What Is the Text Subscription Model?

With the journalism industry in freefall, there’s a good chance that your local newspaper is experimenting with some kind of digital subscription offering. In many cases, this involves some kind of metered paywall where you’re expected to start paying after consuming a pre-determined number of articles. Hundreds of newspapers have installed paywalls like this, but they’ve seen mixed results, with many reporting disappointing revenue numbers.

But is content the only thing an audience will pay for? That’s a question Doug Lesmerises, a Cleveland.com sports columnist, sought to answer. A few years ago he co-founded a popular sports podcast but had a difficult time attracting advertisers. Then some executives from his newspaper’s parent company approached him with a new product called Subtext. It provides a simple way to allow paying subscribers to exchange text messages with Doug and other hosts.

The service was a surprise hit, and Doug now uses the app to crowdsource questions for the podcast and send his paying subscribers quick-hit analysis when Ohio sports news breaks. I interviewed Doug about how he incorporated texting into his show and what other local journalism outfits can learn from his success.