Paulo Celso Pereira, executive editor of O Globo, studied subscription strategies at the world’s leading newspapers for INMA. His conclusion: to survive, publishers must rethink everything, from content to metrics. Interview.
Millions of clicks mean nothing if no one pays to read your newspaper. That’s the harsh reality Paulo Celso Pereira confronted while studying how the New York Times, Financial Times, El País, Clarín, and United Daily News Group turned readers into loyal subscribers. For his INMA report, “Beyond the Funnel: Strategies for a New Subscription Model,” the O Globo editor-in-chief identified a radical shift: successful publishers no longer chase maximum reach, they build deep relationships with a core audience willing to pay for journalism they can’t find anywhere else.
Journalism worth paying for
Your first lesson is to “create journalism worth paying for.” Concretely what will audiences pay for, and why?
During my research, I think some of the biggest aha moments came when I started reading business articles. The debate over what makes certain products sell is not unique to our industry-which has been going through different crises since the early 2000s-but is present across many industries. And when you broaden the discussion to what affects people’s decision-making when buying a product, the main driver is always the quality of that product. The second point is: no one will pay for something that is already available for free somewhere else. In an era when artificial intelligence can reproduce what is already known by simply answering people’s exact questions, what can we offer as a news product that is better? First, what is not on the internet yet: scoops, exclusive information, stories no one has heard before. Second, content-like explainers-that helps people navigate this turbulent and complex world, with our journalists and brands serving as a signal of trust. Third, analysis and opinion pieces that can reinforce perspectives or enrich the public debate. And regardless of the format-whether it’s an article, a video, or a podcast-we must take care of the quality of the experience we are offering.
Audience segmentation
You stress the importance of “focusing on the audiences who matter most.” How do we decide which audience segments matter the most? For niche publishers that seems more straightforward, but how does a generalist news outlet identify its key audience?
Talking with my peers in the industry, I believe there are some common assumptions we can make to identify who our key audiences are. Broadly speaking, a subscription is a personal relationship that a news outlet develops with someone who chooses to pay for content in a world packed with an unprecedented amount of free information. And, as in any personal relationship, the first thing the person needs to know is your name. What I mean is: when people just land on your site through search or Google Discovery, they usually don’t even know who you are, what your brand stands for, or what your political view is. It’s very unlikely that they will suddenly decide to pay for what you’re offering-unless, in rare cases, you provide something absolutely unique and of outstanding value. In general, readers who are more likely to convert into subscribers share some characteristics: they know your brand, they come directly to your homepage, they are recurrent readers of your content, and often they have some kind of “community” relationship with you-this could be geographic, or based on shared views or interests. Each brand will discover how many visits per month qualify someone as a ‘heavy user,’ but those recurrent readers are the people you really need to focus on and understand. And because resources are finite, I think generalist outlets should use what they know about this small group to define where the newsroom’s focus should be.
Organisational alignment
You note that it is crucial to “align the whole company behind a shared goal.”
What examples would you point to where a news company has that shared goal? Are there any processes you’ve seen that can help journalists identify and get behind shared goals?
Does this work better as a top-down initiative from management, or a more democratic grassroots approach?
The consultant David Clinch uses a quote that I love: “The first rule in the news industry: don’t try to be The New York Times. The second rule: try to be as much as you can.” I don’t like to mention The Times too often, because it is the epitome of journalism – with enormous resources and brilliant professionals – but in this case I think it’s worth it. They did something that can actually inspire others and be copied. During the transition to the subscription model that became such a huge success, they built a small group to think about what they wanted to be in the coming years. Between 2014 and 2017, they released three documents laying out the next steps for the company and its professionals. Even when they were already clearly on a successful path, they still identified the changes that were needed: what kinds of professionals they needed more of, which ones they needed fewer of, what kinds of content they should do less, and where they should invest more. In this sense, I believe this kind of initiative has to come as a top-down movement, because management is the part of the company responsible for defining what it wants to be in the future. I don’t even think it’s productive for reporters, infographic designers, video makers, or photographers to start their day worrying about how they can personally increase subscribers or pageviews. They should focus on producing the best content they can – aligned with a clear vision from the company about what readers and subscribers want.
Building habits and emotional bonds
How can news organisations move from a purely transactional logic to building a lasting emotional relationship with their readers?
This is a very hard topic. I believe one clear path is to take clear positions on issues that emotionally move parts of society. Sometimes a topic may not be the best to convert subscribers or generate a high number of pageviews, but it matters for readers to know that you are paying close attention to it. I can mention the case of El País. They have a clear center-left view, with strong engagement on topics like feminism and the environment, and they decided to have reporters on the ground from the very beginning of the war in Ukraine. These are not always the most-read pieces of content, but they are crucial for many readers. I also believe that great columnists – and the decision to show more of who your reporters are, by putting them in videos to talk about their coverage, or showing their picture on the website – help develop this emotional bond. And finally, I think newsletters are a great tool to build a personal relationship with readers. But you really need to think carefully about what kind of content to include. As we know, automated newsletters are not very successful, so you have to investigate and understand what kind of product your audience actually values.
Continuous experimentation
You cite experimentation as a key pillar. How do publishers move away from experimentation as isolated tests, and instead turn it into a driver for strategy?
It’s much easier to talk about this than to make it happen. I haven’t seen any recipe, and I feel that even very successful newsrooms still struggle with it. But what I think can work is having some people – especially in areas like visuals or AI initiatives – who can collaborate across the newsroom and with different parts of the company, focusing on innovative approaches. I believe a small highly focused group can be more effective in seeding experimentation throughout the organization than a general policy that tries to make every professional “be innovative,” when we know they already have other priorities and different backgrounds.
AI and automation
Your study shows that AI is already transforming workflows (translation, transcription, personalisation). What role do you see it playing in subscription strategies?
I am a newsroom person, and in the article my focus was on the editorial side. From that perspective, AI is already very useful as a workflow tool – giving journalists more time to dig deeper and search for new stories. But, concretely, I think the greatest role AI is playing in subscription strategies is on the business side, with dynamic paywalls. Many publishers are already showing great results from using these AI-assisted models.
Counter-intuitive lessons
The report highlights that long investigations (such as El País’ coverage of the Catholic Church) convert more subscribers than widely read articles. How best can we persuade editors/newsrooms to invest more in this demanding type of content?
I think we should be clear that the most successful article is the one that impacts society – like El País’ coverage of abuses inside the Catholic Church – and that when this happens, it also becomes a huge driver to convert subscribers and reach a wide readership. We saw the same here in Brazil. O Globo had a very successful case in 2017, when a major columnist revealed that one of the biggest businessmen in the country had secretly recorded the president while they were talking about a corrupt congressman they both supported. The problem is, you work very hard to try to have a scoop of this size once a year – but in real life, our job is to present new stories every day to our readers. In this sense, what I think is important to make clear is that people usually don’t pay for something they can get for free. So we should focus on producing content that is worth paying for. This doesn’t mean you only work on big investigations. Great wellness coverage, strong interviews with interesting people, showing behind the scenes of a popular event – every area of interest can be approached through good journalistic lenses.
Latin American vs. Anglo-Saxon models
You compare Clarín, El País, The New York Times, the Financial Times, and United Daily News. We’re used to hearing about the anglo-saxon models, but at Upgrade Media we’re much more interested in the lessons to be learnt from Latin America. What should American and European businesses learn from LatAm?
I think Latin American media have a distinctive approach when focusing on the economics of the readers. On the product side, there are solid strategies at Clarín and La Nación in Argentina, and at O Globo in Brazil, with what we call “subscriber clubs.” These used to be even more important than they are today, but they’re still relevant: subscribers get discounts in pharmacies, stores, restaurants, and bars. On the editorial side, I think this same approach has also been successful. In a region with a long history of economic turmoil, hyperinflation, and political crisis – which we now see happening in many developed countries as well – Latin American journalism has plenty of good examples of coverage that helps people make the most of their money. From strategies to pay less in taxes to advice on choosing the best school you can afford, these are valuable lessons.
Rethinking value beyond volume
You explain that “the chase for online reach doesn’t make much sense anymore.”
Should journalists see that more as a relief than a challenge? And what are the metrics we should be looking to in the quest to replace “reach”?
I see this as a relief, because I haven’t seen any good media company succeed just by chasing reach. Over the last years, the industry as a whole spent thousands of hours of journalists’ time just answering what was trending on Google. Now, when Google itself or ChatGPT can give those answers directly, we can leave behind this illusion of big numbers with little profit and go back to focusing on readers who are willing to pay for relevant and interesting journalism. And the metrics need to be aligned with this idea of building a relationship. That means engagement should be at the center. Many newspapers look at the average time spent on articles. The Financial Times, for example, uses as a key metric how many people read at least half of an article. Others track the number of pageviews from subscribers. There is no single solution, but the main point is to look at data that shows how deep the relationship is between your readers and your content.
The civic dimension of subscriptions
You conclude that reader-funded journalism is not only an economic necessity but also a civic imperative. How, practically, do news organisations make this message resonate with audiences bombarded with talk of AI and ‘fake news’?
Over the last decade, especially after Trump’s first election, several media companies tried to invest in this approach. “Democracy dies in darkness” was the slogan of The Washington Post, and I think it became a symbol of that era. We still need to fight fake news, to explain in detail what is true or false – and why – in the public debate. But more than that, I think we need to show readers why it’s worth being a newspaper subscriber: that we help them navigate the world with trustworthy information; that we provide not only information but also some enjoyment; that we – sustainable media businesses – are the ones with the freedom and courage to ask hard questions of politicians on both sides; and that we can deliver subscribers first-hand information no one else has. No AI model can offer that. Real reporting, that chases scoops, talks to the people who matter in every field, brings new ideas, and helps explain our society, was the past and, in my opinion, is still the future of journalism.
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