A focus on personalization

In this context, community doesn’t mean a standalone forum. It includes any recurring, participatory touchpoint where readers contribute signals, not just consume content. Community is a tactic that initially focuses on reaching readers and subscribers in less common ways, but is also centered on building meaningful connections once that audience is reached. Audiences everywhere demand personalization, but forming a community and engaging a subscriber base includes personalized emails, newsletters and other strategic engagement tactics. 

“We see publishers using personalization not just to deliver content, but to build real connections,” said Nick Watson, vp of business consulting at Zeta Global. “That starts with strong audience data to ensure the right readers are seeing the right stories. But what really drives momentum is tapping into ongoing engagement, comments, reactions, poll responses and voting, which all add texture to a reader’s profile.”

“Quick polls within articles or comment prompts on high-traffic pages help surface what matters most to the audience,” he continued. “These spark conversation and give publishers a constant feedback loop to fine-tune content and community experiences in real time.”

For London-based publisher The Telegraph, Philippa Law, head of community at the publisher, shared that many of its subscribers value being surrounded by and validated by like-minded people, so readers often share similar values and feel a sense of belonging when in such a community. To build a community, publishers can first identify commonalities among their readers, much like The Telegraph, then brainstorm what types of offerings might appeal to them.

“What’s good for us is doing something personal for someone, so making them feel like an individual, like replying directly to their comment, emailing them to say, ‘thank you, I enjoyed what you shared,’ or having our journalists accessible and showing up regularly so subscribers know they can talk to them directly,” said Law. “Even if it’s not you that gets that response, if you see other people getting that response, it feels like you’re being listened to as a readership, as a community.”

Watson suggests publishers looking to embark on similar journeys begin by connecting the dots between engagement and data. Every comment, vote or question is a signal. When signals feed back into subscriber profiles, publishers open the door to smarter personalization and stronger retention.

“Publishers like Reach Plc are doing this well by regularly running contextual polls in articles to gauge sentiment on the topic at hand, then directing readers to the comment section to continue the conversation,” Watson said. “This setup fosters dialogue while giving editorial teams a steady stream of feedback and engagement data they can work with.”

Improved engagement can lead to increased efficiency for journalists

Beyond engagement and revenue, community also solves a quieter but critical problem: newsroom efficiency. While opening comment sections is one way to encourage engagement and foster community, “community isn’t a bolt-on,” Hannah Sarney, editorial product director and executive editor at the Financial Times, said at the World News Media Congress in Poland last year. Comment writers, according to internal metrics from the Financial Times, are 48 times more engaged, but only 4% write comments, leaving a big gap that sometimes comes down to the audience not knowing that door exists.

Offering value beyond the comment section is a way to increase engagement among multiple types of subscribers, such as those who enjoy participating in lively and sometimes charged discussions beneath articles and those who prefer to engage through polls, surveys, focus groups, etc.

“Some of the approaches that you would use on your owned platform community can also translate well into making people feel like your brand is valuable off-platform,” said Law. “For instance, we’ve had some success in the past with [ask-me-anything]s on Reddit. We’ve had journalists doing Q&As in existing subreddits, which have gone well and given us click-throughs to our site. We know that it’s put us in front of new audiences, particularly in the U.S., where we don’t currently have such a big subscriber base.”

Hosting community experiences on platforms like Reddit offers audiences another way to engage with publishers that might be more appealing to those who want to stay anonymous in their engagement. Additionally, journalists can better connect with readers while also gathering fruitful insights for new stories.

As noted in a recent State of the Industry report from Marigold (recently acquired by Zeta Global) and Digiday, some of the benefits publishers have seen from their subscriber engagement efforts so far include higher retention among existing subscribers and increased email opens and CTRs, followed by enhanced advertising or sponsorship value.

As for how publishers turn engagement into revenue, most survey respondents cite increasing ad revenue by improving engagement, driving affiliate revenue through engaged content and offering exclusive content to subscribers. Many of these tactics address multiple goals at once, improving overall efficiency.

Watson attributed increased efficiency to automation and the ability to templatize steps.

“Efficiency is ultimately powered by automation across engagement tools, such as pre-moderation or recommending posts to feature, with light human intervention to make the final decision,” Watson said. “When creating engagement and interaction tactics like polls, this could mean having templates to quickly clone, update and add relevant design themes specific to the brand or topic, then publish — all the while being simple enough to train editorial staff to build in minutes, rather than relying on specialists.”

This approach can also apply to Q&As, Watson added. Teams can create a template to ensure a repeated, standardized process that requires less time and fewer resources to set up while using a more custom technique.

Sustained revenue growth lies in maintaining a thriving community base

While setting up and maintaining a community is more of a retention play, given rising acquisition costs, publishers can save money while building long-term loyalty.

By forming a community around an existing subscriber base, publishers capitalize on an engaged audience. Encouraging participation among like-minded people helps further foster a sense of community — the more readers engage with content, the more publishers can monetize that activity.

“One thing that’s important about our community approach is that some of our readers will directly benefit from the expertise of some of our specialist journalists or from the contributors that we bring in,” Law said. “They can ask questions, get answers and understand things better. They can challenge people on political ideas — and all of that is very rewarding for the community.”

By offering continuing support and knowledge, like direct communication with journalists, publishers create an environment where readers and subscribers can find lifetime value, helping with sustained revenue.

“Sustained revenue growth comes from the deeper engagement that a strong community provides,” said Watson. “For advertisers, these highly engaged communities offer more relevance and access, which improves performance. Publishers can explore new subscription tiers for their most active readers, including benefits like access to journalists’ Q&As, in-person events or personalized partner offers. The key is using engagement data to shape offerings that feel valuable and build loyalty over time.”

As publishers incorporate new offerings into their revenue growth strategies, balance is crucial and relies on starting small. Watson recommends focusing on the areas where the team already sees signs of engagement.

“Look at what’s resonating and ask the right questions, such as, are your readers active in comment sections around certain topics? Or, are they responding to polls or showing up for journalist-led Q&As or live events? That’s where the momentum is,” Watson said.

“From there, you can expand in a way that’s both repeatable and scalable,” Watson added. “The engagement and data you collect will help you understand where the best monetization opportunities are, without needing to build out every possible offering from the start. It’s about keeping the setup and ongoing effort manageable while still creating space to grow.”

Partner insights from Zeta Global