Case Study
Beyond Either-Or: How The Post and Courier Unified Ad and Subscription Revenue for Maximum Growth
How The Post and Courier Unified Newsroom, Subscriptions & Advertising with Piano to Drive Total Revenue Optimization
Case Study
Beyond Either-Or: How The Post and Courier Unified Ad and Subscription Revenue for Maximum Growth
How The Post and Courier Unified Newsroom, Subscriptions & Advertising with Piano to Drive Total Revenue Optimization
Case Study
Beyond Either-Or: How The Post and Courier Unified Ad and Subscription Revenue for Maximum Growth
How The Post and Courier Unified Newsroom, Subscriptions & Advertising with Piano to Drive Total Revenue Optimization
The Post and Courier, South Carolina’s largest and leading independent news organization, has been serving the state since 1803. A family-owned, mission-driven, Pulitzer Prize–winning newsroom, it delivers sustainable, high-impact journalism through 10+ local editions statewide. A Piano client since 2017, with more than 23,000 digital-only subscribers and deep community roots, the organization has been adapting its digital strategy to balance high-quality reporting with sustainable business growth.
The Post and Courier, South Carolina’s largest and leading independent news organization, has been serving the state since 1803. A family-owned, mission-driven, Pulitzer Prize–winning newsroom, it delivers sustainable, high-impact journalism through 10+ local editions statewide. A Piano client since 2017, with more than 23,000 digital-only subscribers and deep community roots, the organization has been adapting its digital strategy to balance high-quality reporting with sustainable business growth.
Key Results
Key Results
Key Results
57%
57%
57%
paywall revenue growth period-over-period
17%
17%
17%
YOY subscription revenue growth
16%
16%
16%
growth in ad impressions
The Post and Courier had built its digital strategy around reader revenue as the cornerstone of sustainable journalism. This alignment with subscription-first growth had proven successful, but as the organization expanded its statewide coverage, leadership recognized an untapped opportunity. When Piano's Ad Revenue Insights became available, The Post and Courier realized how advertising could be strategically utilized for audiences less likely to subscribe, creating an additive layer to their existing sustainability equation.
While the newsroom, subscription, and advertising teams shared the same revenue goals, each operated with different KPIs and tools.
This approach meant:
Optimizations for one KPI (e.g., increasing paywall exposures) could unintentionally hurt another (e.g., ad inventory).
Time-consuming manual checks across platforms hindered the ability to quickly identify monetization gaps.
An inability to fully capitalize on the additive revenue potential that advertising represented
Challenge
Challenge
The Post and Courier had built its digital strategy around reader revenue as the cornerstone of sustainable journalism. This alignment with subscription-first growth had proven successful, but as the organization expanded its statewide coverage, leadership recognized an untapped opportunity. When Piano's Ad Revenue Insights became available, The Post and Courier realized how advertising could be strategically utilized for audiences less likely to subscribe, creating an additive layer to their existing sustainability equation.
While the newsroom, subscription, and advertising teams shared the same revenue goals, each operated with different KPIs and tools.
This approach meant:
Optimizations for one KPI (e.g., increasing paywall exposures) could unintentionally hurt another (e.g., ad inventory).
Time-consuming manual checks across platforms hindered the ability to quickly identify monetization gaps.
An inability to fully capitalize on the additive revenue potential that advertising represented
The Post and Courier had built its digital strategy around reader revenue as the cornerstone of sustainable journalism. This alignment with subscription-first growth had proven successful, but as the organization expanded its statewide coverage, leadership recognized an untapped opportunity. When Piano's Ad Revenue Insights became available, The Post and Courier realized how advertising could be strategically utilized for audiences less likely to subscribe, creating an additive layer to their existing sustainability equation.
While the newsroom, subscription, and advertising teams shared the same revenue goals, each operated with different KPIs and tools.
This approach meant:
Optimizations for one KPI (e.g., increasing paywall exposures) could unintentionally hurt another (e.g., ad inventory).
Time-consuming manual checks across platforms hindered the ability to quickly identify monetization gaps.
An inability to fully capitalize on the additive revenue potential that advertising represented
Challenge
Recognizing that advertising revenue could be additive to their subscription-first sustainability equation, The Post and Courier partnered with Piano to implement Ad Revenue Insights (ARI) on top of their existing Piano tech stack. This created a unified operating layer - a shared lens allowing every department to see its performance in the context of the total revenue engine.
This strategic shift enabled:
Total Revenue Optimization - The Post and Courier team leveraged Piano’s dynamic paywall to predict the value of each pageview and adjust the user experience accordingly. Rather than optimizing solely for subscription revenue, Piano’s advanced dynamic paywall was built with ingestion of both ad revenue and subscription data, maximizing total audience value while maintaining subscription primacy. To know more about how it works, check here.
Enhanced Cross-Department Collaboration - Weekly leadership meetings with editorial, subscriptions, advertising, and product teams using ARI dashboards to make shared, data-driven decisions that support both journalism and business sustainability.
Audience Segmentation - Leveraging segment data in Composer and GAM to deliver highly relevant experiences, from subscription offers for high-propensity readers to optimized ad experiences for those less likely to subscribe.
Ad Revenue Insights for Inventory Validation - Identifying missing ad units on new sections and improving CPMs with segmented floor pricing, particularly valuable as the organization expanded statewide coverage.
Solution
Solution
Recognizing that advertising revenue could be additive to their subscription-first sustainability equation, The Post and Courier partnered with Piano to implement Ad Revenue Insights (ARI) on top of their existing Piano tech stack. This created a unified operating layer - a shared lens allowing every department to see its performance in the context of the total revenue engine.
This strategic shift enabled:
Total Revenue Optimization - The Post and Courier team leveraged Piano’s dynamic paywall to predict the value of each pageview and adjust the user experience accordingly. Rather than optimizing solely for subscription revenue, Piano’s advanced dynamic paywall was built with ingestion of both ad revenue and subscription data, maximizing total audience value while maintaining subscription primacy. To know more about how it works, check here.
Enhanced Cross-Department Collaboration - Weekly leadership meetings with editorial, subscriptions, advertising, and product teams using ARI dashboards to make shared, data-driven decisions that support both journalism and business sustainability.
Audience Segmentation - Leveraging segment data in Composer and GAM to deliver highly relevant experiences, from subscription offers for high-propensity readers to optimized ad experiences for those less likely to subscribe.
Ad Revenue Insights for Inventory Validation - Identifying missing ad units on new sections and improving CPMs with segmented floor pricing, particularly valuable as the organization expanded statewide coverage.
Recognizing that advertising revenue could be additive to their subscription-first sustainability equation, The Post and Courier partnered with Piano to implement Ad Revenue Insights (ARI) on top of their existing Piano tech stack. This created a unified operating layer - a shared lens allowing every department to see its performance in the context of the total revenue engine.
This strategic shift enabled:
Total Revenue Optimization - The Post and Courier team leveraged Piano’s dynamic paywall to predict the value of each pageview and adjust the user experience accordingly. Rather than optimizing solely for subscription revenue, Piano’s advanced dynamic paywall was built with ingestion of both ad revenue and subscription data, maximizing total audience value while maintaining subscription primacy. To know more about how it works, check here.
Enhanced Cross-Department Collaboration - Weekly leadership meetings with editorial, subscriptions, advertising, and product teams using ARI dashboards to make shared, data-driven decisions that support both journalism and business sustainability.
Audience Segmentation - Leveraging segment data in Composer and GAM to deliver highly relevant experiences, from subscription offers for high-propensity readers to optimized ad experiences for those less likely to subscribe.
Ad Revenue Insights for Inventory Validation - Identifying missing ad units on new sections and improving CPMs with segmented floor pricing, particularly valuable as the organization expanded statewide coverage.
Solution
"
By leveraging ARI, we were able to optimize both advertising and subscription revenue streams. Where these sides often competed against each other, this has allowed us to maximize total revenue while growing our audience"
"
—
PJ Browning, President and Publisher of The Post and Courier
"
By leveraging ARI, we were able to optimize both advertising and subscription revenue streams. Where these sides often competed against each other, this has allowed us to maximize total revenue while growing our audience"
"
—
PJ Browning, President and Publisher of The Post and Courier
"
By leveraging ARI, we were able to optimize both advertising and subscription revenue streams. Where these sides often competed against each other, this has allowed us to maximize total revenue while growing our audience"
"
—
PJ Browning, President and Publisher of The Post and Courier
The adoption of Ad Revenue Insights helped The Post and Courier drive growth and efficiency across their businesses while maintaining their reader-first approach.
From KPIs to Orchestration
Piano provides a unified operating layer—a shared lens through which all departments can see their metrics in the context of the entire revenue engine.
The three teams are no longer optimizing in isolation but speaking a common language, hosting weekly report meetings, co-owning outcomes, and viewing journalism and business goals as interdependent rather than conflicting.
Total Revenue Optimization with Subscription Primacy
The dynamic paywall initiative yielded strong results while supporting the organization’s commitment to reader revenue:
Total paywall exposures were strategically reduced while conversion rates increased
Achieved 57% paywall revenue growth period-over-period and 17% YOY subscription revenue growth
Programmatic ad revenue increased ~17% and ad impressions grew by 16%, providing additive revenue from audiences less likely to subscribe
Newsroom Engagement
94 ARI dashboards built for reporters and editors to track content output, connect stories to subscription and ad revenue, and align newsroom output with audience needs
Metrics reframed as a journalistic tool—helping inform citizens and strengthen democratic engagement while supporting business sustainability
This approach has enabled The Post and Courier to maintain its mission-driven journalism while building a more robust and diversified revenue model that serves readers across the subscription spectrum.
Results
Results
The adoption of Ad Revenue Insights helped The Post and Courier drive growth and efficiency across their businesses while maintaining their reader-first approach.
From KPIs to Orchestration
Piano provides a unified operating layer—a shared lens through which all departments can see their metrics in the context of the entire revenue engine.
The three teams are no longer optimizing in isolation but speaking a common language, hosting weekly report meetings, co-owning outcomes, and viewing journalism and business goals as interdependent rather than conflicting.
Total Revenue Optimization with Subscription Primacy
The dynamic paywall initiative yielded strong results while supporting the organization’s commitment to reader revenue:
Total paywall exposures were strategically reduced while conversion rates increased
Achieved 57% paywall revenue growth period-over-period and 17% YOY subscription revenue growth
Programmatic ad revenue increased ~17% and ad impressions grew by 16%, providing additive revenue from audiences less likely to subscribe
Newsroom Engagement
94 ARI dashboards built for reporters and editors to track content output, connect stories to subscription and ad revenue, and align newsroom output with audience needs
Metrics reframed as a journalistic tool—helping inform citizens and strengthen democratic engagement while supporting business sustainability
This approach has enabled The Post and Courier to maintain its mission-driven journalism while building a more robust and diversified revenue model that serves readers across the subscription spectrum.
The adoption of Ad Revenue Insights helped The Post and Courier drive growth and efficiency across their businesses while maintaining their reader-first approach.
From KPIs to Orchestration
Piano provides a unified operating layer—a shared lens through which all departments can see their metrics in the context of the entire revenue engine.
The three teams are no longer optimizing in isolation but speaking a common language, hosting weekly report meetings, co-owning outcomes, and viewing journalism and business goals as interdependent rather than conflicting.
Total Revenue Optimization with Subscription Primacy
The dynamic paywall initiative yielded strong results while supporting the organization’s commitment to reader revenue:
Total paywall exposures were strategically reduced while conversion rates increased
Achieved 57% paywall revenue growth period-over-period and 17% YOY subscription revenue growth
Programmatic ad revenue increased ~17% and ad impressions grew by 16%, providing additive revenue from audiences less likely to subscribe
Newsroom Engagement
94 ARI dashboards built for reporters and editors to track content output, connect stories to subscription and ad revenue, and align newsroom output with audience needs
Metrics reframed as a journalistic tool—helping inform citizens and strengthen democratic engagement while supporting business sustainability
This approach has enabled The Post and Courier to maintain its mission-driven journalism while building a more robust and diversified revenue model that serves readers across the subscription spectrum.
Results
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Start here to learn how Piano can help
Empower every team to understand and influence customer behavior.
Platform
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Empower every team to understand and influence customer behavior.
Platform
Industries
Company
Empower every team to understand and influence customer behavior.
Platform
Industries
Company