Malaysiakini’s digital subscription journey

Sean Ho

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1RhcnB-1ge7XCHi5ArHASq3-RgUvh0vPn/preview

102

4

90%

5

Staff (65 from Editorial)

Languages

Domestic politics

General Elections

Organisation

5M

100K

24K

30%

Unique readers (Oct 2018)

Registered readers (Metered)

Paying subscribers

Subscription revenue

Subscriptions

2018 #GE14

2013 #GE13

2008 #GE12

2003 #GE112002

PAST 10 YEARS

Subscription Revenue

2015 #Bersih4 Rally

How we started

1998

November 1999

● Strong need for alternative media

● Internet boom in the late 90’s

● Zero internet censorship

● Co-founders Steven Gan &Premesh Chadran

1999 - 2000

● 100,000 readers in the first 8 months

● Dotcom crash came in 2000

● Zero demand for online advertising

Digital subscription introduced in 2002

● Targeted 10% of 100,000 readers

● We got 1%(1,000 subscribers)

Consistent Branding

CAMPAIGN

Keep Malaysiakini Independent

CAMPAIGN

Mission Stories

MISSION STORY

MISSION STORY

MISSION STORY MISSION STORY

Content & Engagement

CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

Yoursay

CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT | 2018

Kini News Lab

FUNDRAISING | NOV 2013

Buy a Brick: USD400K

FUNDRAISING | NOV 2013

Buy a Brick: USD 400,000

● Main supporters were long-time subscribers

● Studied by London School of Economics

FUNDRAISING | JAN 2018

Legal Defence Fund: USD 85,000 in 12 days

Summary

2002 2008

Revenue

Metrics

2002 2008 2013

Revenue

Content+

Engagement

Metrics

Loyalty

Content+

EngagementRevenue

2002 2008 20182013

Metrics

Loyalty

Engagement

Revenue

Subscription Model

Content

THIS YEAR

● Metered Paywall 10 free stories a month (February)

● Content Sharing with Initium, HK (June)

● Facebook Subscription (November)

WHAT’S NEXT?

● Paywall system revamp (2019)

● Distributed Publishing & Content Syndication

● Better Data Collection & Reporting

● Events & Media School

Thank you

seanho@malaysiakini.com