Subscriptions in B2B media aren’t new, but the growing sophistication behind them provides valuable lessons for other brands. Most publishers now view subscriptions and memberships as a core strategic approach to deepening audience relationships, driving recurring revenue, and developing customer lifetime value (CLV).
As a result, leading B2B media businesses are sharpening their thinking around core areas such as growth, retention, pricing and AI integration. They also build on a fundamental truth, which is that:
- Not every reader has equal value
- Not every subscriber is a person (i.e., enterprise sales)
Below, I explore some pillars in B2B publishers’ subscription strategies, covering:
- Growth strategies
- Retention strategies
- Pricing Model strategies
- AI Integration strategies
1. Growth Strategies
The most successful B2B publishers grow by narrowing their focus, not widening it. They serve clearly defined niche audiences and create propositions built around utility. Audience segmentation is the starting point. Instead of building generalist products, they zero in on specific job roles, company types or sectors.
Product-Market Fit:
Deep sector knowledge and tight integration with the professional needs of a niche audience drive the potential for high subscriber growth, engagement, and renewal—indicators of strong product–market fit.
An example is The Information, a subscription-only tech and business publication. It targets a high-value audience of professionals and investors in Silicon Valley and beyond, offering exclusive reporting, analysis, and data. Its growth has come not from mass reach but from deep value—serving a specific, premium-paying segment with a product they can’t get elsewhere.
Enterprise Growth Opportunity:
Growth also requires an effective conversion funnel. For most B2B publishers, this includes a freemium model to build awareness and prove value before asking for payment. Some use lead magnets such as reports, webinars or gated tools to drive sign-ups. The same tactics also enable them to expand into new market segments.
FT Professional is a good example. The Financial Times identified early on that B2B could be a key monetisation strategy within the business. It has become the FT’s biggest value driver, accounting for over 75% of its paying readership. Read a short FT Strategies case study about it here.
2. Retention Strategies
Growth is only part of the story. Retention – and the revenue predictability that comes with it – is just as if not even more critical.
Multiple Touchpoints:
Retention in B2B is driven by daily relevance and demonstrable ROI. Successful publishers build multi-touchpoint relationships, using alerts, dashboards, events, data tools, Slack channels, community events, and more, all designed to integrate with users’ work.
Politico Pro is a good example. The brand builds its subscription offer on four pillars: Scoop, Intel, Connect and Analysis. The offer includes access to articles and tools, such as the AI-enhanced suite for policy professionals. Such initiatives aim to make the subscription part of the user’s daily workflow.
Community Effect:
Effective learning often comes from peer-to-peer engagements. Therefore, it is logical that community forms a strong component in B2B media’s retention strategies. PEI Media, a B2B publisher serving private equity, infrastructure, and other institutional investment sectors, is an example.
Subscribers to its content brands benefit from in-depth reporting and discounted or bundled access to investor forums, closed-door roundtables, and executive briefings. Their community elements—both virtual and in-person—turn the subscriptions into a professional relationship. For senior execs in high-value industries, ongoing access to peers is often as, if not more, valuable than other elements included in the offering.
Annual Contracts:
Annual contracts are a proven retention tool in B2B subscriptions. At an enterprise level, they reduce churn risk by limiting the number of renewal decisions and better aligning with corporate budgeting cycles. They also offer stability and better predictability.
A good example is LexisNexis Risk Solutions, which sells data and analytics tools to clients in insurance, financial services, and healthcare. Its solutions are typically licensed on multi-year agreements, often integrated into compliance or underwriting workflows. These long-term contracts lock in value and ensure the services become mission-critical, making cancellation unlikely.
3. Pricing Strategies
B2B media brands experiment with pricing models that reflect usage, types of subscribers and perceived overall value. Here are a few examples.
Pricing Options:
Publishers have three main approaches to pricing:
- Tiered pricing is the most common model. A basic tier provides core content, while premium tiers unlock deeper research, data tools, or event access. This allows publishers to segment by willingness to pay. It’s common in digital media and information services, with FT-backed Sifted as an example (see their tiered subscriber benefits here).
- Usage-based pricing is growing in appeal. Rather than pricing by availability, such publishers price on actual user engagement.
- Dynamic and personalised pricing is gaining popularity. Publishers use AI to track user behaviour and tailor offers. For instance, heavy users might be offered higher-tier products, while light users are nudged with discounts.
- Individual and/or Enterprise Options: Individual subscriptions allow B2B media to monetise at scale, while enterprise subscriptions allow them to capture higher-value contracts. Bloomberg is an example of this approach, as shown by its individual subscription and corporate subscription options.
Increasingly, pricing is no longer one-size-fits-all. It reflects the value, usage, and economics of each customer type.
4. AI Integration Strategies
Artificial intelligence has been around for a while, but it is increasingly central to how B2B publishers design, deliver and refine their subscription strategies. The reason is simple: it enables personalisation and operational efficiency that wasn’t possible before. For example:
- Content personalisation: Machine learning models analyse subscriber behaviour to recommend the right content, in the right format, and at the right time. This increases engagement and improves retention.
- Dynamic pricing and paywalls: AI helps optimise conversions by adapting paywall rules and subscription offers based on factors such as visit frequency, content consumed, and prior engagement.
- Operational automation: AI tools support internal workflows by automating onboarding, surfacing churn risks, and flagging support issues based on user behaviour or sentiment.
AI in B2B subscriptions is about augmenting editorial, marketing, and customer success teams—giving publishers a better view of their audiences and the ability to serve them more effectively at scale. As John Barnes, Chief Digital Officer of William Reed in the UK, explains, “AI has been applied to B2B circulation and subscription services for more than 20 years, primarily in the form of AI algorithms to personalise email content, the use of machine learning to power lookalike modelling and propensity scoring, as well as chatbots to provide personalised support.
“Today, with the sophistication and speed that AI now offers, it is heavily used for highly targeted campaigns, content creation, predictive analytics, and real-time optimisation, allowing for highly personalised experiences across various channels.
“These advancements can also power and tune dynamic paywalls … driving up registration numbers and subscription revenues. The same tools can also help keep subscribers engaged, reduce churn, and tailor offers to retain potential unsubscribes.”
In Conclusion: Take-Outs for Brands
B2B publishers build their businesses by focusing on well-defined audiences and providing multiple solutions to enhance their customers’ careers or improve their businesses. They deliver recurring value through trusted content, data, tools, and experiences that are seen as essential rather than nice-to-have or optional. In conclusion, here are seven key take-outs from the conversation above.
1. Not all subscribers are equal — design for value, not volume
B2B publishers focus less on mass acquisition and more on attracting high-intent users who find the product indispensable. Media and retail brands should do the same: identify the high-value users and serve them better, not just more.
2. Build products for habit, not just access
In B2B, retention depends on integrating the subscription into users’ daily workflows — through alerts, dashboards, tools, or data. The same principle applies to consumer brands: subscriptions that solve real, recurring needs will be stickier than those that just deliver content or perks.
3. Tiered and flexible pricing creates upsell paths
Most brands offer some form of pricing tiers, but B2B publishers go deep to align offers with specific sets of customers. They design pricing around job functions, use cases, and value delivered. They move beyond “good/better/best” models to pricing that reflects how different customer segments use and benefit from the product. All brands should consider how usage-based pricing, value-based tiers, or industry-specific bundles can benefit their subscription businesses.
4. Enterprise accounts unlock scale and stability
B2B publishers sell individual subscriptions for scale, and enterprise subscriptions for higher value. The latter lets B2B publishers secure larger, longer-term revenue. Media and retail brands with B2B or group-use potential should explore how to package and pitch enterprise deals.
5. Usage data is your retention weapon
B2B publishers track how often clients use their products and use that data in renewal conversations. Consumer brands can do the same — showing users what they’ve used, saved, or gained from the subscription helps justify staying onboard.
6. Community and events reinforce value
B2B subscriptions often come with access to industry briefings, roundtables, or invite-only events — not just content. Retail brands can build similar community touchpoints through webinars, early access events, or member-only communities.
7. AI isn’t a silver bullet, but it is a force multiplier
B2B publishers use AI to personalise experiences, flag churn risks, and optimise conversion. The tech alone doesn’t fix strategy, but when layered onto a strong subscription foundation, it helps teams do more with less — and serve users better.
Cobus Heyl
Heyl is a Content Partner at Atlas and Founder of That Coalition, a fractional event services and content provider.
Heyl has worked with third-party clients such as Chartbeat, Lineup Systems, and Tubular Labs in Europe and the US, Prospect in the UK, and industry bodies such as PRCA (Communications and Public Affairs) in the UK, MVFP (German Publishers Association) and the Association of Indian Media (AIM).
Subscribe!
Our editor carefully curates two InternetRetailing newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research. In addition to this, there is a dedictaed mailer focusing on the subscription economy with detailed commentary from Heyl every second Wednesday – click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter.
And why not follow us on LinkedIn to receive the latest updates on our research and analysis.