Readers love our trends reports! And why not, they are thoughtful, details and chock full of information on market trends, analysis and more. Here are 11 of our most-read Trend Reports from 2018.
- Cord-Cutting: The Ultimate Subscription Fail
In the third quarter of 2018, over a million subscribers cut the cord and ended their subscriptions to pay TV. How did cable TV providers fail their subscribers so remarkably, and what are they doing to stem the losses? - Apple Bets That Customers Will Pay for a Bite Every Month
Apple is pushing hard toward subscriptions both in its app store and with its latest cloud and hardware offerings. But the personal computer giant is not blazing a trail with software as a service for consumers: Microsoft and Adobe got there first. - Netflix Explained: A Company in Possession of Good Fortune
With quarterly revenue nearing $4 billion and 130 million worldwide streaming subscribers and growing, Netflix nonetheless continues to attract criticism – and its volatile stock price reflects that. However, the story behind the data reveals that Netflix’s fundamentals are sound and that the video-on-demand company with a track record of flexibility is headed in the right direction. - Business Intelligence and the Essence of Subscription Data Services
Companies directly profiting from big data are now earning over $42 billion dollars worldwide. And that’s a lowball estimate. A subset of that revenue is going to companies that have made their data accessible to subscribers in exchange for a recurring payment. - Building the Subscription Relationship: The Case for Customer Service
Unless your company has a monopoly on what you offer, you probably survive amid competition. One key to keeping customers happily subscribing to your product: exceptional customer service. - Subscribing To Health: Fitness and Nutritious Eating Are Trending Up
With a potential subscription business market size of $35-plus billion — and with a history of solid growth that experts forecast to continue — there’s every reason to look for success in an America filled with fitness fans. - At The Gate: Newspaper Sites Prioritize Metered Content, Again
Ad revenue for newspapers has been falling for years, but the migration of ad dollars, especially to Facebook and Google, are pushing news orgs away from ad-based revenue models. - Voting With Credit Cards: The Growing Importance Of Recurring Contributions In Politics
Several trends are colliding in the business of funding political campaigns. Increasingly polarized voters are expressing their opinions not just with votes but also with individual donations. Candidates are enabling this level of participation with invitations to make affordable, easy donations monthly, or even weekly. And organizations and businesses are making it easy for would-be politicians to make this happen. - The Ad Trap: Why and How B2B Media Should Look to Subscription Revenue
In the age of the Internet, and especially since the Great Recession of 2008, the value proposition of print advertising has faded, only partly replaced by online digital advertising, and even that seems shaky. Instead, some media companies and information publishers are looking at ways to monetize their audience directly with the option to subscribe to new, premium products that may replace or co-exist beside legacy magazines. - Subscription Razor Blades: A Model Past its Prime?
Sell a printer and you get steady income from sales of ink cartridges. Sell a meal-kit subscription and you get steady income from the food boxes you send your subscribers. Both enjoy recurring revenue streams; in fact, there are some striking parallels between these two ways of doing business. But what can executives in both learn from each other? - Celebrate Valentine’s All Year Round: Candy, Flowers, And Lingerie By Subscription
For February 2018, lovers were forecast to spend $6 billion on Valentine’s Day purchases of candy, flowers, and clothing. But that’s a market that may be willing to spend on romance during the other eleven months of the year as well. And in fact, a number of companies are working hard to serve these products — yes, even undies — on a recurring basis.