What’s behind the FT’s subscription growth

Digiday’s Lucinda Southern spoke with Financial Times CEO John Ridding about the publication hitting 1 million paid subscribers and its growth potential.

Here is an excerpt:

What has contributed to reaching your target ahead of schedule?
One million was a galvanizing north star for the whole organization. Everyone in some way contributed; it was a very unifying goal. But the news agenda has been dramatic, particularly around Brexit. Also, our expertise and machinery around process, engagement and subscriptions have accelerated. It’s a virtuous circle: The bigger the subscriber base, the more expertise you gain, whether that’s on acquisition or managing churn.

Each reader has a score based on frequency, how often and how long they spend with us. This formula gives insight into which readers are likely to be subscribers. My FT, the personalization feature, was a big driver of engagement. Alerts are fairly standard but a powerful mechanism. Readers are increasingly interested in specific verticals and newsletters like Due Diligence, our M&A newsletter. It has pace and wit and information not found elsewhere; there is a demand for that. There are many push-and-pull tactics.

Read more here.