The Subscription Publishing Show
Toolkits
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The Subscription Publishing Show explores how publishers and media companies are building successful subscription and membership businesses. Each episode gets in the weeds to uncover the strategies, tactics, best practices and approaches being employed by leading media companies, practitioners and experts.
Available episodes
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Feb 21, 2023
STAT generates 40% of its revenue from subscriptions
STAT is a digital publication covering biotech, pharma and the life sciences, launched in 2015 by Boston Globe Media. In this episode, chief operating officer Angus Macaulay and I discuss the company’s push into high-priced data products, why it opted to build much of its subscription technology in-house, and whether economic instability could present an opportunity for publishers that deliver indispensable content for professional audiences.
Hosted by Jack Marshall, co-founder and editor-in-chief, Toolkits.com.
For further insight and analysis for professionals building content-based subscription and membership businesses, visit Toolkits.com/Subscription-Publishing.
Email hello@toolkits.com with any questions or comments.
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Oct 26, 2022
How The Dispatch reached 35,000 paying subscribers in three years
The Dispatch is a subscription publication covering politics, policy and culture from a center-right but non-partisan perspective. In this episode, CEO and editor Steve Hayes discusses why The Dispatch left Substack and moved to Memberful and WordPress, how high-quality differentiated journalism remains the primary driver of its subscriber and audience growth, and why keeping things simple when it comes to pricing and product has proved an effective strategy for the publication so far.
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Oct 12, 2022
How The Juggernaut is building a subscription publication for the South Asian diaspora
My guest this week is Snigdha Sur, founder and CEO of The Juggernaut. Launched in 2019, The Juggernaut is a subscription-first publication covering stories about South Asia and South Asians around the world.
Snigdha and I discuss why subscriptions offer the best model for powering the Juggernaut’s editorial mission, the opportunity for publishers to place themselves at the center of communities, and why The Juggernaut is building and maintaining much of its subscription technology in-house.
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Sep 28, 2022
Subscriptions propelled Defector to $3.8 million in revenue in its second year
This week I spoke with Defector's vice president of revenue operations, Jasper Wang, and its head of subscription strategy Sean Kuhn.
Defector is a subscription-first sports and culture publication owned and staffed predominantly by former Gawker Media writers. Launched just over two years ago, the site generated $3.8 million in revenue during its second year from a subscriber base that’s reached over 38,000 people.
Jasper and Sean talked about Defector’s second-year growth, why subscriptions will remain its primary revenue focus heading into year three, and why investing in writers and content creators over data analysts and product specialists remains the most powerful way for publishers to grow subscription businesses.
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Sep 15, 2022
Skift's Jason Clampet on building a suite of B2B subscription products
This week's guest is Jason Clampet, co-founder and chief product officer at travel industry news publisher Skift.
Skift launched ten years ago and began its foray into subscriptions with a research-based product in 2015. Fast-forward seven years and the publisher now offers four distinct subscription products tailored to the needs of different groups of professionals across the travel industry. Subscriptions now make up a third of its revenue alongside events and advertising.
Jason and I discussed the opportunity for publishers to serve specific segments of their audiences more deeply by offering multiple subscription products, why subscriptions are now leading the way for Skift’s business, and why it decided to piece together its own subscription technology stack rather than buying an off-the-shelf solution.
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Sep 7, 2022
The Logic's David Skok on funding quality journalism with subscriptions
The Logic is a publication covering business and technology news in Canada. Launched in 2018 with subscriptions at the core of its business model, it has since grown to a team of 23 people spread across six bureaus.
In this episode, The Logic’s CEO and editor-in-chief David Skok discusses the power of subscription models for funding high-quality original journalism, how subscriptions can help fuel other revenue streams such as advertising and sponsorships, and how The Logic reaches new readers and converts them into loyal paying subscribers.
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Aug 30, 2022
Welcome to the Subscription Publishing Show
The Subscription Publishing Show explores how publishers and media companies are building successful subscription and membership businesses. Each episode gets in the weeds to uncover the strategies, tactics, best practices and approaches being employed by leading media companies, practitioners and experts. Learn more at Toolkits.com
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