Germany’s Funke Media generates 45 percent uplift in paid subscriptions

By bringing together a cross-functional team and empowering them to make quick decisions, German publishing group Funke Mediengruppe has generated a 45 percent uplift in paid subscriptions in three months and grew newsletter subscriptions by more than 140 percent than projected for a six-month period in 2019. It’s the largest subscription gain we’ve seen among more than 150 news publishers that have participated in the Facebook Journalism Project’s Accelerator programme. There was no one silver bullet for Funke — instead, a series of small, good ideas executed over months led to major results that changed the way people work together at the company. Funke’s leaders explained their strategy for other publishers considering new team configurations to finish projects faster and smarter.