Your Subscription Bill Keeps Rising. Here's Why

The Financial Times just raised its prices again. Standard Digital now costs... wait, $299 down from $540? That looks like a discount.

Look closer. That's a first-year promotional rate. After 12 months, you'll pay $75 monthly – that's $900 annually, a 67% increase from the original price. Welcome to the new economics of news.

The Advertising Exodus

Traditional media faces an existential crisis. Google and Meta control over 80% of digital advertising, leaving legacy publishers scrambling for scraps. Newspaper ad revenue has plummeted 70% since 2000.

The FT's response? Go subscription-first. Today, subscriptions generate over 70% of FT's revenue. The New York Times (66%) and Wall Street Journal (65%) follow similar models. The message is clear: readers must pay what advertisers won't.

The Great Reader Cull

But there's a deeper strategy at work: audience curation. By pricing out casual readers, publishers retain only their most valuable customers.

Consider the FT's subscriber base: 85% earn over $100,000 annually. These affluent readers aren't price-sensitive and remain attractive to premium advertisers. It's a calculated trade – fewer subscribers, but higher revenue per user.

This isn't unique to the FT. The Times charges $25 weekly for digital access, while The Economist commands $12 monthly. Each publication is betting that quality journalism can command premium prices.

The Information Divide Widens

This pricing strategy creates a troubling dynamic: quality journalism becomes a luxury good. Those who can afford $900 annually get verified, expert-curated news. Everyone else relies on free content – often lower quality or outright misinformation.

The consequences are already visible. Over 2,100 local newspapers have closed in the US since 2005, creating "news deserts" where residents lack reliable local coverage. Communities lose accountability journalism just when they need it most.

The Sustainability Paradox

Publishers face an impossible equation. Quality journalism requires investment – investigative reporting, fact-checking, expert analysis. But the economics don't add up without premium pricing.

The Guardian tried a different approach, relying on donations rather than paywalls. It works – they've achieved profitability – but requires massive scale and reader goodwill that few publications can replicate.

Meanwhile, platforms like Substack enable individual journalists to monetize directly, bypassing traditional publishers entirely. Some writers earn six figures from newsletter subscriptions, proving readers will pay for content they value.