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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

Publishers Test Subscriptions for Instant Articles for Android

News /

After months of speculation, Facebook is finally testing subscriptions for Instant Articles, starting with a version for Android devices. Facebook will roll out testing to a small group of publishers in the U.S. and Europe over the next few weeks, starting with a version for Android. Facebook said it hopes to expand testing to other publishers soon. For now, the subscription option is only being tested via Android, which helps publishers avoid the so-called Apple tax of 30 percent that Apple gets from in-app sales.

Publishers Test Subscriptions for Instant Articles for Android Read More »

Under Armour Launches Personalized Subscription Box for Activewear

Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Customer Service, Free Subscription, Industry Announcements, Memberships, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, Subscription Boxes /

Activewear company Under Armour (NYSE: UA, UAA) has entered the personalized subscription box market, launching ArmourBox to provide active adults with new workout gear at 30-, 60- or 90-day intervals. When a new member signs up, they complete a personal profile which includes goals, needs and style. An ‘Official Outfitter’ hand-selects four to six pieces of Under Armour gear for the member to try on. The member has a week to try everything on or return it. If the member keeps all the pieces, they save 20 percent off the entire shipment. There are no fees for styling, shipping or restocking. Think of it as a Stitch Fix for active adults.

Under Armour Launches Personalized Subscription Box for Activewear Read More »

Stitch Fix Hopes to Raise as Much as $100 Million with IPO

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Last week Stitch Fix, a try-it-before-you-buy-it women’s apparel subscription box service, filed for an initial public offering of up to $100 million. If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Stitch Fix would be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol SFIX. Stitch Fix was founded in 2011 by CEO Katrina Lake to revolutionize how women shop for clothes and accessories. Using a combination of data and human judgment, stylists hand-select apparel, shoes and accessories for Stitch Fix customers based on their personal profiles.

Stitch Fix Hopes to Raise as Much as $100 Million with IPO Read More »

This Week’s Subscription News: Analytics, Autoplay Ads and Ad-Free Apps

Auto-renew Subscription, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, Magazines, Memberships, News, Revenue and Sales, Subscriber Retention, Subscription Apps /

Escape the latest political news with these subscription news stories. This week, USA Today launches an ad-free, in-app offering for $2.99 a month, LinkedIn tests autoplay video ads, and Spotify offers artists a sophisticated analytics dashboard to help them learn more about their fans. Also this week, Costco may have a membership retention problem, advertisers show interest in Amazon’s NFL experiment, and Time Inc. cuts costs by cutting circulation and frequency.

This Week’s Subscription News: Analytics, Autoplay Ads and Ad-Free Apps Read More »

Five on Friday: Sales Goals, ESPs and Customer Acquisition Costs

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Controlled Circulation, Invoiced Subscription, Magazines, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Only, Subscription Business Marketing /

This has been a whirlwind week for Subscription Insider, as we return from LA after our latest Subscription Payment Bootcamp. It was great to meet some of you! Meanwhile, we were working on todays Five on Friday to give you some great resources for growing your business. In this weeks edition, Shopify shares time management apps to help you better balance your life, Vindicia explains three customer acquisition costs to remember, Hubspot offers tips for setting achievable sales goals, we learn four lessons from Time Inc.s attempt to cut $400 million in costs, and Iterable tells us what to look for when choosing an email service provider.

Five on Friday: Sales Goals, ESPs and Customer Acquisition Costs Read More »

Storytelling App Wattpad Launches Premium Subscription Service

Business Strategy, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Freemium, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscription Apps /

Ten years after its launch, storytelling app Wattpad is offering a premium subscription service to users in the U.S. and Canada. Wattpad Premium, available for $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year (essentially getting two free months annually), gives users a fresh, new theme and an ad-free experience on mobile and the web, with new features to be added in the coming months. The free version of the app, currently being accessed by more than 60 million users per month, will still be available.

Storytelling App Wattpad Launches Premium Subscription Service Read More »

College Students Can Now Get a Prime Membership for $5.49 a Month

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Memberships, News, Paywall, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Retention, Subscription Apps /

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) just made it a little easier for college students to enjoy the many perks of a Prime membership, offering students enrolled in two- and four-year colleges a student rate of $5.49 a month. The monthly price of Amazon Prime Student is 50 percent off Prime’s regular price, following a six-month free trial, without the annual commitment. The free trial is provided courtesy of Sprint. Qualifying college students can pay $49 a year (the equivalent of $4.08 per month) instead to save 20 percent on an annual membership.

College Students Can Now Get a Prime Membership for $5.49 a Month Read More »

Medium Expands Partner Program to All Publishers and Content Creators

Business Strategy, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Freemium, Industry Announcements, Metered Subscription, News, Product Development, SaaS and Cloud Services /

Words still matter. That’s what Medium CEO Ev Williams wrote on October 10 when he announced the publishing platform was opening up its Partner Program to all publishers and content creators. The invitation-only program began this summer, along with the company’s new logo, design and its clap system which pays writers based on the attention their content received. At launch, Medium called the Partner Program a ‘grand experiment,’ testing subscribers’ willingness to pay Medium for content which it, in turn, would share with writers.

Medium Expands Partner Program to All Publishers and Content Creators Read More »

Netflix Reports Strong Q3 Financials Including 5.3 Million New Members

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Operations, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, FInance, Memberships, News, Payment Processing, Paywall, Product Development, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscription Apps /

If you predicted that Netflix couldn’t get any better in the third quarter, we’d say ‘Stranger Things’ have happened…and they have. Yesterday Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) reported strong Q3 financials with a 33 percent increase in global streaming revenue and the addition of 5.3 million new memberships globally, a 49 percent increase year over year. This is considerably higher than the 4.4 million net additions Netflix had forecast. Year-to-date, Netflix has added 15.5 million new members (net), a 29 percent increase year over year.

Netflix Reports Strong Q3 Financials Including 5.3 Million New Members Read More »

New York Times Co. Combines Wirecutter and Sweethome into Single Site

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Operations, Business Strategy, Consumer Media and Publishing, Consumer Services, Free Subscription, Industry Announcements, Mergers and Acquisitions, Metered Subscription, News, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services /

Turntables, tumblers and telescopes. A year after its $30 million acquisition of review sites The Wirecutter and The Sweethome, The New York Times Company combines the two popular sites and relaunches them as a unified, mobile-first site, Wirecutter, accessible at TheWirecutter.com. With a new logo, colors and fonts, Wirecutter’s features a single column design and brings all their reviews on everything from biking gear and electronics to office furniture and baby products. Past content and more than 62,000 reader comments are being transferred to the new site.

New York Times Co. Combines Wirecutter and Sweethome into Single Site Read More »