Author: Brian Hood - Page 3 - Subscription Insider

The Future of eBooks is with Subscriptions

Business Media and Publishing, Business Strategy, News, Technology / Brian Hood

Subscription eBook consumption will continue to grow, according to speakers at the Digital Book World conference in New York City. Leaders from major eBook publishers sat down on a panel and answered questions on the state of the industry. Discussion centered onthe role subscriptions will play in the future of eBook publishing and consumption. Amazon’s Russell Grandinetti, Senior VP, Kindle, stated: “We can all observe the fact, that in every single digital media category, subscriptions are playing…

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The New York Times Continues to Add Digital Subscribers

Business Services, Business Strategy, News / Brian Hood

2014 proved that news of the New York Times’ demise has been greatly exaggerated, yet not totally unfounded. The Times yesterday released its revenue numbers for 2014. While they’re not exactly beating the band in terms of revenue growth, they are seeing the digital subscriber growth they need to remain viable in the years ahead. The Times reported that operating profit was $91.9 million, down from $156.1 million in 2013, a decline attributed to increased spending on…

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NYT Now Offering Free Access During Northeast Blizzard

Business Strategy, News, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscription Apps, Technology / Brian Hood

Have you always wanted to peruse around NYT Now for free? Well, today’s your day! The blizzard bearing down on the northeast has led the New York Times to offer free articles through the mobile app. A message announcing: “We’re giving everyone free access to NYT Now during the Northeast Blizzard” appeared this morning. The app is also promoting stories related to the blizzard, denoting them with an orange dot. NYT Now is intended to be a faster and…

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Ashley Madison Making Money Despite Competition

News, Paywall, Subscriber Acquisition, Technology / Brian Hood

Despite being banned from South Korea and Singapore and blacked out from advertising on Bing, adultery site Ashley Madison has continued to be profitable. According to an article in Forbes, AshleyMadison’s parent company Avid Life Media grossed $115 million in 2014, up 45% from the $78 million grossed the previous year. 6.8 million users logged in over the last ninety days, out of a total 31 million lifetime users since the site launched in 2002. Ashley Madison’s…

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Magzter Gold to Offer Unlimited Subscriptions

Business Media and Publishing, Business Strategy, Industry Announcements, Magazines, News, Subscription Apps / Brian Hood

Digital newsstand service Magzter this week introduced Magzter Gold, which grants subscribers access to unlimited reading of over 2,000 titles out of an estimated 5,000 total. The subscription price for Gold per month is $9.99 for unlimited access. Also offered is a limited access subscription to Gold Lite of $4.99 per month for access to any five titles that are part of the program. Founded in 2011, Magzter’s business model has been to sell single issues or…

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Two Years After Initial Funding, Lynda.com Gets $186 Million More

Business Strategy, FInance, News / Brian Hood

Not to be outdone by the initial $103 million investment it received two years ago, Lynda recently got another $186 million round of investments, this time led by the international investment firm TPC Capital. According to venture capital database CB Insights, this is the largest education technology investment deal since they started tracking the sector’s numbers six years ago. As we previously reported, Lynda.com held out for 17 years until it received it’s first round of…

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The Elder Scrolls Nixes Long-term Subscriptions

Business Strategy, News, Subscriber Acquisition, Subscriber Retention / Brian Hood

The Elder Scrolls is a popular, award-winning Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) videogame originally developed by Bethesda Game Studios but produced online by Zenimax Entertainment. As opposed to traditional videogames where players complete one level at a time, MMO games consist of large digital worlds where many players can simultaneously interact and in which following the actual game’s storyline is optional. In the past few weeks, Zenimax decided to cancel its six-month subscription offering, leaving many in the…

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Kindle Unlimited’s Subscription Model Making Authors See Red

Business Media and Publishing, Business Strategy, News, Subscriber Retention / Brian Hood

A new subscription offering from Amazon is ruffling a few feathers in the self-publishing arena. Kindle Unlimited allows subscribers to access more than 700,000 titles on Kindle devices for only $9.99 a month, after a free 30-day trial. About 24% of Amazon’s 2.7 million titles are available, with very few of them bestsellers as many major publishers have opted out of the service. This leaves the many independent and emerging authors who have long used Amazon’s platform…

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Google Wallet Ending Payment Processing Service for Digital Goods

News, Payment Processing, Technology / Brian Hood

If you’re using Google Wallet to process your digital subscription payments, you may want to start looking for another processor. Google stated in an announcement last week that its digital goods API will be retired on March 2, 2015. They also indicated that since Wallet’s 2011 introduction, the payment processing “industry has matured a lot since then, providing a number of alternative payment options to choose from.” This development could be seen as Google getting out-gunned when…

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Nature.com Encourages Open Sharing of its Published Scientific Research – by Subscribers

Business Services, Business Strategy, News / Brian Hood

First published in 1869, Nature is one of the foremost interdisciplinary scientific journals covering a wide range of topics. Published weekly, it has a physical circulation of around 53,000 and 3 million unique readers a month online. In the realm of Science, Technology, and Medical publishing, Nature is considered one of the most cited publications for its depth and breadth of reporting. Its popularity spurred the creation of the Nature Publishing Group and nature.com, a hub…

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Insight to drive subscription growth

Brian Hood