Here at the News Revenue Hub, we talk a lot about membership. And for good reason: Helping news organizations achieve sustainability by bolstering membership programs has been our core focus for three years. So far, that work has been successful, which gives us — and our clients — room to grow. That’s where the Google […]
Posted inHub Reports
Hub Report: How audience impacts membership revenue
We recently completed our latest analysis of Hub client revenue patterns, and we’re pleased to share the findings. Our discoveries include significant revenue increases for first-year clients, a strong connection between email list size and member revenue, strong support for nonprofits in particular, and more. Hub data scientist Erin Boon has analyzed client revenue data […]
Posted inHub Reports
Hub Report: WordPress in the newsroom – Workflows, pain points, successes, and opportunities
At the Hub, we’ve been thinking about Content Management Systems for a long time. We’ve been using WordPress in particular for more than 15 years; we’ve seen how this open source publishing platform has evolved — and changed lives. WordPress’ power is in its flexibility, but this flexibility can also lead to complexity for publishers. Our […]
Posted inHub Reports
How our audience surveys inform membership
When a new news organization is accepted into the Hub, the first thing we do is conduct an audience survey. It’s intentionally comprehensive, designed to get us an empathetic understanding of reader affinities, brand knowledge, and demographics. We promote this survey to clients’ email subscribers, website visitors, and social media followers. The survey helps us […]
Posted inHub Reports
The Hub as a Personal Trainer
Since the News Revenue Hub was launched in November 2016, we’ve seen a lot of growth. We are working with 35 newsrooms, are expanding our team and services offered, and have helped clients raise more than $14 million in secured and pledged donations. And while we’re thrilled with this growth, we’re always striving to be […]
Posted inNational Press
WordPress.com and News Revenue Hub devise a toolkit for local newsrooms
WordPress.com is launching a new toolkit, called Newspack, for small and mid-sized publishers to streamline their technical decisions — and make choices that add to the potential of finagling a business model. Kinsey Wilson, former digital guru at NPR and The New York Times and now WordPress.com’s president, is leading the initiative, working with the […]
Posted inHub Reports
Client Spotlight – Report For America
In October, we welcomed Report For America into the fold. We recently sat down with Steve Waldman, President and co-Founder, to discuss RFA’s work with the Hub. What does Report For America do? Report For America places talented emerging journalists into local newsrooms around the country, to cover under-reported communities and issues—with the goal of […]
Posted inHub Reports
How We Calculate Donor Retention
There’s a fundraising adage that says: “It costs more money to acquire a new donor than to retain an existing one.” And it’s true: the estimated cost of acquiring a first-time donor is five times that of retaining one. In other words, fundraising without donor retention is like trying to fill a water bucket with […]
Posted inHub Reports
Desert or Oasis? Assessing the NYC Digital News Landscape
Earlier this year, the News Revenue Hub was commissioned by the Charles H. Revson Foundation and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment to assess the state of local digital news in New York City (NYC). Would we find a news desert or oasis? What we learned, of course, was a bit […]
Posted inNational Press
63 industry leaders, 40 organizations, and 5 opportunities for revitalization on the horizon of local news
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard and the Lenfest Institute brought together several dozen leaders from news organizations, platforms, and foundations in May to brainstorm ways to bolster innovation in local journalism sustainability. Diversifying revenue, building a culture of philanthropy, and seeding growth development were some of the conclusions in […]