Our client is a leading global newspaper that delivers journalism to hundreds of millions worldwide.

Leadership at the organisation recognised that building direct relationships with audiences would be critical to sustaining growth in both membership and advertising. At the same time, strengthening control over distribution had become essential in the face of declining referral traffic.

 

Our work together

FT Strategies supported the publisher across three phases to establish and scale a robust first-party data strategy.

Phase 1: Building the foundations

The first phase of the project was focused on developing the foundations required for a successful first-party data strategy. We worked with the client team to answer key strategic questions:

  • What should our first-party data goal be and what metrics should we track?
  • Who (what individuals or teams) should be responsible for our first-party data strategy?
  • How can we get buy-in and generate momentum behind our first-party data strategy?

We provided specific guidance (for example, introducing a “Recognised User Rate” metric) and shared competitive benchmarks, including how other news organisations structure first-party data working groups.

Phase 2: Identifying first-party data use cases

We explored 12 first-party data use cases spanning reader revenue, advertising and editorial operations. From this analysis, three high-value opportunities emerged:

  1. Enhancing audience acquisition campaigns
  2. Improving ad reporting and third-party verification on specific types of inventory; and
  3. Delivering personalised experiences and marketing campaigns
Phase 3: Implementation and modelling

In a four-week implementation sprint, we worked with the organisation to define:

  • What data they needed to collect (type and volume)
  • What capabilities they needed to invest in (people and tech)
  • What processes they had to change (technical implementation of privacy rules)

In parallel, we partnered with finance, advertising, data and product teams to develop a sophisticated financial model. This tool estimates the value of first-party data and quantifies the financial and page-view impact of different registration and access model configurations. It has since informed the publisher’s A/B testing of registration walls and its wider registration strategy.

 

Impact

Within six months of completing the project, the news organisation achieved measurable and transformative outcomes:

  • Increased their registered user base (6-figure uplift)
  • Increased YoY revenue by 370% from their registered user base as a result of improved CRM campaigns leveraging first-party data
  • Gained a 200% uplift in registrations with negligible impact on page views

 

At FT Strategies, we help publishers unlock the power of first-party data to accelerate revenue growth, strengthen audience relationships and build long-term sustainability. Contact our team to explore how we can help you design and implement a customer acquisition strategy that drives measurable impact.