May is halfway over and the month has already been filled with announcements, financial reports, mergers, acquisitions and other subscription news. Here are a few features that intrigued us this week: Conde Nast sells ‘Golf Digest’ to Discovery Inc., publishers are finding new ways to foil readers who refuse to pay to play, Apple releases a new Apple TV app in 100+ countries, Google’s new privacy rules are raising eyebrows, and Hubspot shares marketing terms every subscription business should know.

Conde Nast Sells ‘Golf Digest’ to Discovery, Inc. for an Estimated $35 Million

In the latest M&A news, Conde Nast has sold Golf Digest and its related brands – Golf World, Golf Digest Schools and The Loop – to Discovery, Inc., reports Media Post’s Melynda Fuller. Golf Digest chairman and editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde, who has been Golf Digest’s top editor since 194, will move over to Discovery Golf and become their global head of strategy and content. The Golf Digest family of brands will join Discovery’s GolfTV, live and on-demand video streaming.

Though the companies did not disclose terms of the sale, The New York Times reports that sources estimate the sale price to be $35 million. This is Conde Nast’s first major move under new chief executive Roger J. Lynch who joined the company in April.

“As we look to the future, Discovery’s global scale and ability to light up content on all platforms and in every language, combined with the PGA Tour’s brand, will benefit golf and golfers worldwide,” said Tarde of the deal.

In an email to staff, Tarde said, “The short-term plan is to keep doing what you’re doing: create great content, keep growing digital, engage users on all platforms,” says The Times.

Publishers Try New Techniques to Foil Paywall Avoiders

It is getting more difficult to navigate around paywalls these days, says Digiday, as publishers become savvier and less patient with readers who don’t want to pay to play. There used to be more ways to get around paywalls, including visiting sites using different browsers, going incognito, deleting cookies or clicking on articles via social media links. Digiday says publishers are trying to eliminate those gaps to ensure that readers are paying for their content, not getting freebies.

One of the methods publishers like The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Dallas Morning News are using to stop paywall leakage is to stop allowing them to access articles in incognito mode.

Other publishers require readers to log in before they can access any content. While this can deter casual readers from trying to access a site and be problematic for advertisers, requiring a log in – even for nonsubscribers – creates a database of potential subscribers to market to. It can also help a publisher collect user data to gauge its efforts. How many articles does someone read before they are willing to subscribe? What is the tolerance level for a paywall – one article, three articles, eight articles? What types of content are they reading?

The Economist is one publication whose paywall strategy has evolved over time. According to What’s New In Publishing, in 2018 The Economist allowed one free article without registration and three articles with registration. This year, they are further battening down the hatches. Now readers can only read two paragraphs before they have to register.

Ultimately, it is a balancing act that each publisher might figure out on their own. What is best for their readers, their content and their financial goals? What is the publisher’s tolerance for paywall leakage? Does the publisher want a rigid paywall like The Wall Street Journal’s or are they willing to give away a few free articles in exchange for data or the potential to attract a subscriber?

New Apple TV App Released in 100+ Countries

On Monday, Apple released the all-new Apple TV app in 100+ countries on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and select Samsung smart TVs. With the iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3 updates, customers can subscribe to Apple TV channels from within the new app, and they can watch on-demand streaming programming directly in the app. For U.S. iOS users, Apple TV channels include HBO, Starz, SHOWTIME, the Smithsonian Channel, EPIX, Tastemade. Over time, Apple will make more channels accessible from within the app.

The Apple TV app allows Family Sharing, so up to six members can share their subscriptions to Apple TV channels with their Apple ID and passwords. They can watch shows online or off, including the last season of Game of Thrones. As a new feature, Apple users will get personalized recommendations from more than 150 video apps and streaming services and 100,000+ iTunes movies and TV shows.

Also in the new app, customers can access a new kids section with family-friendly content, sports to make it easier to watch your favorite teams, and purchased movies and TV shows from iTunes will be available in the library tab. For more information about the new app, read Apple’s May 13 news release.

Google Tries to Catch Up with New Privacy Rules – Coming Soon!

Google recently announced changes to privacy controls for Google Chrome that will be released over the coming months, says AdExchanger. Chrome is going to make it easier for users to block or delete third-party cookies without losing their sign-in information. This will require sites to identify their cookies as either first-party or third-party. As an added measure, Chrome plans to make it harder for company’s to identify users through digital fingerprints. These new limits will be automatic.

Why all the changes? Google is trying to keep up with competing browsers like Safari, and trying to satisfy European regulators who have accused Google of violating the general data protection regulation which went into effect a year ago.  

Read more about Google’s privacy rule changes on AdExchanger in “The Five Looming Questions about Google Chrome’s New Privacy Rules” and “Google Chrome Dials Up Browser Privacy Protections in Answer to Safari ITP.”

Five Marketing Terms Every Subscription Business Should Know

Marketing buzzwords come and go, but there are some marketing terms that every subscription business should know. Hubspot has 100 of them in a handy glossary, but we don’t want to overwhelm you. Let’s start with five that are important for subscription businesses.

1. A/B testing: A/B testing is frequently done with email marketing and landing pages to compare the results of a subject lines, text, design or other components to see which yield a better response or call to action than other options.
2. Bounce rate: A website bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on a page on your website and leave without clicking on any links or visiting other pages on the site. If you have a high bounce rate, your conversion rate is likely to be lower. Email bounce rate refers to emails that could not be delivered because an email was no longer valid, someone’s email box was full or it couldn’t be delivered for some other reason.
3. Churn rate: This figure is critical for subscription businesses. This number identifies how many customers you keep over a certain period and their value. Hubspot gives an easy example to understand this. Let’s say you started May with 500 customers, and you ended the month with 450 (for the purpose of this example, we are excluding new clients). You lost 50 clients. Divide that into the number you started with (50/500) and your churn rate is 10%.
4. Cost–per-lead (CPL): This is how much it costs your subscription company to acquire a lead.
5. Landing page: A landing page is a page on your website that is designed to generate leads for your business. It typically includes an offer and asks for information in exchange for that offer. For example, a subscription company might ask you to provide your first name and email address in exchange for downloading a free editorial calendar template.

To read the complete list – or bookmark it for reference later – go to Hubspot’s marketing blog.