Insight to drive subscription growth

Join

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

Lionsgate Bails on Comic-Con HQ 18 Months After Launch

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Customer Service, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, Subscriber Retention, Subscription Apps /

Not every niche provider of streaming video on-demand is having the success that WWE Network is. In fact, Lionsgate is bailing on Comic-Con HQ, about 18 months after it launched the ad-free subscription video app, reports Variety in an exclusive. Instead of selling video subscriptions, Lionsgate will license current content to other platforms like Amazon Channels, Roku and tubiTV, which are ad-supported. According to Variety, apps for the channel have been removed from Google and Apple’s app stores, but consumers have not yet been notified.

Lionsgate Bails on Comic-Con HQ 18 Months After Launch Read More »

Five on Friday: Marketing Lessons, News Subscriptions, and Payments

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, FInance, News, Payment Processing, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Only, Subscription Apps, Subscription Business Marketing, Subscription Gaming /

In this weeks Five on Friday, Forbes and Sumo marketing lessons learned from Hubspot’s success, ZDNet explains the differences between SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, EA plans to expand its EA access-style subscription program to other platforms, Digiday shares the state of news subscriptions, and PYMTS highlights industries that are getting subscription payments right (and wrong).

Five on Friday: Marketing Lessons, News Subscriptions, and Payments Read More »

WWE Reports Net Income of $21.8 Million for Q3 2017

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Operations, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, FInance, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, Subscription Apps /

WWE delivers another ‘smackdown’ with solid Q3 financials. Last week WWE [NYSE: WWE] delivered another strong quarter, reporting total revenue of $186.4 million, a 14 percent increase year-over-year. The company attributes its success largely to the performance of its media, licensing and event businesses. WWE reports net income of $21.8 million for the third quarter, or $0.28 per diluted share, compared to $11.1 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, for the same period last year. The company also increased total paid subscribers for the quarter to 1.58 million, compared to 1.49 million as of September 30, 2016.

WWE Reports Net Income of $21.8 Million for Q3 2017 Read More »

Shopify Reports Total Revenue of $171.5 Million for Q3

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Consumer Services, FInance, News, Payment Processing, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscription Apps /

Trick-or-treat. Shopify (NYSE: SHOP)(TSX: SHOP) would probably say “treat,” but investors aren’t so sure. Yesterday the cloud-based, multi-channel e-commerce platform announced solid financials for the third quarter, including total revenue of $171.5 million, a 72 percent increase year-over-year. Subscription Solutions represented $82.4 million of the total revenue, a 65 percent increase year-over-year, and Merchant Solutions generated $89.0 million, a 79 percent increase year-over-year.

Shopify Reports Total Revenue of $171.5 Million for Q3 Read More »

GameStop to Launch Power Pass, a Pre-owned Game Rental Subscription

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, Subscription Gaming /

GameStop is launching Power Pass, an unlimited, pre-owned game rental subscription, reports The Verge. For $60 for six months, gamers can rent a used game at their local GameStop, enjoy unlimited play of that game, return it, and check out another game. Gamers can only rent one game at a time, however. Several sources have said that, at the end of a rental period, subscribers can keep the last game they checked out.

GameStop to Launch Power Pass, a Pre-owned Game Rental Subscription Read More »

Amazon Stock Spikes After Company Releases Q3 2017 Financials

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Media and Publishing, Business Operations, Business Services, Consumer Services, Data and IoT, Entertainment and Streaming, FInance, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscription Apps /

Last week ecommerce giant Amazon [NASDAQ: AMZN] reported another stellar quarter, driving its stock value up by more than $128 per share overnight. Among its quarterly financial highlights were net sales of $43.7 billion, representing a 34 percent increase over the same period last year. Net sales included $1.3 billion from Whole Foods Market, who Amazon acquired on August 28, 2017. Without the Whole Foods Market deal, Amazon’s net sales would have increased 29 percent year-over-year. Net income for the third quarter was $256 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, compared to $252 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2016.

Amazon Stock Spikes After Company Releases Q3 2017 Financials Read More »

Weekly Subscription News: Apple, Alexa and The Athletic

News /

In this week’s subscription news, Amazon introduces paid subscriptions for Alexa skills, Facebook and Apple can’t agree on terms for subscriptions, and Porsche is the next luxury car maker to launch a subscription program. Also this week, we are reading about Disney’s plans to compete with Netflix, CBS’s renewal of ‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ available exclusively on CBS All Access, and speculation that a Spotify IPO could raise $100 million.

Weekly Subscription News: Apple, Alexa and The Athletic Read More »

Five on Friday: Retention Tools, Ad Blocking and Top Subscription Jobs

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Metered Subscription, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscriber Only, Subscriber Retention, Subscription Apps, Subscription Business Marketing /

A fall chill is in the air, but well warm you up with great insights, tips and tools to help you grow your subscription business. In this weeks edition, Forbes shares tools to help reduce customer churn, MediaPost and PageFair give us the scoop on the loss of revenue from ad blocking, Politico reports that millennials will, indeed, pay for news, Marketing Profs offers great holiday email marketing tips, and LinkedIn posts top subscription jobs from LoveToKnow, Netflix and Dropbox.

Five on Friday: Retention Tools, Ad Blocking and Top Subscription Jobs Read More »

Hearst to Buy Rodale’s Magazine and Book Publishing Businesses

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Industry Announcements, Magazines, Mergers and Acquisitions, News, Revenue and Sales /

Another big acquisition is in the works in the publishing industry. Last Hearst announced that it would add Rodale Inc.’s magazine and book publishing businesses to its expansive portfolio of 360 companies. Rodale, who owns well-known health and wellness publications including Men’s Health, Women’s, Runner’s World and Prevention, publishes 93 editions of its magazines in 64 countries. Neither company disclosed terms of the sale. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, assuming regulatory approval.

Hearst to Buy Rodale’s Magazine and Book Publishing Businesses Read More »

Cisco to Acquire BroadSoft for $1.9 Billion

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Business Strategy, Industry Announcements, News, SaaS and Cloud Services /

Cisco is having a good week. On Monday, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced its intention to acquire BroadSoft (NASDAQ: BSFT), a cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions provider, for approximately $1.9 billion. Though the acquisition must jump through regulatory hoops first, both companies’ boards have approved the sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018. Until then, the companies will operate separately. This announcement comes just four days after Cisco announced its intent to purchase Perspica, Cisco’s 200th acquisition, making the BroadSoft acquisition number 201.

Cisco to Acquire BroadSoft for $1.9 Billion Read More »