The FatChilli Playbook

A brief history of pivot to subscriptions with Tomas Bella (Dennik N) & changes coming in the AI age

Tomas Bella, Chief Digital Officer of Dennik N, discusses in this interview with the Minimum Viable Podcast by Lightning Beetle, a customer experience studio, the massive transformation of the media landscape, moving from the “golden age” of print advertising to the modern necessity of reader revenue. We are republishing the entire interview in English, originally conducted in Slovak, with the courtesy of Lighting Beetle, and have made slight edits for clarity. The audio version uses artificial voices. Read the interview: https://fatchillimedia.com/2220/a-brief-history-of-pivot-to-subscriptions-with-tomas-bella-changes-coming-in-the-ai-age/ [https://fatchillimedia.com/2220/a-brief-history-of-pivot-to-subscriptions-with-tomas-bella-changes-coming-in-the-ai-age/] - Want to learn more? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://fatchillimedia.com/subscribe-newsletter/]. Chapters 00:00 Intro: The breakdown of the customer journey 01:31 From Golden Age of Print to the Digital Reality 04:20 The "Pivot to Video" and other failed media trends 06:06 Founding Piano: Why Slovakia paid for news before others 10:55 Global Adoption: How different cultures accept paying for news 13:20 Psychology of Subscriptions: Need vs. Support 15:42 Case Study: The "10 Promises" campaign that brought 24k leads 20:58 Strategy: Copying The New York Times vs. Agile Verticals 23:42 The death of the Homepage and direct traffic 27:45 Future Threats: Search on TikTok and ChatGPT 30:19 Can you monetize social media traffic? 31:50 Building a Digital-First Newsroom (Seating Plans Matter) 34:29 UX Reality: Why "ugly" payment windows often convert better 36:21 REMP: The open-source tool for monetization 40:22 Controversial Metrics: Measuring journalists by subscription sales 44:12 AI Translation vs. Local Context: Will global media take over? 47:26 The Biggest Design Challenge: News Fatigue vs. Civic Duty

Case study: This new approach to article lock kept it free, yet resulted in higher conversions & increased revenue

Listen to this article by Eva Szamelova [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-szamelova/] , Publisher Revenue Strategist at FatChilli for Publishers. Read the case study: https://fatchillimedia.com/2182/case-study-this-new-approach-to-article-lock-kept-it-free-yet-resulted-in-higher-conversions-increased-revenue/ [https://fatchillimedia.com/2182/case-study-this-new-approach-to-article-lock-kept-it-free-yet-resulted-in-higher-conversions-increased-revenue/] - Want to learn more? ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://fatchillimedia.com/subscribe-newsletter/].

Why are your audience surveys lying to you - and what to do about it

Listen to this article by Ali Mahmood [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-mahmood-fatchilli/], Senior Digital News Strategist at FatChilli for Publishers. Read the article: https://fatchillimedia.com/2062/audience-surveys-best-practices-template/ [https://fatchillimedia.com/2062/audience-surveys-best-practices-template/] - ➡️ Download our validated survey template [https://fatchillimedia.com/publisher-audience-research-survey-template/]. - Want to learn more? ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠ [https://fatchillimedia.com/subscribe-newsletter/].

Rewarded ads on the web: Delivering surprisingly high €30+ CPMs for publishers

Listen to the reflections of our colleague Dominik Blizman Or read it on our website: https://fatchillimedia.com/product-updates/rewarded-ads-web-high-cpm/ [https://fatchillimedia.com/product-updates/rewarded-ads-web-high-cpm/] - Want to learn more? ⁠⁠Subscribe to our newsletter⁠⁠ [https://fatchillimedia.com/].

Beyond pageviews: Building sustainable media through diversified revenue and deeper audience connections

Listen to the reflections of our colleague Ali Mahmood Or read it on our website: https://fatchillimedia.com/blog/beyond-pageviews-perugia-ijf-2025/ [https://fatchillimedia.com/blog/beyond-pageviews-perugia-ijf-2025/] - Want to learn more? ⁠Subscribe to our newsletter⁠ [https://fatchillimedia.com/].