Globe and Mail creates its own paywall strategy model for retention

When it comes to paywall strategy, The Globe and Mail built its own model. Sonali Verma, deputy head of audience, said this helps the company figure out what to put behind the paywall and what not to. 

“The machine basically looks at articles that nobody reads — in other words, where we’re not giving up a lot of ad revenue — and then says, hmm, based on what this article is about, should we paywall it or shouldn’t we?” Verma explained during the most recent INMA World Congress of News Media. 

Some factors that go into this decision include if the topic is one they know subscribers care about or one that might spark new subscriptions. 

“So we might be able to really score high on retention with this,” she said.