Reinventing the Paywall with Data-Driven Metering

As we embrace a continually evolving era of new technology, organizations are debating how to relate to and acquire customers in an entirely new world. For those in media and entertainment, the rise of digital platforms is sure to present the greatest opportunity as consumers transition online.

The latest technology innovation, both in the UK and around the world, is the emergence of cloud metering. Media and entertainment companies can use metering to monetize digital content, create new revenue streams and attract, engage and inspire customers across multiple and integrated channels.

What is Metering?

Content metering enables organizations to provide a specified amount of free – or “metered” – access to their site’s content before visitors are asked to pay.

The technology offers media companies a broad range of control in implementing a metered access model, enabling them to track anonymous users and set the amount of free content users are able to view based upon either the number of articles/resources retrieved or by time frame. For example, offering 24-hours free access to 5 articles or videos, after which point the user is asked for their personal information and payment details.

After entering these details, customers can consume digital content at their leisure, without having to re-enter their information. Each piece of content they consume is logged against their user account.

Metering offers a plethora of flexible business models, from the popular metered paywall to a wide range of micropayment based models such as the sale of individual articles, unbundling of content into ‘bitesize’ portions and time based access. We’ve also seen ‘data and social’ emerging models such as sharewalls and surveywalls.

What Can You Meter?

Metered access capability enables content owners of any size to quickly and easily implement a customized access model. You can use the functionality to meter and manage access to any asset on your website or applications by creating rules around various datasets including pages, articles, videos, geolocations, website referrers and details unique to the consumer such as session state, entitlement and profile information.

With metering functionality, you define all metering policies, giving you complete control over how to best serve the interests of consumers and your bottom line. There is no reliance on external parties to edit metering rules or to launch them to the audience.

Use Metering for Actionable Data

Understanding the consumer is more important than ever before, and media and entertainment organizations are turning to data for the answers. Metering enables you to extract information about your site’s visitors and track those who are not quite ready to sign up for a monthly or annual subscription.

Metering technology generates a whole host of data, including what consumers have viewed, how often they visit the site, their browsing preferences and which country they are visiting from. This data is stored against their profile (for both anonymous and registered users), and information is added as they continue to consume content.

This information provides organizations with actionable data that can be used to tailor product offerings, optimize marketing initiatives and feed external advertising platforms.

With the ability to store and report on this data, media and entertainment companies have insight into what type of digital content is attracting visitors and the amount of content consumers are willing to pay for. This provides the level of insight needed to drive business decisions and ensure a company’s digital monetization strategy is working and continually improved.

Improved User Experience

Understanding visitor behaviour and preferences is key to providing a personalized user experience. Using metering functionality, you can tailor campaigns, vouchers and promotions based on consumer buying habits and preferences. Enticed by offers which suit their preferences, consumers are offered an all-round better user experience.

Providing consumers with a personalized service means they are more willing to buy additional content and purchase a subscription. Personalization of the user experience leads to increased stickiness of your website, which in turn results in increased revenues from advertising solutions.

A combination of increased direct sales from upselling and improved advertising revenue helps companies reach their objective of maximizing average revenue per use (ARPU), while giving the consumer the best possible experience when visiting the website.

Providing Digital Content Options

Consumers are more educated and trained to pay for the content they like online. If you have valuable, sought after content, you can offer a service tailored to their individual needs. MPP Global enables you to protect any content and sell access to it either on a metered basis, pay per view basis, via article based bundles, day passes and many more models.

With metering functionality, media and entertainment companies can understand their digital audiences like never before. It provides actionable data that can be harnessed to boost readership loyalty, advertising conversions and direct sales via a multitude of new business models.

For more information about metering, contact us to talk to a specialist today.