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Membership Organizations Adopt Subscription Publications as Member Perk

Industry Announcements, News, Subscription Apps /

Nomenclature can be a problem in this industry, with subscription site, membership site and paywall sites thinking they are unique when in fact they are quite similar. But the terminology is getting even more confusing as membership sites adopt online or digital subscription publications in order to enhance member benefits. Recently, the National Association of Home Builders announced plans to launch a digital-only quarterly magazine called Best in American Living. The NAHB is making the publication free…

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Microsoft Office Adopts a Subscription Model, Starting at $99/Year

Industry Announcements, News, Subscriber Acquisition /

Big news in the SaaS world — Microsoft is pushing a subscription model for its forthcoming Office 2013. For $99/year, the Office 365 Home Premium offers subscribers Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access, plus 20 GB of SkyDrive storage (in addition to the 7 GB that you get for free), and 60 minutes of Skype calls per month. One “account” can be shared by up to five users across any mixture of five PCs…

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When Designing Subscription eCommerce Conversion Pages, Don’t Waste Space on One-Off Options

News, Subscriber Acquisition /

Every year, Subscription Site Insider hosts a Webinar with live site critiques. This year, we were fortunate enough to have WhichTestWon’s Editor Justin Rondeau as a guest critic and include a subscription eCommerce site — Omega Via. As Justin told the Insider audience, Omega Via has a decent homepage in terms of color and design. His main critique was to create more compelling button copy and move the order button up to the white area. (Did…

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Licensing Hurdles Remain for Online TV, But Subscriptions Better Than A La Carte Offers

News, Subscription Apps, Technology /

A new study by Infonetics has found that licensing remains the biggest hurdle for TV operators looking to provide content on multiple devices. “Multi-screen services are quickly becoming a critical service for pay-TV operators worldwide,” says Infonetics analyst Jeff Heynen. In a related study, Nielsen found that game consoles, such as Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which allow users to stream video as well, are one of the fastest-growing device segments for video watching, with…

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After 17 Years, 2 Million Subscribers, $100M in Revenue, Lynda.com Asks for Funding

Business Services, Entertainment and Streaming, FInance, News /

If ever there was a darling of the subscription eLearning niche, it’s Lynda.com. The site generated approximately $100 million in revenue in 2012, and has 2 million paying subscribers, many from companies like Sony, Pixar and Disney (and presumably, with group subscriptions). And yet, unlike the many flash-in-the-pan Internet start-ups (Pinterest, I’m looking at you), the company has waited 17 years to ask for its first round of funding. Which goes to show you, when it comes to…

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Financial Times Officially Up For Sale, Priced At £1 Billion

Business Services, FInance, News /

Despite months of denial by its parent company Pearson, The Financial Times is being touted for sale by investment banks Nomura and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The financial publication, which includes a metered paywall site, is priced at £740 million to £1 billion, 37 times the publication’s projected earnings before interest, taxation and depreciation. But other estimates have valued the site at around £500 million. Some of the banks are also stating that the sale would…

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Save the Date! Subscription Site Summit Is May 8-9th in NYC!

News /

Get ready! We’re gearing up for the third annual Subscription Site Summit and we couldn’t be more excited! This year the summit will be held in New York City on May 8-9, 2013. Make sure to clear your calendar because this year’s Summit promises to be our best one yet. We’re putting together a killer speaker roster, full of subscription executives from profitable sites and digital publications in various niches – from news to B2B to entertainment.…

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Case Study Lessons: Increasing Trial Offer Conversions with One-Item Marketing

Entertainment and Streaming, News, Subscriber Acquisition /

Here’s a great A/B test lesson from Surfline, the focus on this week’s Case Study on Subscription Site Insider. Surfline, a freemium subscription site providing ocean forecasts for surfing enthusiasts, wanted to increase its trial offer conversion. George Roletter, Vice President of Subscriptions and Product Marketing, told us how the site had already split their trial conversion process, making it possible to email prospects who abandoned the trial form. So the site then tested the marketing…

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News Site ‘Press of Atlantic City’ Up for Sale

News, Subscriber Acquisition /

ABARTA Inc., the parent company of The Press of Atlantic City has put the local New Jersey paper and accompanying digital products up for sale. In the statement published on The Press’s website, ABARTA president and CEO John F. Bitzer III did not state an asking price, but rambled on about the challenges of “stand-alone daily newspapers in medium-sized markets” and how new owners would be better equipped to handle those challenges. The Press seems to adhere…

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Audiobooks Switches From Unlimited Subscriptions to Pay-by-the-Book Plans

Business Media and Publishing, FInance, News, Subscriber Acquisition /

It’s easy to think that more is always better, especially when developing pricing plans for your subscribers. But today’s lesson from Audiobooks.com shows the exception to the rule. Audiobooks launched a year ago, providing an unlimited number of streaming audiobooks to subscribers for $24.95/month. (We’ll analyze the wisdom of a streaming audio book service a little further down in this post.) But this month, the site is switching to two pay-by-the-book plans: $14.95 for one audiobook a month;…

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