Case Study: Bonnier Corporation achieves ad-light subscription growth and ad-revenue recovery with Piano

How Piano Helped Fuel Its Premium Ad-Light Experience

Bonnier Corporation, a major U.S. special-interest publisher with more than 200 brands and about 17 million monthly unique visitors, wanted new revenue streams without erecting paywalls that would block access to its core content. The company sought a way to reduce intrusive advertising for willing readers while still funding journalism, and needed tools to run subscriptions, trials and detect ad-block users across flagship sites like Saveur, Popular Science and Flying.

Working with Piano (Composer, VX and ID), Bonnier launched an annual ad-light subscription that removes most on-page ads (keeping limited pre-rolls and recommendations), prompts ad-block users to disable blockers or subscribe, and offers trial pricing. Early results were strong: Saveur added more than 1,300 trial subscriptions in four months and trial-to-annual conversion rates ran 70–80%, with Bonnier recovering ad revenue and planning wider rollout and tiered premium offerings across additional titles.

Bonnier Corporation

David Ritchie

Executive Vice President