Video is turning out to be increasingly important for news brands who are trying to convert and retain subscribers.

The Economist is rolling out a lower-priced audio and video tier targeting younger subscribers in Sweden, Norway, Canada and Denmark. For about US$15 a month, which is roughly US$10 less than an all-access premium subscription, Economist Play bundles long-form Insider video shows, paywalled podcasts, daily audio briefings, short-form videos, subscriber-only newsletters and games into a standalone product aimed at people who are more likely to listen and watch than read its articles.

The Economist’s premium Insider video series, which was launched nine months ago as a subscriber benefit, has driven a “significant improvement” in retention, even through a price increase, and brought digitally dormant subscribers back to the product. It was launched in response to the question: “How can we grow our revenue within our current subscriber base without losing those people?” 

Also interesting: Insider has not cannibalised audio usage, even though the products do overlap. 

The Wall Street Journal has grown its video team by one-third to 65 people and revamped its video strategy in recent months, focusing on original journalism, breaking news, topical explainers, strategic live video around a live event, and habit-building franchises.

The aim is to keep subscribers on the Journal’s Web site and app rather than sending them elsewhere for key moments. This is in contrast to its previous strategy, where viewing was instead optimised for YouTube, where there is no paywall.

The British Broadcasting Corporation has now introduced a paywall for Canada, a year after introducing one in the United States, where subscriptions have exceeded expectations. The broadcaster improved its user experience and added in U.S. news before targeting the United States.

“Over the last year, publishers have been rapidly shifting their podcast efforts towards video — or at least adding video elements — principally as a response to changing strategies from YouTube, Spotify and Apple, and the consequent greater visibility of video within those platforms,” Reuters Institute researcher Nic Newman wrote in a recent report.

“Some publishers have decided to create multi-modal versions of all their shows. Others are taking a more pragmatic approach, converting chat formats to video but keeping narrative and investigative shows as audio-only productions, which they still believe has long-term value.”

As Chris Stone, executive producer for video and audio at The New Statesman, said, YouTube has been “one of our largest and fastest audience growth accelerators, particularly for the podcasts … . We reach a far wider audience for podcast content on YouTube than we do on the podcast platforms themselves.”

Many publishers, such as The Economist, Die Zeit, and The New York Times have recently set up “podcast-only” subscriptions. 

“Most publishers continue to see podcasts as a good way of attracting and engaging new audiences, especially younger ones,” Newman said. “But for subscription publishers, they are now also playing an increasingly important role in retention, as well as driving revenue. The human dimension of podcasts and their role in habit-building is also seen as a critical defence against the machine-driven efficiency of AI.

“The role of hosts in building parasocial relationships is a crucial ingredient in creating habitual use, and there is some evidence that video/visual signals can help further strengthen those connections.”

Podcast audiences are spending far more time with audio and video than they do with text. 

And for everyone thinking about video as the gateway to jumping on the trend of liquid content, go in with your eyes open.

“The shift to video is also forcing organisational change inside newsrooms,” Newman said. “Historically, audio teams, video teams, and social media teams operated separately. Now, video podcasts are blurring these boundaries. Recording a show can generate multiple outputs: a full podcast episode, a video version, short clips for social media, transcripts, and written articles. For publishers, this requires new workflows, new skills, and new structures.”

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Banner photo: Adobe stock image By Kiattisak.

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