Case Study: The New York Times achieves 150% subscription ROI and finds new Facebook subscribers with Anyword

How The New York Times Finds New Subscribers

The New York Times, which relies on subscriptions for more than half its revenue, faced the challenge of turning social media traffic into loyal subscribers rather than one-off visits. To address this, the Times partnered with Anyword, using Anyword’s natural-language keyword analysis and Facebook audience-buying service to find and target readers most likely to subscribe.

Anyword scanned 50–100 articles a month to surface relevant and tangential keywords, enabling the Times to buy highly granular Facebook audiences and guide visitors down its subscription funnel. The program “constantly outperformed” other channels, delivering a 150% return on subscription revenue for every dollar spent and bringing roughly half of those visitors as first-time readers, while extending the shelf life and value of evergreen content.

The New York Times

Mat Yurow

Director of Audience Development