The third annual European Subscriptions Academy, in partnership with FT Strategies, the Google News Initiative (GNI), and the International News Media Association (INMA), will help European publishers define an ambitious vision for their digital subscription business and build the engine that will take them to their goal.
The European Subscriptions Academy is an intensive eight-month experience that addresses each step of digital subscriptions, from traffic acquisition to subscriber retention and publishers’ organizational skills to succeed.
The program, which GNI fully funds and is free to participants, aims to engage a group of eight publishers who will receive dedicated one-on-one support and learn from the shared experiences of other participants and experts from Google FT Strategies and INMA.
The application process is now open to European publishers through 14 March. Click here to apply online.
Last year, 53 European publishers applied for the program, from which eight were selected. This year, a similar selection process will be used to find media companies of similar sizes, focuses, and experience, as cooperation is crucial to the program’s success.
The European Subscriptions Academy has high standards for participating publishers. Required publisher commitments include digital subscriptions as a strategic priority, senior management buy-in, operational commitment to participation in activities, and willingness to share knowledge gained in the Academy with participants and the wider media industry. These publisher commitments are crucial in the selection process.
INMA will help surface digital subscriptions best practices
Target outcomes for the eight-month program include improvement in key subscriptions metrics, successful implementation of technical and business recommendations, and adoption of continuous optimization processes based on the FT North Star methodology.
“We’re proud that 16 publishers from 11 different countries have now participated in Subs Academy. All have consistently rated the experience very highly and enjoyed strong reader revenue results following the program, including 31% subscriptions growth for our 2020 cohort one year on,” said Tara Lajumoke, managing director of FT Strategies. “Much has changed in the industry over the past two years, but the importance of capturing the reader revenue opportunity has remained a pressing constant. This program remains a proven way to execute an in-depth diagnostic of subscriptions performance and lay the foundations for the organizational transformation required by news publishers to achieve meaningful change.”
“The European Subscriptions Academy digs into the practicalities of reader revenue strategies like no other program in the news industry,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and chief executive officer of INMA. “INMA is pleased to join the Google News Initiative and FT Strategies for a third consecutive year to help surface digital subscriptions best practices for the betterment of participants and the broader news industry.”
