The Financial Times’ AI paywall drove conversions up 290%. Now it’s learning who stays
The Financial Times is building an AI that doesn’t just know who will pay — it’s learning who will stay.
After nearly a year of running its AI paywall, the publisher’s focus is shifting to retention. A new model, due early next year, will connect directly to the existing paywall, feeding insights from long-tenure subscribers back into acquisition. The aim: to help the publisher identify not only readers most likely to subscribe but those most likely to keep paying.
“We’ve come to the conclusion at the business that the biggest influence on retention is acquisition,” said Graham MacFadyen, consumer marketing director at Financial Times, at the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe, in Lisbon, Portugal.
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