• Podcast
  • Home
  • Better News
  • Contact Us

It's All Journalism

The broccoli of media-focused podcasts.

  • Podcast
  • Home
  • Better News
  • Contact Us

Better News: Killing Zombies On Your Subscription List

June 15, 2021 by Michael O'Connell

The Arizona Republic had a zombie problem.

We’re not talking about the brain-eating variety of zombies. Instead, the Republic had too many digital subscribers that weren’t actively engaged with the newspaper’s content. These “zombies” were also most likely to cancel their subscriptions, creating a retention problem.

In 2019-20, the Republic launched a campaign to turn those zombies into loyalists by creating content with which they would be interested in engaging.

John Adams and Alia Beard Rau share their strategy for killing zombies.

John Adams, the Arizona Republic‘s senior director of storytelling and innovation, and Alia Rau, the paper’s former local politics and issues reporter, tell Better News host Michael O’Connell about the Republic’s successful efforts in rooting out zombies. Adams and Rau also wrote a report about the effort for the Better News Initiative.

The Better News podcast is a partnership between It’s All Journalism and the American Press Institute to a) showcase innovative/experimental ideas that emerge from the  Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and b) share replicable strategies and tactics that benefit the news industry as a whole. Sign up for the Better News newsletter to receive news about the latest resources, case studies, and insights. For more news about the It’s All Journalism podcast and future episodes of Better News, sign up for the weekly IAJ newsletter.

If you like this post, please share it along:

Previous Post


Better News: Killing Zombies On Your Subscription List

Next Post


Prison Journalism Project helps inmates share their stories

Related Posts

  • Louise Donavan is a reporter for The Fuller Project.467. TikTok Used To Expose Abuse Of Domestic Workers
  • Politico State Legislature Dashboard459. Politico project shows just how white and male statehouses remain
  • #32 – Be jealous of AJ Chavar or at least take some of his video producing tips
  • Scott Reinardy, Associate Professor, News/Info Chair, Journalism, University of Kansas.#223 – Are you part of journalism’s lost generation?

Learn How To Podcast

Turn Up the Volume equips journalism students, professionals, and others interested in producing audio content with the know-how necessary to launch a podcast for the first time. It addresses the unique challenges beginner podcasters face in producing professional level audio for online distribution. Beginners can learn how to handle the technical and conceptual challenges of launching, editing, and posting a podcast.

Order this new book by It’s All Journalism Producer Michael O’Connell.

Apple Podcasts

Latest Posts

  • 553. Storipress aims to democratize the tools of online publishing
  • 552. The Cool Down: Climate change news with solutions, not doom and gloom
  • 551. Reader-supported, hyper-local newsletter thrives in downtown Albuquerque
  • 550. Hearst investigation exposes widespread use of restraints on students in US schools
  • Better News: This pitch to switch to digital even includes softball

©2021 · Dakota theme by OsomPress