Summer is finally here – and we’re going to celebrate the way we do every Friday – by bringing you subscription features to keep you informed on the latest in the subscription world. In this week’s edition, we share Reuters Institute’s and University of Oxford’s Digital News Report for 2019, Mary Meeker’s top internet trends, customer service tips from Hubspot, all we know about the new Disney+ streaming video subscription service and how an $8.9 million judgment against two dozen companies for subscription scams.
Reuters Institute’s Annual Digital News Reports Reveals Latest News Consumption Trends
In its eighth annual digital news report, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism reveals the results from global research about how people are consuming news and how they feel about it, including their trust – or distrust – of the media and their willingness to pay for news. The data is based on a survey of more than 75,000 people in 38 markets on 6 continents, including the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America, conducted by YouGov in January and February 2019. Here are some of the key findings from that report.
- There has only been a slight increase in the number of people willing to pay for news online via subscription, membership or donation. In Norway, 34% of readers pay for news and in Sweden, 27% pay. The U.S. remains stable with 16% of news consumers paying for news.
- In countries where people are paying for news, the vast majority of paying news consumers only pay for one news subscription.
- Subscription fatigue is partly responsible with respondents acknowledging they’d rather spend subscription dollars on entertainment like Netflix or Spotify than on news.
- Respondents said if they could only pay for one type of online media subscription for the next year, they would choose online video (37%) and online music (15%) over online news (7%).
- As distrust for social media increases, in many countries, people are moving away from Facebook to spend more time on WhatsApp and Instagram. (Editor’s note: Facebook owns both WhatsApp and Instagram.)
- In non-Western countries like Brazil (53%), Malaysia (50%) and South Africa (49%), social communication around news is happening privately in messaging apps.
- People in many countries have concerns about misinformation and disinformation, including Brazil (85%), U.K. (70%), U.S. (67%), Germany (38%), the Netherlands (31%) and France (24%).
- In general, the news media is seen at doing a better job at breaking news than they are at explaining it.
- News avoidance is increasing with 32% of respondents saying they actively avoid the news. This is an overall increase of 6% over the last report.
- Two-thirds of news consumers user their phones to access news.
- Most people are still not willing to pay for online news today, and RISJ says that trends show that this is unlikely to change, particularly for news that consumers can currently get for free.
- In the U.S., people with a college degree are twice as likely to pay for news.
- During the reporting period, the New York Times had 3.3 million digital-only subscribers, while the Wall Street Journal had 1.5 million and the Washington Post had 1.2 million.
This three-minute video by RISJ provides a great summary of the report’s findings.
Mary Meeker, Queen of the Internet, Shares Top Internet Trends
Mary Meeker, dubbed the Queen of the Internet, delivered her annual Internet Trends Report at Code Conference 2019. In it, she shared 333 slides examining important online trends for the last year. In partnership, Recode and Vox shared top highlights from Meeker’s presentation last week.
- About 3.8 billion people used the internet last year, or 51% of the world, an increase of 2% from 2017.
- The largest number of users came from China, India and the United States.
- The top four most valuable companies in the world are tech companies: 1) Microsoft, 2) Amazon, 3) Apple and 4) Alphabet
- Ecommerce represents 15% of retail sales
- Customer acquisition costs are rising which Meeker says is unsustainable. She recommends subscription companies find less expensive ways to acquire customers like offering free trials and freemium models.
- Americans spend an average of 6.3 hours a day with digital media, a 7% increase over 2017.
- The top three most downloaded Apple podcasts last year were The Daily (The New York Times), The Joe Rogan Experience and Stuff You Should Know (iHeartMedia).
- The number of users with wearables in the US> has grown from 25 million in 2014 to 52 million in 2018.
- Last year, 2.4 billion people were interactive gamers, a 6% increase.
For more highlights from Vox and Recode, or to view Meeker’s slide deck, read “Mary Meeker’s Most Important Trends on the Internet” on Vox.com.
5 Essential Customer Service Skills
As Mary Meeker reminds us, customer acquisition is expensive, making customer retention critical. One of the key ways to keep customers is to keep them satisfied with a quality user experience. This includes being able to answer their questions and address their needs as they arise. Hubspot has lots of great customer service resources to help your subscription company stay up on the latest industry knowledge and best practices. Here are five customer service skills to master.
- Avoid apologies. Instead, thank customers for their patience as you work toward a solution that will satisfy them.
- Choose your words and tone carefully, as they can help guide the course of your conversation with a customer. Negativity or perceived indifference will turn a customer off, whereas compassion with their frustration – not a canned speech – can show your customer you really do care and want to help.
- Greetings and closings are everything. We know how important a first impression is. Closing a conversation is equally important, not only to close the loop with that customer but so that you can move onto the next customer needing your help.
- Understand and practice emotional intelligence skills. No two customers are alike, but having a better understanding of how to work with different types of customers is essential to providing quality customer service.
- Use your expert product knowledge to serve your customers competently and in a way that they understand.
For more great customer service resources, visit Hubspot’s Customer Support Skills and Customer Service Tips pages.
CNET Shares More Disney Plus Details
There is a lot of industry buzz about the new Disney Plus streaming video subscription service. As we get closer to the November 12 launch date, or about 143 days, give or take, Disney is revealing more details about the SVOD subscription service. Here are a few new tidbits of information shared by CNET in a June 13, 2019 article.
- The ad-free Disney Plus will cost subscribers about $7 a month, or $70 a year, plus applicable taxes and fees.
- An analyst from Morgan Stanley says Disney Plus could amass as many as 13 million subscribers by the end of 2020.
- Those subscribers, along with subscribers from Hulu and ESPN Plus, could grow as large as 130 million subscribers by 2024, rivaling Netflix. This is pure speculation, however, but it is an interesting prediction.
- Marvel and Star Wars will be two of the most popular franchises available on Disney Plus, attracting millions of subscribers. It will also include Pixar films, National Geographic and 30 seasons of The Simpsons.
- Avengers: Endgame will be available on Disney Plus on December 11.
- Disney Plus will initially roll out in North America, but rollouts are planned for Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific this year and next.
- Hulu will become the home for adult-oriented content.
- Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu will be on one platform at some point, so Disney can offer streaming bundles and users can subscribers can sign in with one user ID and password.
For a complete rundown of newly-revealed Disney Plus details and predictions, read “Disney Plus streaming service: Release date, price, shows and movies to expect” by Mike Sorrentino and Joan E. Solsman for CNET.
Newspaper Subscription Scammers Ordered to Pay $8.9M Judgment
A federal judge in Oregon orders an $8.9 million judgment against two dozen companies and three individuals in a massive newspaper subscription scam. In the scam, the companies – mostly located in Oregon – would solicit the renewal of newspaper subscriptions and collect payments without the publishers’ authorization, reports The Oregonian.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke called for a “national permanent injunction” to stop the widespread fraud that began in 2010. According to The Oregonian, the fraud involves more than 375 newspapers across the country including the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Post and the New York Times.
Between 2010 and 2015, consumers paid subscription fees for nearly 40,9000 newspaper subscriptions – and at rates higher than the publishers would have charged themselves. Consumers who did not receive their newspapers were offered different publications as a substitute. Others paid for the same publication multiple times, and some tried unsuccessfully canceling their payments. The judgment will be paid to the Federal Trade Commission who will reimburse consumers who were scammed.
Though multiple companies and individuals were involved, the judge called out Dennis Simpson, the manager of Reality Kats and Jeffrey Hoyal of Hoyal Associates for the massive fraud. The Oregonian said Hoyal admitted his part in the scheme, but Simpson did the claims were “preposterous.” Read more about the judgment in Maxine Bernstein’s story in The Oregonian.