The FT and Paywall 2.0

Tien Tzuo, the CEO of Zuora, writes about the Financial Times‘ strategy to offer free trial subscriptions.

Tzuo writes, “The FT’s new trial subscriptions are following suit. They are building meaningful, long-term relationships between paper and reader rather than just a monetary transaction. Ridding explains the inherent contradiction in the metered paywall – ‘By definition, if you have a metered model, which limits people to eight articles a month—or ten, or three—your model is actually getting in the way of habit. People aren’t going to form a habit if you are rationing what they read.’

“Their new business model also plays well with analytics. The paper can now track readers and gain insight into what they care about. ‘Engaging with readers is now a mantra at the FT,’ he says. With this fundamental shift, the FT has joined Paywall 2.0.

“Every form of media has seen this change – music, movies, books, television, games, etc. This shift in consumption patterns is of course much broader. Today, almost anything can be had via a subscription – cars, flights, groceries, health services, you-name-it and it’s available as a subscription service. Today we’re all living in the Subscription Economy.”

Read more here.