Situation
Capital is a leading weekly business publication in Bulgaria. It was established 30 years ago, following the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of privately owned media organisations post-communism. The publication is liberal-leaning, which became valuable following the shift to the free-market economy, with more readers interested in independent journalism focused on business and politics. Capital wanted to find a way to become the most influential publication in the country fully funded by reader revenue. In order to do this it needed to move to a more data-driven approach and understand how engagement metrics can help drive a robust subscription strategy.
Results
FT Strategies and the Google News Initiative helped Capital establish a cross-functional team to develop its North Star goal and the strategy to achieve it. Team members learnt how to place data at the heart of their decision-making process, and introduced two key engagement metrics to enhance subscriptions – Recency/Frequency/Volume or RFV – to understand engagement at user level, and Quality Reads (QR) to more accurately understand engagement drivers. Working with these metrics helped Capital gain greater insight into the factors that convert a free reader into a paid customer. The team also conducted experiments to improve how they collect data, encouraging registered users to log in and provide more details. Capital now has a 12-month plan of experiments designed to help the organisation triple its digital subscribers within 3.5 years. The newsroom is more engaged in key metrics, and can see how the content it produces directly influences business growth.
“This world-class consultancy from FT Strategies and Google has provided us with the opportunity for proper goal setting and achievement. It helps us construct the bigger picture and understand how every step we take contributes to achieving our main goal. It gives us the ability to work in a structured and strategic way, and enables us to do our everyday job, paying attention to the smallest bits, without being afraid of losing the bigger picture or our focus.”
CEO, Capital
