding cancellations — it’s about earning the right to charge more by consistently proving your worth to subscribers, long before any price conversation begins.