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200+

$40M+

3.5M+

BlueLena makes it easier for independent media to grow loyal, supportive audiences and sustainable revenue, giving newsrooms more time and resources to focus on what they do best:�

Inform, engage and serve their communities.

Publications served

Reader revenue

Known readers

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Our customers include…

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Lightening the load:

Growing revenue through automated, personalized marketing and first-party data

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Reader revenue 101: Funnel architecture

Acquisition

Engagement

Conversion

Retention

Advocacy

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Reader revenue 101: Funnel architecture

Email collection, paid acquisition, social/search strategy
Newsletter product dev, content strategy, messaging development, welcome series
Value prop development, landing page optimization, abandoned cart, campaign management
Reacquisition marketing, customer feedback and support optimization, pre-renewal engagement
Referral program, forward to friend, surveys and testimonials

Acquisition

Engagement

Conversion

Retention

Advocacy

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The case of two publisher models

Publisher A

Founded in 1974
Independently-owned
Monthly print, daily digital
News, politics, culture and food
Started with BlueLena Aug 2020
Metering content Nov 2018
650k monthly unique visitors

Publisher B

Founded in 1976
501c3 nonprofit (converted 2021)
Daily digital, no print (ended Apr 2020)
News, opinion, food/drinks, arts
Started with BlueLena Apr 2020
Introduced membership Nov 2020
160k monthly unique visitors

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Growth of first party registered users

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Growth of recurring contributors

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Growth of monthly recurring reader revenues (MRR)

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Three-year performance gains

Metric	Publisher A	Publisher B
Monthly unique visitors	650,000	160,000
Active email contacts	87,367	35,059
Email database growth	+121%	+147%
Net recurring contributor growth	+88%	+273%
Conversion-to-paid (registered users)	4.1%	3.1%
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)	$45,164	$10,001
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) growth rate	+143%	+169%
Annual revenue reader contribution	$541,968	$120,122
ARPU (ARR / paid contributors)	$150.42	$111.74
Reader revenue per active email contact	$6.20	$3.43

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Key Takeaways

There are multiple approaches to building reader revenue models
Registration requirements are the most effective tactic for growing first party database
Lifecycle management is critical to building brand relationship along the reader journey from anonymous visitor > conversion > paid

💡 Contact us at solutions@bluelena.io