Can professional and institutional audiences be targeted with the same engagement strategies as the general public? General interest news media include a B2B component in their subscription revenues and, at best, have a dedicated team focused on developing this target audience. By applying the Table Stakes methodology and tools, the French publisher Mediapart has developed new strategies to better attract and retain the B2B segment.

The largest news group in eastern Germany launched an initiative to target Volkswagen enthusiasts in Saxony. VW being the region’s largest employer, the newspaper focused on content that appeals to the car manufacturer’s employees, suppliers, and customers. By doubling their output of VW-related stories, Freie Presse saw notable increases in both reader engagement and subscriptions.

When the world’s biggest superstar, Taylor Swift, announced her tour dates in Germany, the team at Rheinische Post saw an opportunity to connect with a passionate, younger audience. The result was “Waiting for Taylor,” a 10-week newsletter dedicated to Swift’s fans. The German publisher’s fan-centric experiment during its second round in TSE went on to inspire other audience engagement initiatives, redefining how a local newsroom can connect with readers.

As an alumni of the Table Stakes Europe programme, the German local newspaper Zeitungsverlag Neue Westfälische aimed to push further onwards with their transformation, focusing on their goal of being the indispensable digital media platform for the people of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and aiming high to reach 80,000 digital subscribers.

Aiming to refresh its brand image and attract more male readers, the Hungarian publisher used its participation in Table Stakes Europe to start working on new types of automotive content, particularly around service and explanatory journalism. Success in this area has helped to build momentum for other experiments in the newsroom, from other focus audiences such as Wine and Tech, to a pilot around content monetisation.

Challenging conventional wisdom, the Abendblatt team’s journey with Table Stakes Europe has allowed them to prove that regional cultural content, when done well, CAN attract new digital subscribers. The successes of the culture desk are now inspiring change in the wider newsroom.

An important goal for Our Media during its participation in Table Stakes Europe was to start moving away from being viewed as a conservative medium towards being seen as a fresh, modern one in order to reach younger people. The publisher also wanted to increase engagement with its audiences by producing more high quality content. A key metric was to track the amount of time that their audiences spent with content.

During its year in Table Stakes Europe, the German publisher created a successful new brand for food and gastronomy content and transformed its approach to covering local music festivals. These and other audience-focused efforts have dramatically improved their performance metrics and paved the way for future digital revenue growth.

The Finnish local newspaper overhauled its entire newsroom based on lessons learned from successful audience-focused experiments. The key objective: to better engage new, younger digital subscribers. “Everything we do, every day, should only be things that support our goals. We have tried to build a structure that forces us to do that,” said
Jyrki Utriainen, Karjalainen’s Managing Editor.

2023-04-25. “We want to create emotional touchpoints that not only strengthen the loyalty of our existing readers to our brand but also engage with new audiences who have not yet experienced our platform, allowing them to form a positive first impression through one of our verticals,” says Bettina Widmer, of Switzerland’s Blick Group.