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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

This Week’s Subscription Headlines: SaaS, SoundCloud and Stagnation

Auto-renew Subscription, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, FInance, News, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscription Gaming /

In this week’s subscription news, Microsoft releases Xbox Pass, a Spotify-like Game Subscription, The Telegraph’s subscription rate increases 300%, just four months in, and Warren Buffet suggests that newspapers except for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal might not survive the “current industry slaughter.” In addition, we’ve got SaaS stories, SoundCloud news and subscription gains for Weight Watchers.

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Five on Friday: Customer-First Marketing, Content Errors, and Branding

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Consumer Services, Customer Service, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscriber Only, Subscriber Retention, Subscription Business Marketing /

If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve brought back Five on Friday. This week we explore how brands are investing in platforms but not in exclusive content, how one subscription company, Deliveroo, is expanding its brand through TV, what customer-first marketing means, how content mistakes can harm both your brand and your SEO, and well give you a sneak peek at what youll learn in our next free webinar, How to Maximize Renewals.

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Spotify Is Testing Hi-Fi Sound for Possible Premium Subscription

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Operations, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, News, Paywall, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscription Apps /

Spotify may be emulating Tidal with a proposed Hi-Fi premium subscription tier, reports The Verge. Earlier this week Spotify started running A/B tests for the new “hi-fi quality lossless” streaming product called Spotify Hi-Fi, with its premium subscribers at different price points ranging from $5 to $10. Spotify is staying quiet about the details though. According to The Verge, when they asked Spotify for a comment, a spokesperson told them, “We are always testing new products and offers but have no news to share at this time.”

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Google Promises YouTube TV Is Coming Soon for $35 a Month

Auto-renew Subscription, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, Subscription Apps /

Google teases us once again with details about its proposed over-the-top TV product for YouTube. In the latest news, Google says the skinny TV bundle will be called YouTube TV and will offer 40 channels for $35 a month, reports WIRED magazine. When Google first spoke about the OTT service in May 2016, the product was going to be called Unplugged, but few details were released.In a blog post Tuesday, YouTube finally offered up tangible details about the new service, saying it would offer the best of live TV including “must-see broadcast shows” and live sports. Here are some of the highlights.

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Amazon Quietly Lowers Free Shipping Minimum to Compete with Walmart

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Operations, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Customer Service, News, Product Development, SaaS and Cloud Services /

The competition among online retailers for free shipping got more heated last week, as Amazon quietly lowered its minimum shipping order from $49 to $35 last week, reports The Verge. According to the Amazon website, for non-Prime members, all orders of $35 or more of eligible items across all product categories now qualify for free shipping. As before, orders of $25 or more of eligible books also qualify for free shipping. Free shipping includes receipt of a qualifying order in five to eight days. Prime members, however, get free shipping on eligible items with no minimum.

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A Kinder, Gentler Shine Rebrands as Rainbow, Changes Ad Blocking Ways

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Services, Business Strategy, Consumer Services, Industry Announcements, News, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscription Apps, Subscription Business Marketing /

In an interesting twist, Israel-based mobile ad blocking company Shine has rebranded itself as Rainbow and, instead of selling network-level ad blocking products to mobile carriers, it will offer whitelisting and data services to advertisers and publishers, reports Business Insider. This is a dramatic change from its previous position from where the company was a year ago.

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QuickBooks Online Subscriptions Grow 49 Percent in Q2 2017

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

Last Thursday Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) announced its 2017 second quarter results for the period ended January 31, 2017. Intuit reported revenue of $1.016 billion, a 10 percent increase over the same period last year. It also announced that QuickBooks subscribers grew by 49 percent in the second quarter to more than 1.87 million subscribers, including 61 percent growth in online subscriptions outside the U.S. including the U.K., Canada and Australia. QuickBooks Online now has approximately 370,000 subscribers internationally.

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This Week’s Subscription News Headlines: Netflix, News and Knight

Business Services, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, Magazines, Memberships, News, Revenue and Sales, Subscription Apps, Technology /

In this week’s subscription news headlines, FedEx is ready to take on Amazon with its own fulfillment program, Comcast helps ad-supported publishers compete in a video subscription world, and Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto threatens journalism as we know it today. Also, this week we have stories featuring the App Store, This Old House, Netflix and Le Temps.

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Five on Friday: Tiered Pricing, Home Pages and Best Practices

Auto-renew Subscription, Business Media and Publishing, Business Services, Business Strategy, Clubs, Consumer Services, Entertainment and Streaming, Free Subscription, Learning and Training, Magazines, News, Paywall, Product Development, Revenue and Sales, SaaS and Cloud Services, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscriber Only /

Five on Friday is back by popular demand! In this weeks edition, Ad Age explores how the subscription economy will change the price we pay as companies explore tiered and customized pricing, CFOs turn to services and subscriptions to grow revenue as subscriptions and recurring revenue become a larger part of their business, Marketing Profs looks at eight subscription models and five best practices, and we share 16 must have home page elements from Duct Tape Marketing.

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Time Warner Enjoys OTT Success, Tripling HBO Now Subscribers in 2016

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

Earlier this month Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2016 financials. In addition to revenues of $29.3 billion, a 4 percent increase over the prior year, HBO Now has surpassed the 2 million subscriber mark, tripling subscriptions in 2016 compared to 2015. Part of its increase in subscriptions is due to 2016 product launches in Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

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