BACKGROUNDFounded in 1880, the Albuquerque Journal is New Mexico’s leading newspaper, delivered in print, online and on mobile apps, 365 days a year.

Known for being a forward-thinking publisher, Albuquerque Journal was one of the first newspapers to put up a hard paywall in 2001 when others were giving away their content for free, and paying the price for it. As technology evolved, so did the publisher’s paywall.

Today its high-value content is behind a simple Google Survey that only requires the visitor to answer a simple question; Google pays Albuquerque Journal for every answer. No registration or payment is required by the visitor, making it easy for them to access the content they want. Subscribers can choose to login to skip the surveys and get instant access to the content.

More recently, Albuquerque Journal introduced a subscriber-retention initiative called Journal Rewards -- a smartphone-based loyalty program that offers members deals from merchants across the U.S. state of New Mexico. All subscribers automatically become members.

This “sticky” program has been a win-win-win for the publisher, its merchants and most of all, its members. In the first month more than 4,300 people joined the program and the numbers keep growing.

Along with the traditional printed product, members receive exclusive benefits such as the eJournal (PressReader Replica), Journal Rewards’ offers and discounts, newsletters, and much more. Each of these perks are called engagement points. The more members engage with the brand the more value to receive, which leads to better retention for the publisher.

Anyway They Want It, That’s The Way They Read it!Living the Albuquerque Journal Customer-Focused Experience

In addition to being recognized as an innovator in terms of audience retention and revenue, the publisher has also received numerous awards and accolades over its lifetime. The most recent in 2014 where it received multiple Press Association awards including two 1st place finishes for breaking news and best mobile app.

THE OPPORTUNITYIn 2006, while the newspaper industry was struggling to stop the bleeding caused by the digital revolution, a study was undertaken by McKinsey to understand what consumers wanted from online news.

The results clearly showed that reading behaviors were dramatically changing and brand promiscuity was becoming the norm. Readers were consuming news from 12-16 different brands on a regular basis, looking for convenience, comprehensiveness and “multiple perspectives” on current events.

Albuquerque Journal, a step ahead of other publishers, saw opportunity in these new consumption trends and embarked on an aggressive digital program to profit from them.

It started to look for new ways to expand its distribution beyond its website and grow audience and revenues through multiple platform solutions and vertical channels.

THE PLANTo reach readers wherever they were, 9 years ago Albuquerque Journal started offering current-day issues of its newspaper:

» On PressReader’s (previously NewspaperDirect) Print-On-Demand network with 900 print locations in more than 100 countries.

» On PressReader.com (previously PressDisplay.com) which offered readers full access to (at the time) 350 newspapers on their computers and first generation eReaders with just one subscription.

Today PressReader has a growing list of over 4,000 newspapers and magazines and reaches 250+ million readers at 15,000 libraries, hotels, cruise ships, airlines and Cafés around the world that sponsor access to the service.

In 2011, Albuquerque Journal expanded its reach even further by launching its digital replica edition, eJournal, followed by branded apps for iOS, Android and Windows.

In order to focus on its core competency of producing high quality content, the publisher looked to industry experts to develop eJournal and branded apps for them. It shortlisted two industry players (PressReader and Olive) and ran their software in parallel to analyze the digital replica and companies in terms of product quality, technical innovation and support.

After evaluating the results, Albuquerque Journal chose PressReader as its digital publishing partner and has been collaborating with the company ever since to continually innovate its digital properties to grow revenues and readership.

THE RESULTSThrough its close partnership with PressReader, Albuquerque Journal enjoys all the benefits of being a fully cross-platform, multi-channel publication, reaching millions of readers wherever they are, on whatever device they choose.

Average daily eJournal downloads have grown by 620% since 2011, with little to no promotion of the digital replica’s availability!

According to Joseph Leong, VP of Circulation at Albuquerque Journal, “2015 will be our year for promoting the value of a newspaper subscription (beyond home delivery). PressReader (the eJournal) is a huge part of the value mix for our members.”

IHOP Customers Hopped onto Journal Rewards

As a merchant in Albuquerque Journal’s “Journal Rewards” program, IHOP published ads, featuring Journal Rewards discounts, in the Dec 2014 and Jan 15 printed editions of the newspaper.

Soon, IHOP customers started calling asking how they could take advantage of the rewards.

This joint promotion cultivated a very strong partnership. The restaurant received so many complements from their patrons, they allowed the Albuquerque Journal to move their outside coin racks to an inside custom display. This move tripled the paper’s Sunday sales!

The eJournal News in Education (NIE) program has also grown exponentially.

eJournal NIE Program

Average Daily Copies

Average Sunday Copies

2011 202 4702014 7,276 7,180

Through its 7-day integrated print and digital programs (ABQjournal.com, eJournal digital edition, branded apps), the Albuquerque Journal’s newspaper audience continues to grow, recently enjoying an increase of 7 percent year-over-year.

COMING SOONBut the publisher isn’t finished innovating yet!

» Albuquerque Journal will be the first newspaper (out of thousands of PressReader publications in the world) to convert its branded digital edition into an HTML5-powered website, profiting from all the advantages that come with bringing the app experience to the web. The publisher is looking to PressReader to help them capitalize on those benefits through new and creative advertising campaigns to promote the all-new eJournal in 2015.

» The Journal, PressReader and Mather Economics are partnering together to maximize each company’s expertise as part of the launch for the HTML5 new site. This collaborative partnership provides the ability to transparently share information, develop integrated, data-driven strategies, and ultimately create a customer-centric journey for eJournal readers.

» The Journal also plans to offer and promote free 30-day trials to introduce eJournal to new readers, reinforce the product to existing members and collect data from non-members to find effective ways to entice them to join.

» Albuquerque Journal is planning to reach hard-to-reach readers in New Mexico by offering eJournal to other newspapers in the state. Bundling a digital subscription to the eJournal in other publishers’ printed products not only increases the value for their subscribers, it helps expand Albuquerque Journal’s audience. Another win-win!

THE FUTUREBecause of PressReader’s commitment to its publishers and continually driving innovation in the industry, Albuquerque Journal sees a bright future for the partnership.

“I have worked with PressReader at both the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and here at the Albuquerque Journal for the past 10 years. It continues to be a great experience; everyone there is fantastic to work with,” shared Leong. “They are evolving with us; as our industry grows and changes, so do their products and services.”