Case Study: The Daily Memphian achieves rapid subscriber growth — 4,500 in 3 weeks and 14,000 in 2 years — with Piano

How Piano Helped The Daily Memphian Achieve a 12 Month Subscriber Goal in 3 Weeks

The Daily Memphian is a premium, locally focused online news publication launched in 2018 to serve the Memphis community, led by CEO Eric Barnes. With a subscription-first model at $7/month, the team set an ambitious goal of 4,500 subscribers in 12 months but faced limited marketing resources and needed broader visibility and audience insights to sustain growth.

They partnered with Piano and used Piano Composer integrated with their custom CMS to run multi-channel campaigns, A/B tests, and subscriber analytics. The result: the 4,500 goal was reached in 3.5 weeks, subscriptions grew to 14,000 within two years, and the average monthly paywall rate rose to $9.25 (≈30% increase), while Piano handled billing, compliance, and ongoing optimization.

The Daily Memphian

Eric Barnes

Chief Executive Officer