Welcome back to Subscriptions Weekly! While economic pressures largely dictate consumer decisions and behaviors, subscription brands continue reinventing their offerings and increasing their value to accommodate their needs.

In this edition, we review the latest strategies from leading companies as they seek to boost retention and how Walmart is set to win market share while Amazon Prime continues on the lead.

We check on Netflix’s ad-supported tier subscriber count, Coinbase’s new subscription offer, Twitter Blue's two-hour-long video benefits, and how The Washington Post is targeting a younger audience with Venmo cashback.

Amazon will account for more than half of U.S. paid retail membership fee revenues

According to Insider Intelligence’s predictions, Amazon Prime will make up 53.1% of U.S. paid retail membership fee revenues this year. This puts it leagues ahead of its closest rival, Costco (9.5%), Sam’s Club (5.9%), and Walmart+ (1.5%). Read more on Insider Intelligence.

How Walmart+ SVP plans to get “most of America” to join the membership program

Walmart+’s target customer is the “time-sensitive, busy family.” However, not all members fit into that subset, which is part of the reason behind the program’s broad range of benefits. 

Chris Cracchiolo, Walmart+ SVP and General Manager, states, “As we evolve the value proposition, we’re pulling in all types of different customers that are finding value.” Every time the company has added a new benefit to the slate, it has seen a new stream of customers and increased retention among existing members. 

The key to evolving the program’s value proposition is data. These insights are not just gathered from how current members use the program but also from what members who cancel say about why they stopped. Learn more on Retail TouchPoints.

Benchmark data is key to understanding how your business compares and what subscribers look for in a subscription offer. Get actionable insights around acquisition, growth, payments, and churn to build the right strategy across the lifecycle with The State of Subscriptions report. 

Netflix reveals how many subscribers are paying for its ad-supported plan

Netflix’s ad-supported plan is picking up pace. Between November 2022 and now, the plan has garnered nearly five million global monthly active users. While it’s just a sliver of the 232.5 million global subscribers the brand boasts, “the signals are promising: engagement on our ads plan is similar to our comparable non-ads plans,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said. Read more on LA Times.

Coinbase launches subscription service with focus on European expansion

Coinbase, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, is launching its subscription service, Coinbase One, in 35 countries to retain users and grow its recurring revenue as the crypto economy struggles through a bearish market. The subscription service offers many features–no trading charges, higher staking rewards, 24/7 customer support, and pre-filed tax return documents. Learn more on TechCrunch. 

Twitter now lets Blue subscribers upload two-hour videos

Twitter Blue subscribers can upload two-hour-long videos, which will be at 1080p resolution and must have an 8GB file size or smaller. The video uploads are only available for web or iOS. Android users are currently limited to posting videos that are 10 minutes long at most. Read more on The Verge. 

The Washington Post offers new subscribers $5 when they pay with Venmo

Ushered in by The Post’s Next Generation team to engage younger and more diverse audiences, new subscribers will get $5 in their Venmo account after paying for their first four weeks of The Washington Post. A subscription is just $4/month for one year and then $12/month after that. Learn more on The Washington Post.

Join Recurly at these exciting events

Two-part webinar series: Unify subscriber data across web and app stores. We’re ready to show you how to gain a holistic view of your subscription business and build cross-platform workflow automation through Recurly’s APIs and webhooks. Save your spot!

Virtual event: Modern CTOs: Engineering subscriptions that scale. Hear from Tony Allen, Recurly CTO, and Andrei Rebrov, Scentbird CTO, and discover how to build an unshakeable foundation that supports the performance, security, and compliance risks subscription businesses face. Save your spot.

Virtual event: Uncovering the subscriber landscape: Customer perspectives & trends to drive revenue. Join Oscar Wall, Recurly EMEA General Manager, and Jonas Åström, Recuro Founder and CEO, as they share their expert insights on consumer preferences, their impact on revenue, and how to grow recurring revenue across the subscription lifecycle. Save your spot.

From the Recurly blog

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