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

Streaming Video Now Accounts for 28% of All TV Watching

A recent study by Gfk MRI shows that 28% of TV viewing is now done via streaming video, says Broadcasting & Cable. Of that total, 16% watch over-the-top (OTT) TV on a personal computer, laptop or mobile device, 9% view streaming content on an Internet-connect TV, and 3% watch streaming video on a gaming console like Sony PlayStation. The study was conducted as part of Gfk MRI’s “The Future of TV series,” in which the company…

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Macmillan Doubles Ebook Titles on Oyster and Scribd

Last week Macmillan announced that it would double its ebook offerings on Oyster and Scribd, adding about 1,000 titles to each ebook subscription service, says Digital Book World. The additions include titles of popular back-list fiction as well as nonfiction ebooks, including titles from well-known authors like Rachel Cusk, John McPhee, Grace Paley and Robert Jordan, reports Digital Trends. The expansion will not, however, include Macmillan’s new releases. This news comes just six months after Macmillan’s…

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Subscription News Round-up

With the exception of United and the New York Stock Exchange, news of the Greek financial crisis trumped virtually all other news this week. You can read our take on that situation here and how it affects subscription companies, as well as other interesting headlines featuring Sarah Palin, Facebook and Windows. Global Subscription Payments Rejected in Greece: How Subscription Companies Can Help Members & Subscribers Subscription Insider Trials and Iterations: The Globe and Mail Tries to Balance Reinvention…

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The Verge: The Latest Site to Turn Off Comments

Comments or no comments? That is the question. The Verge says no. Earlier this week The Verge announced that it was turning off comments “for a bit,” however long “a bit” may be. Why? Nilay Patel explains it candidly in this July 6 post: “…sometimes it gets too intense. What we’ve found lately is that the tone of our comments (and some of our commenters) is getting a little too aggressive and negative – a change…

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Streaming Music Companies Compete for Customers

With the recent launch of Apple Music, streaming music services like Tidal and Spotify are adjusting their packages and pricing to compete for customers, reports The Verge. In fact, yesterday Tidal announced that it will now offer a family plan. Like the other services, the first household user will pay full price and each additional member gets a 50% discount. Comparing costs, that still puts Tidal well above Apple Music’s price for a 6-user household. For…

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Paywalls in the News: The Ups and Downs of Paywalls

Paywalls are in this week’s subscription news headlines, including redesigned websites, metered paywalls and a possible merger. Irish Times paywall goes live July 29 In February, we reported the Irish Times was planning to implement a metered paywall, hoping to add a digital subscription base to its current revenue streams. That plan will become a reality effective July 29, says The Guardian. On that date, users will be able to read up to 10 articles before having…

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Global Subscription Payments Rejected in Greece: How Subscription Companies Can Help Subscribers & Members

On Sunday, 61% of Greek voters said “no” to terms offered by European creditors to bail out their financially-crippled country, said CBC News. The victory was bitter though; the country must still figure out how to repay its €320 billion debt to Europe and raise another €60 billion for relief. The first step – preventing the collapse of the Greek banking system which is almost out of money. According to the CBC News article, Greek bank…

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Chicago Expands 9% Amusement Tax to Streaming Services

If you live in Chicago, your Netflix and Spotify subscriptions just got 9% more expensive. So says the city’s Department of Finance which ruled last week to include “any paid television programming,” “electronically delivered music” and “nonpossessory computer leases” under the umbrella of an existing amusement tax. According to Fusion who reported the story last week, Chicago is the first major U.S. city to impose a tax on streaming or cloud computing services. Effective September 1,…

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Subscription News Round-up

Greece is broke, AOL takes over Microsoft’s ad business, and Pando Daily and ClassPass try membership models. Here are those and other headlines you may have missed this week: Pando Daily Moves to Membership Model Subscription Insider Online Payments Halted in Greece, Citizens Eye Bitcoin to Protect Savings Digital Trends Why Journalists Should Care More About Media Business Models The Media Briefing Splice Announces Sample Subscription Service, Splice Sounds Less than 3 AOL Takes Over Majority of Microsoft’s Ad Business, Swaps Google Search for…

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Facebook and the Future of News: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hosted an informal, one-hour Townhall Q&A online to get input from the online community. The session lasted nearly 90 minutes and included questions from a wide array of sources, including Stephen Hawking, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Arianna Huffington, on everything from the future of news, the requirement of real names, and getting a job at Facebook. And, of course, there were completely irrelevant questions and spam along the way. For the…

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