The strategy behind Bloomberg’s subscription paywall

Anthony Vargas of Ad Exchanger writes about Bloomberg’s subscription strategy, which led to a 58% increase in subscription revenue in 2021.

Vargas writes, “Bloomberg uses a metered paywall model, so users get to read a few free articles per month before being forced to sign up for a subscription.

“About two years ago, Bloomberg introduced dynamic tech that adjusts the paywall parameters, like how many free articles a user can read per month, according to an individual user’s behavior. It uses a first-party cookie to track on-site behavior against 20 different behavioral attributes, then groups users into lookalike audiences and adjusts the paywall experience accordingly.

“‘The wall changes for each user based on how long we think that specific user may want to sample content before ultimately converting,’ Beizer said.

“Bloomberg does not wall off content on a content-type basis. It currently doesn’t fully paywall any of its video-on-demand content and is unlikely to do so moving forward, Beizer said. Bloomberg also operates free newsletters and free news streaming services on social media platforms. All of the free content is key to Bloomberg’s strategy of growing its subscription prospecting pool while preserving a tempting-enough offer on the other side of the paywall.”

Read more here.