The outcomes of the North American GNI Subscriptions Lab 2022-2023

The North American GNI Subscriptions Lab is a collaborative effort by the Google News Initiative (GNI) and FT Strategies. The 2022-2023 cohort was comprised of 12 news publishers across the United States and Canada and included a mix of national, regional and local publishers.

The programme aims to help publishers accelerate their reader revenue streams by creating a reader-first strategy and culture, optimising reader engagement and building an outcome-driven ‘North Star’ strategy.

This year's report shares key learnings from the first edition of the North America GNI Subscriptions Lab as well as a deep dive into retention. The report is organised into two sections:
  • A spotlight on retention: how to move from a short-term view (i.e. focusing retention efforts at the point of cancellation) and moving to a framework that optimises retention efforts at three stages in the customer lifecycle: early (representing acquisition and activation), in-life, and win back.
  • Case studies: Publisher experiences, experiments and testimonials from the GNI Subscriptions Lab cohort. These examples have helped publishers optimise performance at the various stages of the subscription lifecycle.
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