Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How the New York Times Built a Subscription Funnel
Transcript
- Lucas: So the New York Times now has over ten million digital subscribers. That's not just a media story — it's a marketing funnel story. And I think the most interesting part is how they rebuilt the entire thing from scratch after almost going under. Luna: Ten million is staggering. I remember when they first put up the paywall back in 2011 — everyone thought it would kill their traffic. Lucas: Right. And it almost did. But what they figured out is that you don't optimize the funnel for page views. You optimize it for willingness to pay. And that changes every stage of AIDA — awareness, interest, decision, action. Luna: Before we go deeper — if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own work, that's exactly why we keep this show ad-free. A quick way to support the show is at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. We appreciate it. Now, Lucas, you were saying they optimized for willingness to pay? Lucas: Exactly. So let's start at the top — awareness. The Times spent years building brand equity as the paper of record. But in 2016, they got what's often called the Trump bump. Their reporting on the election drove massive traffic, and they realized that hard news — not fluff — was their competitive moat. Luna: So the awareness stage wasn't about advertising. It was about being the source people had to read during a crisis. Lucas: Exactly. They leaned into that identity. Their tagline 'Democracy Dies in Darkness' is basically an awareness message — it says, if you care about democracy, you need us. That's a very specific value proposition. And it worked. Monthly unique visitors went from about 30 million in 2015 to over 100 million by 2020. Luna: But traffic alone doesn't pay the bills. How do they move people from awareness to interest? Lucas: This is where the funnel gets smart. They use a metered paywall — you can read a limited number of articles for free, usually five per month. That creates scarcity. Once you hit the limit, you get a prompt to subscribe. But here's the key: they don't just block you. They use the interest stage to show you what you're missing. Luna: Like the email sequences. Lucas: Yes. They have very sophisticated email campaigns. If you're a registered user but not a subscriber, they send you curated newsletters with the best journalism of the day. They personalize based on what you've read. So you start to feel like you're getting value, but also that there's more behind the paywall. That builds interest. Luna: And then the decision stage — that's the price point, right? Lucas: Right. Their core digital subscription is about $4 per week for the first year, then goes up. But they've also created bundles. The biggest innovation was bundling in the Cooking app and the Games app. Wordle, which they acquired in 2022, drove millions of new subscribers. The bundle makes the decision easier because you're not just paying for news — you're paying for puzzles and recipes. Luna: So the decision stage is about reducing perceived risk. You get more value for the same price. Lucas: Exactly. And then the action stage — the actual purchase — they've made it frictionless. One click, credit card saved. But the real magic is in retention. They've invested heavily in what they call 'habit formation'. The morning newsletter, the daily crossword, the cooking app notifications — they want you to use the product every day. Luna: Because if you use it daily, you won't cancel. Lucas: Right. And they measure that. Their churn rate for bundle subscribers is significantly lower than for news-only subscribers. The games and cooking content create stickiness. So the funnel doesn't end at purchase — it loops back into awareness through word of mouth. You share a crossword score, you recommend a recipe. Luna: I think the most impressive part is that they managed to do this while the rest of the industry was collapsing. Most newspapers tried to chase scale with free content and failed. Lucas: The Times made a strategic bet that quality journalism could command a premium. And they built the entire funnel to support that bet. It's not a coincidence that they now have more subscribers than any other news organization in the world. Luna: So what's the takeaway for marketers outside of media? Lucas: I think it's this: don't build a funnel for the cheapest possible conversion. Build it for the highest-value relationship. The Times could have tried to monetize through ads alone, but they chose subscriptions. That forced them to create real value at every stage. And ten million people are paying for it. Luna: That's a good note to end on. Next week we'll look at how another company applied these same principles to a completely different industry. Lucas: Looking forward to it. For now, thanks for listening.