About Hearst Newspapers
Hearst is a leading global, diversified media, information, and services company with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership of numerous newspapers, magazines, and digital media outlets across the United States. As a pillar of journalistic excellence, Hearst has been at the forefront of delivering high-quality content to millions of readers for over a century.
Challenges
Like many publishers, Hearst faced a familiar challenge: how to grow revenue without compromising access to the journalism its communities rely on. Internally, subscription, advertising, and editorial teams each had different goals. The subscription team wanted to gate more content to boost conversions, while the advertising team needed those same pages open to maximize ad impressions. Meanwhile, the editorial team prioritized widespread accessibility—especially where journalism plays a critical civic role.
To balance these competing priorities, Hearst searched for a solution that could drive growth without forcing tradeoffs. Legacy strategies—like static paywalls or basic metering—treated all users the same and often led to missed opportunities. Some readers with high likelihood to subscribe were given unlimited access, while low-likelihood readers were blocked too early. Lead capture efforts lacked consistency, and assumptions about user behavior were challenging to model and test. Hearst needed a more adaptive, data-driven approach that could deliver the right experience to the right user in real time—and unlock more value from every visit.
Solution
Hearst turned to BlueConic to power a sophisticated AI-powered Next Best Action (NBA) model that went beyond traditional content metering. Unlike rigid rule-based systems, NBA uses behavioral and contextual signals—such as referral source, content engagement, user location, and prior interactions—to determine the most relevant action as soon as someone visits a Hearst property.
For example, a high-intent visitor might see a hard paywall, while someone still exploring may be prompted to register for a free account. Another visitor could be offered a newsletter sign-up—or simply allowed to keep reading, preserving the opportunity for ad revenue and long-term engagement.
These experiences are delivered on-site via BlueConic Dialogues and continuously refined as the model learns—optimizing not just for conversion but for total revenue and audience experience.
Results
In a 50/50 split test against its previous targeting model, Hearst saw immediate and measurable improvements across every key metric:
17% reduction in paywall stop rate, improving the user experience and preserving impressions
5.9x increase in email captures from non-subscribers, driven by smarter registration prompts
68% increase in visitors getting full free access, supporting editorial goals
7-38% increase in subscription starts across all test markets, even with fewer paywalls shown
Account registration outperformed newsletter signups, delivering more qualified leads and better downstream engagement
Beyond these top line results, Hearst also saw nuanced gains across different markets. In markets with previously stricter paywalls, they were able to provide more free readership while maintaining the same number of subscriptions. In markets where paywalls were historically looser, showing paywalls to the right readers increased subscriptions while maintaining ad revenue. This demonstrated the flexibility of the NBA model to adapt to diverse market conditions while still delivering growth.
Just as importantly, NBA supports teams’ needs across the organization. Subscription, advertising, and editorial teams now work from a shared framework that supports both immediate results and long-term growth.
BlueConic’s Next Best Action has enabled us to tailor our strategy not just to broad segments, but to individual users, creating a truly personalized experience based on real-time data and user behavior. We’re reducing friction, increasing conversions, and most importantly, doing it in a way that supports our mission to provide high-quality journalism to our communities. That’s a win for everyone. "
Chief Marketing Officer, Hearst NewspapersNext Steps
With pre-subscription optimization well underway, Hearst is expanding its focus to subscriber loyalty. Future NBA actions will promote high-value actions—like downloading the mobile app, exploring premium content, and unlocking exclusive benefits. The team is also exploring how to bring NBA-driven personalization in other channels like paid media and email—extending the same intelligence beyond the site itself.
