Case Study: Winnipeg Free Press achieves 40% year-over-year digital subscription growth with Piano

How Winnipeg Free Press Earned 5x Increase in New Registrations and Trial Sign-ups

The Winnipeg Free Press, the oldest newspaper in Western Canada, faced the challenge of turning strong local reporting into paying readers amid imitation from competitors and limited in-house data science resources. Early missteps with site organization and heavy-handed algorithmic personalization taught the team they needed a frictionless, reader-first digital experience that could grow registrations and subscriptions while bringing the newsroom along.

Working with Piano, WFP reintroduced familiar site sections, deployed personalized and deduped recommendations across devices, optimized the registration/paywall flow, and ran A/B tests to refine tactics. The results: personalized recommendations are clicked 1.6x more often, active time on site has doubled (about 8 minutes desktop / 4 minutes mobile), digital subscriptions rose 40% year over year, monthly registrations and trial sign-ups increased 5x, and a redesigned trial flow boosted sign-ups by 500%.

Winnipeg Free Press

Christian Panson

VP Digital & Technology