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Dana E. Neuts

Dana Neuts is Subscription Insider's Editorial Director, covering our daily subscription news as well as member features, case studies, premium content, and reports. Dana is also a writer, editor, marketer and communications professional. Her work has appeared in AARP Bulletin, The Seattle Times, Seattle Business, 425 Business, 425 Magazine, South Sound Magazine, Northwest Travel and more. Her specialties include business writing, community news, senior issues, travel and, of course, subscriptions!

Dana E. Neuts

Spotify Files Antitrust Complaint Against Apple with EU Regulators

Business Services, Entertainment and Streaming, News, Regulation and Compliance, Revenue and Sales, Subscription Apps /

Streaming music service Spotify has filed an antitrust claim against Apple with the European Commission, reports CNBC. Spotify, which launched in 2006 and is based in Sweden, claims the so-called Apple tax of 30 percent is unfair and deprives consumers of choice. It also gives Apple an unfair competitive advantage, not just over Spotify but over other streaming and subscriptions services consumers access via the App Store. Services must either mark up their fees by 30 percent to recoup the loss or eat the 30 percent fee that Apple takes off the top.

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Adobe Reports 25 Percent Revenue Growth in Q1 FY2019

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Operations, Business Services, Business Strategy, FInance, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscription Apps /

Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) reported record revenue of $2.60 billion for its first quarter of fiscal year 2019 for the period ended March 1, 2019, representing 25 percent growth compared to $2.08 billion in revenue for the same period last year. Subscription revenue showed significant growth at $2.30 billion, or 88.6 percent of total revenue, compared to $1.79 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018. Product revenue was $170.5 million, and services and support revenue made up the remainder of revenue at $125.4 million.

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Burger King Launches $5 a Month BK Café Coffee Subscription

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Burger King is stepping up its game with its new BK Café coffee subscription, reports The Takeout. For just $5 a month, subscribers can enjoy a small, hot, flame-roasted, fresh-brewed cup of coffee every day for a month through the BK mobile app. As you’d expect, a few restrictions apply, including one subscription per guest; the offer is not available in Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico; and no specialty, iced or frappé coffee drinks are included.

Burger King Launches $5 a Month BK Café Coffee Subscription Read More »

Weekly Subscription News: AMI, Acquisitions and Android Developers

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In this week’s subscription headlines, Sinemia finds a way to reach non-subscribers – through movie ticket discounts, AMI shuts down some of its publications, and the Financial Times acquires a majority interest in The Next Web. Also this week, The Wall Street Journal hires more newsroom staff, NBCUniversal licenses hundreds of movies and TV episodes to Tubi, and BuzzFeed experiments with a printed newspaper in New York City – for a day.

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Five on Friday: Facebook, France and Food

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If you are tired of hearing about hearings, trials and college admissions, then this Five on Friday is for you. In this weeks edition, Mark Zuckerberg lays out his privacy-focused vision for Facebook, Digital Music News reveals SiriusXMs plan for its $3.5 billion acquisition – Pandora, France wants to tax tech giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook, Food Navigator USA talks about the challenges of selling meal kits in stores versus subscription box distribution, and Shopify shares five apps you should be using to grow your Instagram following.

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Okta Reports 53 Percent Subscription Revenue Growth for Q4 of FY 2019

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It took more than luck for independent identity provider Okta (NASDAQ: Okta) to grow fourth quarter subscription revenue by 53 percent and full year subscription revenue by 57 percent for fiscal year 2019 for the period ended January 31, 2019. Among the quarter’s highlights are total revenue of $115.5 million, a 50 percent increase year-over-year. Subscription revenue was $108.5 million, representing 94 percent of total revenue. Full year revenue was $399 million, a 56 percent increase year-over-year.

Okta Reports 53 Percent Subscription Revenue Growth for Q4 of FY 2019 Read More »

New York Magazine Lays Off Staff as Part of Restructuring

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New York magazine, owned by New York Media, is laying off 16 full-time employees and another 16 part-time employees and freelancers, reports CNN Business. The cuts represent about 5 percent of total full-time staff and are the beginning of the magazine’s restructuring. Staff were notified Monday in a memo by New York Media chief executive Pam Wasserstein. The functions most impacted by the cuts include video, audience development, and copy and fact checking.

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Disney+ Streaming Subscription Service Is Coming Soon to a Screen Near You

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Disney+, Disney’s own streaming subscription service, is coming soon to a screen near you, joining SVOD services like Netflix, Hulu and DIRECTV NOW. Disney= will be the exclusive home to Disney movies, TV shows and original programming, as well as Disney-owned franchises like Marvel and Star Wars. Disney has not yet revealed the monthly price for the streaming service, but we assume it will be somewhere in the range of $7.99 to $12.99 a month, following a free trial of seven days to a month.

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McClatchy Increases Digital-Only Subscriptions for 11th Straight Quarter

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Last week, McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) reported growth in digital-only subscribers for the 11th consecutive quarter. The 162-year-old company now has 155,000 digital-only subscribers, a 51.1 percent increase year-over-year. The company also saw a 10.1 percent increase in digital-only advertising revenue compared to Q4 2017, but the news wasn’t all good. Perhaps the most significant item to come out of the company’s fourth quarter financial report was a fourth quarter net loss of $27.5 million, or $3.52 per share. In Q4 2017, the company had net income of $61.1 million, or $7.91 per share.

McClatchy Increases Digital-Only Subscriptions for 11th Straight Quarter Read More »

Luminary to Launch Premium Subscription of Ad-free, Exclusive Podcasts

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, Freemium, Industry Announcements, News, Product Development, Subscription Apps /

Starting in May, Luminary is launching a premium podcast subscription with 40+ ad-free, exclusive podcasts. For $7.99 a month, after a one-month free trial, subscribers will get unlimited access to existing shows as well as originals from entertainers, popular podcasters and other diverse voices – and all exclusive. Programming includes podcasts like “A Very Fatal Murder” from The Onion, Adam Davidson’s “The Passion Economy,” “Hollywood and Crime,” “Tabloid” from New York Magazine, “The Trip,” “Under the Skin” with Russell Brand, “Team Coco,” “Let’s Talk This Out” with Trevor Noah, and a few we can’t print here.

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