Guardian News and Media
Case Study
With potential members spread across the globe, The Guardian needed a robust subscription platform to help launch its membership program.
GNM is an influential British media group that publishes The Guardian, a newspaper known for its fearless and independent journalism.
GNM wanted to launch a new, innovative membership program but was limited by its current third party systems.
Zuora’s robust platform powers GNM’s memberships from acquisition, billing and payment to financial reporting and relationship management.
GNM can now go to market quickly with flexible programs that help cultivate a community of loyal readers.
“Zuora’s strength lies in its hugely knowledgeable team who are able to understand a business problem and provide a technology solution. They embed themselves within the business and take a vested interest in ensuring success, not only for implementation but throughout the product life.”
– David Magliano, Managing Director, Membership, Marketing and Consumer Revenue
Zuora’s robust platform powers GNM’s memberships from acquisition, billing and payment to financial reporting and relationship management.
A global media leader known for fearless, independent journalism, The Guardian is primarily driven by the relationship between its journalists and readers.
Guided by the belief that open access to quality journalism drives global readership, the UK based newspaper chose not to erect a blanket paywall for its online content. Revenue comes from advertising and subscriptions to the print and digital editions. Online access is free to both current and archived content. Subscribers only pay for access to enhanced functionality and/or an ad-free experience on tablets and smartphones. These subscriptions were being managed by various third parties.
In 2014, The Guardian decided to deepen its relationship with readers and attract new sources of revenue by introducing an innovative membership program. Members enjoy discussions, debates and interviews between key journalists and high-profile guests, and receive benefits such as priority access and ticket discounts. GNM is also investing in a dedicated event venue in London. The membership program is helping ‘redefine the relationship a news organization can have with its readers’.
With potential members spread across the globe, The Guardian needed a robust subscription platform to help launch its membership program.
Enter Zuora. We are helping GNM manage its online subscriptions (and soon its offline subscriptions) – from acquisition (tier specific catalogues), through billing and payment collections, through to financial reporting and relationship management (data and insights). This allows GNM to offer more flexible pricing, packaging and membership opportunities to their readers, uniquely combining both online and offline subscriber experiences. Customer-centric features such as holiday requests (suspend and resume), easy upgrades, cancellations and others help ensure GNM members have a smooth and reliable experience.
The Guardian has already signed over 100,000 members, and GNM is now migrating its print and digital subscriptions to Zuora so it can offer flexible pricing and packaging across subscriptions and membership. Zuora is proud to work with one of the most popular and independent English newspapers in the world.
GNM can now go to market quickly with flexible programs that help cultivate a community of loyal readers.
Having already signed 100,000+ members, GNM is now migrating its print and digital subscriptions to Zuora so it can offer flexible pricing and packaging across subscriptions and membership.
