Before you head out for the holidays, check out this week’s Five on Friday, featuring the best-selling iOS apps of 2019, top subscription jobs from LinkedIn, features merchants are using to increase subscription conversions, the Better Business Bureau’s investigation into subscription traps, and a new study which predicts that streaming video revenue will surpass box office revenue next year. Happy Holidays from the Subscription Insider family!

Best-Selling iOS Apps of 2019

Subscription apps topped the list for the most downloaded iOS apps of 2018. According to a report by Sensor Tower and quoted by Business Insider, the following were the best-selling apps of 2018, along with the amount of revenue each generated, as of November 30. Six of the top apps were video streaming services, and five of the 10 are based out of China.

1. Netflix (video streaming) – $790.2 million
2. Tencent Video (video streaming) – $490.0 million
3. Tinder (dating app) – $462.2 million
4. iQiyi (video streaming) – $420.5 million
5. Kwai (Kuaishou) (social-video sharing) – $264.5 million
6. YouTube (video sharing) – $244.2 million
7. Pandora (music streaming) – $225.7 million
8. Yoku (video streaming) – $192.9 million
9. QQ (instant messaging) – $159.7 million
10. Hulu (video streaming) – $132.6 million

Learn more at Business Insider.

Top Subscription Jobs

Copywriter, Customer Success Organization
Autodesk
San Francisco, CA

Autodesk is looking for a full-time copywriter to help customers who subscribe to our 3D Design software and services onboard, adopt and renew. You will also help us craft messaging to win-back those who churn. This is a highly creative and collaborative role in which you will work closely with the Customer Lifecycle Managers, Design, and Industry Marketing Teams. Responsibilities include: helping our customers make the most of their subscription experience by writing nurture emails, newsletters, in-product messaging, and landing pages, working with Customer Lifecycle Managers to help review nurture assets and identify benefits that will resonate with our various subscriber personas. Read more.

VP Subscription Marketing
Business Insider
New York, NY

We’re hiring a VP of Subscription Marketing to aggressively grow subscriptions and lead our marketing team from our New York office. Insider Inc.’s subscriptions team is passionate about producing research products that help industry leaders transform their organizations using emerging digital technologies, along with premium business news in finance, markets, enterprise, and tech. Read more.

Acquisition Marketing Specialist
Business Insider
New York, NY

We’re looking for an Acquisition Marketing Specialist to join our subscription marketing team in our New York office.It’s a great opportunity for an ambitious candidate who wants to take on significant responsibility early in their career and develop marketing expertise as part of a fast growing team at a top media company. Job overview: Insider Inc.’s subscriptions team is passionate about producing research products that help industry leaders transform their organizations using emerging digital technologies, along with premium business news in finance, markets, enterprise, and tech. The Acquisition Marketing Specialist will help build our brand, generate subscription leads using organic and paid channels, and analyze marketing performance data. Read more.

Director of Customer Acquisition & Retention
WunderLand Group
Seattle, WA

Our customer is a consumer products company. They are looking for a Director of Customer Acquisition & Retention to own customer acquisition, retention, and subscription strategy for the business including but not limited to paid search, paid social, email, partnerships and influencer, leveraging and building BI and CRM. The Director of Customer Acquisition & Retention will create and execute the strategic plan and manage operations to deliver revenue, increase brand awareness; and increase customer acquisition and retention for the .com website, marketplaces and applicable offline channels. S/he will define measurement frameworks, data visualization, and reporting to guide business growth and outcomes. Position reports to the VP of eCommerce. Read more.

Acquisition Marketing Manager
Fanbank
Santa Monica, CA

The Acquisition Marketing Manager is responsible for creating and managing integrated programs and campaigns to generate and nurture B2B prospects for sales. Our B2B target segment is small, independent local businesses in the U.S. working cross-functionally with colleagues in sales, marketing, operations and agency partners, this position will manage all elements of acquisition programs and channels from setting strategy and executing the plan, to channel analysis. This position will own and operate email marketing, SEM, paid social and paid display channels that are focused on merchant acquisition, and will tightly align with our telesales channel to execute cross-channel programs. Read more. 

Customer Success Manager
Statista
Paris, France 

• Working with corporate customers from France to develop a success plan that outlines how Statista will be addressing their market & consumer data need
• Developing metrics for success and review progress based on our in-house dashboard and statistics
• Guiding and coaching customers and Sales Managers with dedicated customer success processes
• Cooperating closely with Sales Managers and other cross-functional team members to translate business needs and product requirements into new solutions for customers
• Coaching customers to be product experts as well as training their teams on Statista methodologies
• Creating new customer onboarding processes as well as developing existing processes

 Read more. 

5 Features that Drive Subscription Conversions

During its research for the PYMNTS Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, PYMNTS has identified five key features that successful merchants used in the third quarter of 2018 to be successful in the subscription economy. Here is a quick rundown of those five features:

1. 93.3 percent of merchants are including product details to explain what their subscription products and services offer and how they work.
2. 92.2 percent of merchants are using messaging apps to bridge the gap between different technologies. This allow merchants like those using Shopify to interface with customers in one place.
3. 66.5 percent of merchants offered different subscription or membership tiers, so customers have choices about what level of product or service they are willing to pay for.
4. 46.4 percent of merchants offered free shipping to entice shoppers to upgrade to a paid tier.
5. 41.3 percent of merchants used product ratings and reviews to help inform consumers’ buying decisions.

Learn more about these features and see examples at PYMNTS.com.

Better Business Bureau Shares Subscription Scam Findings

The Better Business Bureau recently conducted an investigation to identify unscrupulous business practices by subscription businesses and others that offer free trials. News Channel 6 released some of the results of that study. That investigation revealed the following:

• Many free trials are not actually free.
• In some cases, you have XX of days to take delivery on a product and return it if you want to avoid being charged for it.
• There are a number of services like AdoreMe and Crepe Erase that will you sign up for a subscription without your clear consent or understanding that you are enrolling in a subscription program.
• It is sometimes difficult to cancel a subscription, stop ongoing charges, cancel shipments or get a refund.
• Some unethical companies will use fake celebrity endorsements to sell their products.
• Though victims of different ages and backgrounds can be targeted, women are the most targeted group at nearly 75 percent.
• Losses from such unscrupulous business practices over the last 10 years have cost consumers more than $1.3 billion.

If you are a consumer, the FTC suggests you research subscription companies online before doing a free trial or subscribing to a product or service. They also suggest carefully review terms and conditions to be sure you know exactly what you are getting. Other tips include marking your calendar to be sure you make a decision and communicate it to the company before you are charged again, and be sure to read your bank and credit card statements to make sure you are not being charged for something you didn’t agree to.

If you are a subscription company, you should go out of your way to be transparent. Make your offer, terms and conditions easy to find and read, including your cancellation policy. If a subscriber wants to cancel, give them multiple ways to contact you – email, phone, a form on your website, etc. Treat your customers the way you want to be treated.

Study: Streaming Video Revenue Will Exceed Box Office Income Next Year 

Subscription streaming video revenue is set to surpass box office revenues in 2019, according to a study by Ampere Analysis. Next year, global subscription revenue is estimated to be $46 billion, compared to an estimated $40 billion that will be raised at the box office.

These findings are already true in the U.S., says the Hollywood Reporter. In 2017, subscription video subscription revenue surpassed U.S. box office revenue, and U.K. subscription revenue will surpass box revenue this year.

The Ampere study believes one of the reasons for this shift is that it is far more affordable to watch a movie in the comfort of your own home than to go to a theatre where movie tickets are costly, particularly for couples and families. Not surprisingly, statistics back this up. In countries where movie tickets are affordable (Mexico, $2.50 average price per ticket), movie attendance is higher than in nations like the U.S. where movies are pricier.

Supporting that theory, in nine of the 15 markets reviewed, the average cost of a movie ticket was more than a one-month subscription to a streaming video on demand service like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

“There’s clearly an appetite for content among some consumers whether that be on the big screen, or a smaller one,” said Toby Holleran, senior analyst for Ampere. “The key for cinema is to understand that while SVOD subscribers are more avid cinema-goers, this may not always be the case. Therefore, the shared experience of watching a film on the big screen must remain an enticing – and realistically priced – one.”

Read a more in-depth analysis of the Ampere study in “Global Streaming Revenue Set to Outpace Box Office in 2019, Study Finds” by Scott Roxborough for the Hollywood Reporter.