The Telegraph is pursuing a registration-first strategy, having found that its registered users produce five times the value of an anonymous individual in terms of future revenue and long term return.
Whilst debating the future of publishers at Dmexco 2018, Chris Taylor, The Telegraph‘s chief information officer, said the newsbrand is currently driving towards 10 million registered users.
“The world of media and publishing has changed quite considerably,” Taylor told Mediatel.
“The idea of being able to secure long term sustainable value from anonymous scale has waned. Very much on the rise in our mind is the idea of developing a direct relationship with the customer.”
According to Taylor, the easiest and most approachable way to do that is to begin with registration.
“We know for a fact that, when you have a business like ours – for which digital subscribers, e-commerce and advanced forms of digital advertising are all very important – getting people to register is an excellent way to provide oxygen to all three areas of the business.”
The Telegraph theorised that was the case before launching its registration strategy this time last year; now, almost a year in, Taylor said they are seeing those results – particularly in their subscription base.
“That’s one of the main sources of the perceived value of a registered user – their much greater likelihood to go on to subscribe,” he said.
“In fact, one of our biggest sources of registrants are people registering with us to have a sneak peek or trial experience of the subscription model, so many of them already have that intent.”
The Telegraph dropped its metered paywall in 2016 and replaced it with a premium subscription model; in making clear the distinction between premium content and free, open content, Taylor said the newsbrand saw a threefold increase in the number of people subscribing.
“We knew that would happen though. We always knew that people who have identified with The Telegraph and shown an affinity by opting to register with us are always the best source of subscribers,” he said.
“Grow a registration pool, and it naturally grows your subscription business.”
