Case Studies

How Haymarket Media Increased Paid Subscriptions by 56%

Project Background   

Ten years ago, traffic was the number one KPI for media businesses — If you got enough buzz, eventually the business would follow. But as shown by the recent bankruptcies of social media-dominant organizations like Buzzfeed News and Vice, traffic doesn’t pay the bills.  

To succeed in today’s media landscape, you need to convert those website visitors into long-term readers and paid subscribers. But that’s easier said than done in a digital-first landscape. People have become accustomed to reading content for free — and they’re reluctant to invest in a publication before being able to read what’s inside.  

But through a free trial, you can demonstrate your publication’s value and expertise before making the hard sell. If your targeting, metering and payment strategies are all in place, free trials can pave the way toward paid subscriptions — and a sustainable source of revenue.  

In this case study, we’re highlighting Haymarket Media and its efforts to convert free website visitors into paid subscribers.  

By using Omeda’s content metering and subscription management solutions, Haymarket was able to showcase the value of their publication and increase paid subscriptions by 56%. Learn how they did it next:   

About Haymarket Media  

Haymarket Media Group is a global media, data and information company headquartered in London, with online and print publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors. Its portfolio includes more than 70 market-leading brands including PRWeek, What Car?, Campaign, MyCME and Asian Investor, PrintWeek, Advisor and more.  

Goal 

Haymarket Media had two primary goals: increase paid subscriptions for one of its publications, PRWeek.com, and expose their audience to more of Haymarket’s newsletters, special reports, live events and other offerings.  

By using Omeda’s content metering and subscription management tools, Haymarket was able to convert more of their free audience into paid subscribers — while also generating new contacts  

Process: The Omeda Solution  

Haymarket overhauled its subscription strategy in three steps:  

• The Haymarket team used Omeda’s metering tools to create a hard paywall, which restricted the majority of PRWeek.com’s digital content to paid subscribers. Haymarket provided 30 days of unlimited access to new visitors before prompting them to buy a paid subscription.  

• To do this, they updated Webforms to allow for a monthly subscription and created a free term order. They also updated the timing of their auto-renewals on Omeda so that each user’s credit card was charged at the end of the 30-day trial (if it had not already been canceled).  

• Once the form and auto-renewal suite was set up, the Haymarket team promoted the free trial via email and their website.  

Success  

Since launching its free trial program, Haymarket Media has seen a major lift in free trial conversions and paid subscriptions. This includes:  

• They had a 56.2% annual increase in paid subscriptions from April 2022 to March 2023. 

• During this period, 64.7% of free trial participants ultimately converted to paid subscriptions.   

• Besides increasing paid subscriptions, Haymarket saw an 18% monthly increase in single article registrations (users submit their contact information in exchange for one article per month). This allowed them to generate more first-party data and contacts, whom they could target with additional promotional efforts.  

Watch the full session here:

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