{"id":21560,"date":"2024-09-24T22:23:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T22:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=21560"},"modified":"2024-09-24T22:23:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T22:23:36","slug":"why-the-onion-is-returning-to-print-and-betting-big-on-memberships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=21560","title":{"rendered":"Why The Onion is returning to print\u2014and betting big on memberships"},"content":{"rendered":"

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America\u2019s finest news source hasn\u2019t been a print news source since the \u201cHarlem Shake\u201d was trending.<\/p>\n

Over the last 11 years, the state of print media hasn\u2019t exactly gotten stronger. But as of last month, the satirical publication The Onion, which G\/O Media sold to a group of media executives and journalists earlier this year, began circulating hard copies once again.<\/p>\n

Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion\u2019s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, told the New York Times that the hope is for the paper to begin turning a profit later this year. To help achieve that, CMO Leila Brillson told Marketing Brew that the plan is to lean heavily into memberships, which begin at $99\/year for print subscriptions. Those who pay less can still gain access to \u201cmember-exclusive emails and other periodic benefits,\u201d some of which Brillson said the publication is still deciding on.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrint is a huge part of it, and it\u2019s the primary product, but we want to be able to also do really fun, cool things with the archive, the digital edition, bizarre things you\u2019ll find in your inbox, weird mailers, just really Onion stuff,\u201d Brillson said.<\/p>\n

Since the membership became available last month, Brilson said her team\u2019s expectations around sign-ups \u201chave been blown out of the water,\u201d although she declined to share specific numbers. We spoke with her about what readers and advertisers can expect next\u2014and whether a print newspaper can make it in 2024.<\/p>\n

A layered history<\/h2>\n

Returning to print despite a tough media market was driven in part by fan fervor and the desire to lean into The Onion\u2019s historical legacy, Brillson said. At the same time, The Onion has invested in social, and Brillson said the publication is seeing promising engagement on its TikTok content, particularly among Gen Z.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think of it as a real moving-forward-while-looking-back moment,\u201d she said, adding that The Onion\u2019s TikTok is \u201cnot any less of a priority for us than the printed paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, she said, there have been some indications that social engagement has helped drive membership growth. The publication has been advertising on TikTok to promote its return to print, in addition to posting organic content, she said.<\/p>\n

Brillson, who previously worked at TikTok, as well as at brands like Bumble and Netflix, said she\u2019s learned from her experience the power of identity-based products. Like how vinyl records became popular again in the last decade, newspapers and magazines can also act as personal identifiers, she said.<\/p>\n

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But in the same way that few listeners exclusively listen to vinyl, she doesn\u2019t expect anyone to only read print.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily think print is the future,\u201d Brillson said. \u201cI think that a really well-curated object that people want is the future. Meeting people where they are is also the future. These two things are not mutually exclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peeling back<\/h2>\n

Brillson acknowledged that it can be challenging to build out monetization strategies beyond memberships. Since leaving G\/O Media, the site has ended its business with the content recommendation company Taboola, but it continues to run Google Ads, execs told The Verge last month. In print, Brillson said the team is exploring everything from full-page to backpage ads\u2014ideally funny ones, she said\u2014and has also floated the idea of hosting events.<\/p>\n

While her team has received \u201ca lot of inbounds\u201d to date, she said, they\u2019ve been \u201creally picky\u201d about the advertisers entertained. \u201cThe majority of our advertisers are mission-driven, but we\u2019re looking for anybody who really aligns with The Onion,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re never going to be a straightforward ad partner, so if you\u2019re interested in display media and display media only, there\u2019s probably bigger and better and more efficient places you can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are some digital media strategies that Brillson does not want to explore. For instance, The Onion will \u201cnever be paywalled as long as I\u2019m here,\u201d she said, because the publication has historically been free, which allows it to spread far on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for a long time, and I have never seen [social] shares to this level,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to discourage that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are plenty of questions about whether a print newspaper can be revived in 2024, but Brillson said she\u2019s encouraged by one major change in the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years ago, impressions-based advertising ruled the world,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Onion is not going to win with impressions-based advertising, and print is not going to win with impressions-based advertising because its CPM is way too high\u2026But now with the niche being mainstream and mainstream not really existing, we found that we have a real opportunity to more meaningfully connect brands with our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America\u2019s finest news source hasn\u2019t been a print news source since the \u201cHarlem Shake\u201d was trending. Over the last 11 years, the state of print media hasn\u2019t exactly gotten stronger. But as of last month, the satirical publication The Onion, which G\/O Media sold to a group of media executives and journalists earlier this year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marketing"},"yoast_head":"\nWhy The Onion is returning to print\u2014and betting big on memberships | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"America\u2019s finest news source hasn\u2019t been a print news source since the \u201cHarlem Shake\u201d was trending.Over the last 11 years, the state of print media hasn\u2019t\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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