In this week’s Five on Friday, we’ve got some great subscription articles for you. We’ll give you new information on the popularity of subscription video apps, NBA Careers shares an exciting direct-to-consumer retention and engagement job opportunity, Shopify gives great tips on home page design, the Hollywood Reporter explains that Americans think cable TV is too expensive, and New York Magazine’s sites are going behind a paywall.

Subscription Video App Customers Spent $329M in Q3 on 10 Highest Earning Apps

If there is any doubt in your mind that subscription video apps aren’t growing, a new report by Sensor Tower will prove you wrong. According to the company’s Store Intelligence data, App Store and Google Play customers spent approximately $329 million on the 10 highest earnings subscription video mobile apps in the third quarter. This is a 43 percent increase over the third quarter of 2017 and a 15 percent increase over the first quarter of 2018 when customers spent approximately $285 million on mobile SVOD apps.

At the end of the third quarter, the top five mobile SVOD apps were Netflix, YouTube, HBO NOW, Hulu and STARZ. Netflix is at the top of the heap with approximately $132 million in customer spending, a 78 percent increase year-over-year. YouTube garnered $57 million in customer spending, also a 78 percent increase. Hulu saw the largest increase at 86 percent. Only one of the top five apps – HBO NOW – saw a decline in revenue, dropped from $68 million in Q3 2017 to $41 million in Q3 2018. Sensor Tower attributes this significant drop to the absence of Game of Thrones whose final season won’t premier until 2019.

Get more mobile SVOD stats from Sensor Tower here.

NBA League Pass Now Hiring for Direct-to-Consumer Retention and Engagement 

We have an exciting career opportunity to share with our readers. Thanks to our contact at the NBA for sharing this exciting retention and engagement position for their DTC NBA League Pass product.

Location: New York City, New York

At the NBA, we’re passionate about growing and celebrating the game of basketball. Through the intensity of the game and the amazing athletic skill of our players, we deliver excitement to hundreds of millions of fans around the world.

As a global sports and media business, the NBA is so much more. While Basketball Operations runs the league’s on-court activities, other departments manage relationships with television and digital media partners, develop marketing partnerships with some of the world’s most recognizable companies, oversee the licensing of NBA merchandise, and handle a wide range of responsibilities that drive the NBA’s success. 

Position Summary:

The Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) team focuses on growing the NBA League Pass business globally by using data-driven insights and decision making. The group works dynamically within a matrix organization to align efforts across Marketing, Product, Finance, Strategy, Analytics and Partnerships, among others. 

In this role, you will focus on the analysis and prevention of churn activity within the NBA’s Direct-to-Consumer product, NBA League Pass. The ideal candidate will have experience ideating and executing customer retention tactics across a subscription business. In addition to customer retention experience, the candidate should be technically proficient with the ability to establish, track and communicate KPIs unilaterally to all business stakeholders. 

Major Responsibilities:

Partner with internal & external teams to drive retention efforts for League Pass subscribers domestically and internationally

• Work collaboratively alongside data and analytics team members to establish KPIs to be used in measuring progress along retention efforts
• Extract qualitative insights on reasons why subscribers may churn from Voice of Customer surveys and user focus groups
• Leverage quantitative & qualitative insights to create and execute new customer retention strategies via establishing a hypothesis, testing, learning, and implementing.
• Communicate key findings, progress and updates unilaterally across departments and regional team members.
• Establish best practices for customer communication around periods of high-churn (end of free trial, end of season, auto-renew, etc.)  
• Research and become fluent in new technologies, vendors and platforms aimed at increasing retention (credit card auto-updaters, user engagement tools, etc.)
• Assist in the development of revenue and expense budgets for League Pass, specifically as it pertains to retention efforts.
• Work with third party customer service representatives to understand key learnings from customer service issues and their impact on the business both domestically and internationally.

Required Experience and Knowledge

• Minimum 4 years prior work experience, preferably with experience at a premiere subscription media, technology or content company
• Proven track record in managing multiple projects, setting priorities and meeting deadlines in a fast-paced work environment.
• Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, and MS Word applications
• Experience with digital research products and business intelligence tools a plus
• Demonstrated excellent communication, organization and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work cross-functionally in a global, matrix organization. Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams to execute on goals.
• Ability to work independently and follow process with strong attention to detail and accuracy
• International experience or knowledge highly preferred.

Educational Background Required:

• Bachelor’s degree required

We Consider Applicants For All Positions On The Basis Of Merit, Qualifications And Business Needs, And Without Regard To Race, Color, National Origin, Religion, Sex, Gender Identity, Age, Disability, Alienage Or Citizenship Status, Ancestry, Marital Status, Creed, Genetic Predisposition Or Carrier Status, Sexual Orientation, Veteran Status, Familial Status, Status As A Victim Of Domestic Violence Or Any Other Status Or Characteristic Protected By Applicable Federal, State, Or Local Law.

Visit the Job Description at NBA Careers to apply for this position online.

5 Must Have Elements for Your Home Page

We know that in today’s digital world our brands have a short time to make a good impression, whether visitors are seeing your website for the first time or visiting one of your social media pages. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on your website and its home page. How do you get a prospect’s attention and, better yet, get them to follow through on a call to action? In a recent Shopify blog post, Evan Ferguson shares some of his favorite tips for designing your home page. Here are five tips to consider:

1. Attraction. Above the fold is an old newspaper term, but it applies online as well. Consider the amount of screen “real estate” a website visitor will see before they have to scroll. That’s the “above the fold” section of your home page. Make that part of your website visually appealing and engaging.
2. Navigation. Have you ever visited a website and not been able to find the about us page, a contact page, newsletter sign-up page or a shopping cart? If so, then you what bad navigation is. Good navigation, on the other hand, is a site that guides your prospect through an intuitive progression. Ferguson suggestions no more than seven navigation links on your home page.
3. Images. Much like Ferguson’s advice on above-the-fold placement, the images on your home page must be high quality with minimal text overlays, whether they are single photos, a slide show or a video.
4. Call to action. The home page of your website must have a call to action, or CTA. This essentially asks the website visitor to do something, often sign up for an email list in exchange for discounts, promotions or regular newsletters. Other CTAs might encourage viewers to click on an image or button to see your latest subscription plans or to learn more about subscription box options.
5. Search. Your website needs to be searchable, so putting a search bar on your home page makes finding any element (provided it is coded and tagged properly) a snap. Make it easy to find and use.

For more great tips and samples, read “Homepage Design 101: What to Include on the Front Page of your Website” on Shopify.

Majority of Americans Say Cable TV is Too Costly

According to an exclusive poll conducted by the Hollywood Reporter and Morning Consult, the majority of American TV viewers think cable TV is too expensive. Forty-seven percent think satellite TV is too expensive, and only 17 percent think streaming video-on-demand is too costly. Here are some highlights from the Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll:

• 90 percent of Americans said cost is the most important factor when deciding to subscribe to cable or satellite TV or streaming.
• 42 percent of Americans watch more cable and satellite TV than streaming, but the younger the respondents, the more likely they are to watch more streaming than linear TV.
• When deciding whether to watch traditional TV or streaming services, 53 percent said speed is very important.
• 73 percent of respondents said they would prefer to choose the channels included in their cable or satellite TV bundle.
• 65 percent of respondents said they believe TV bundles mostly force customers to pay for channels they don’t want.
• Of respondents who have stopped subscribing to their cable TV service, 63 percent said cost was a major factor.
• 51 percent said they watch or stream TV shows every day, and 24 percent said several times a week.

Read more of this fascinating poll’s results on the Hollywood Reporter.

New York Magazine Sites to Implement Metered Paywall

Starting the last week of November, visitors to New York Media sites including NYMag.com will have to start paying for access to magazine articles. Though New York media has not specified a date, they have said the paywall will be a metered one, so readers will get access to some articles for free.

A monthly subscription is $5, or a subscriber could save a few bucks by subscribing at an annual rate of $50. For $70 a year, subscribers will also receive a subscription to the print edition of the biweekly New York magazine. New York magazine said readers will be prompted to subscribe based on a number of criteria including the types of stories they read, depth of visits and breadth of use. They will be notified when they read the cap on the free articles.

“We want to allow for discovery and exploration of our sites, while putting a value on the journalism we produce,” said New York Media CEO Pam Wasserstein in a November 12 announcement. “We’re aiming to separate casual browsers from superfans, and forge a deeper relationship with those fans who are passionate about what we do.”

Once the paywall goes up, readers will notice a redesigned NYMag.com which will incorporate content from New York Media’s other sites including Vulture, the Cut, Intelligencer, the Strategist and Grub Street. Combined, these sites publish about 150 stories a day. In combination, New York Media’s sites attract global readership of 45 million every month.

“New York has expanded far beyond its namesake city, both in its scope of coverage and audience, but the New York way of looking at the world remains the common thread through all that we do,” added editor-in-chief Adam Moss. “With this new subscription offering, we’re hoping to introduce more readers to the breadth of our coverage that has the same sensibility and journalistic quality.”