Financial Times Refuses To Give Up Subscriber Data to Apple
While some publications, such as Bonnier’s Popular Science, have been quick to embrace Apple’s new digital subscription model, others are refusing to do so.
As of February, Apple says that all publishers who want to offer subscriptions for content-based apps in the App Store must allow consumers to subscribe within the app for the same price or less. Apple takes a 30% cut of all subscribers who sign up this way. Publishers can also continue to sell digital subscriptions via other channels, such as their websites, without being subject to Apple’s fee, the company says.
While the 30% cut strikes many publishers as steep, the main problem is that Apple will not share subscriber data with publishers, long one of publishers’ most valuable assets, particularly to advertisers.
As a result, the Financial Times is now negotiating to sell subscriptions for digital access solely through its own channels, citing the need for subscriber data. “We don’t want to lose our direct relationship with our subscribers. It’s at the core of our business model,” Rob Grimshaw, managing director of the Financial Times‘s flagship website, ft.com, told Reuters.
The FT has approximately 210,000 subscribers who pay £250 or more for annual access to the publication’s website and apps — a hefty number, given that its print circulation hovers at about 400,000. Digital revenues, which grew by 56% last year, now make up 40% of the FT Group’s sales. Mobile is playing an increasingly important role, Grimshaw says. In a recent survey of 2,500 registered users, 45% said they regularly accessed FT content via smartphone and tablet devices.
Although optimistic about the negotiations, Grimshaw noted, “If it turns out that one or another channel doesn’t mix with the way we want to do business, there’s a large number of other channels available to us.”
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