How the FT uses AI to boost subscriptions

The Financial Times has increased subscription conversion rates by almost 300% by personalizing the paywall messaging and offers people see depending on their past activity and preferences, reports Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette.

Tobitt reports, “However, when it comes to editorial content, the FT is focused on ‘tailored experiences’ created by human editors rather than AI-personalised feeds.

“Fiona Spooner, managing director of consumer revenue at the FT, said this was because ‘you don’t want to lose the serendipity that comes with editorial influence.’

“Spooner was speaking on a panel about reader data at Press Gazette’s Future of Media Technology Conference in London on 11 September alongside leaders from Reach, The Independent and publisher software company Full Fat Things.

“The FT reported 1.35 million digital subscribers in its latest financial results, up from 1.28m in 2023.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.