This story is part of the series from the Transition Accelerator 2024 cohort.
Today, we spotlight Delfi, Lithuania’s largest digital news outlet, founded 25 years ago. From covering breaking news to building a multi-platform media brand, Delfi reaches 570,000 readers daily in a country of just 2.7 million. We talked to Vaida Kozlovskienė, Head of Subscription and Aistė Kairė, Digital Transformation Executive, giving us a deeper insight into the focus of their subscription model development.
Over the past six years, Delfi has been shifting away from an advertising-only model toward a more sustainable subscription base. Today, the outlet has over 40,000 subscribers and aims to reach 100,000 by 2028. To refine its subscription offering, Delfi joined IPI’s Transition Accelerator.
Even for a legacy brand leading in reach and recognition, the subscription challenge can stand large. “It’s a closed market, our language is niche and people are used to getting their news online without paying for it”, shared Vaida Kozlovskienė, Head of Subscription at Delfi.
Introducing the Value Club
Before joining the Accelerator, Delfi ran a survey and found that 53% of respondents would be more likely to pay if their subscription came with incentives like discounts, courses, or small rewards. That led to the idea of a loyalty and partnership program, Delfi Value Club.
At first, the team assumed those incentives should solely focus on culture: discounts on theater tickets or bookstore vouchers, something aligning with their media identity. But deep engagement with their users told a different story: people wanted discounts for spa, health services, healthy food spots, laundry services, even car washes – something practical and useful in their everyday life.
“One turning point came during the Accelerator bootcamp in Vienna. The techniques we learned from the trainers, especially deep interviews and segmentation, helped us reevaluate everything. We realized that even large surveys weren’t capturing the full picture”, recalls Aistė Kairė, Digital Transformation Executive.
The Delfi Value Club isn’t just a retention tool. It’s a strategic lever to expand reach and attract younger audiences that Delfi was struggling to engage. At the same time, the project supports local businesses by offering them a platform to promote their services. It’s a win-win-win: for readers, for partners, and for independent media.
Finding ethical and relevant national business for the program proved to be challenging, but the team ended up with fewer but stronger offers. “All partners are carefully vetted: no Russia-based companies, no competing businesses, and a strong emphasis on market leaders with high ethical standards”.
Even before launching the Delfi Value Club, just the announcement of an early-stage upgrade convinced 15,000 users to register for it. The team has signed agreements with partners and focused on a strong communication strategy.
Meeting the audience on eye level
“The training on newsletter and reader revenue with The Daily Maverick team hit hard… They have 600,000 subscribers in a market not much bigger than ours. It was powerful to see what’s possible when you really invest in your community. We thought we were already good at this. But now we realize we’re only just beginning.” Aistė Kairė recalls.
To put that inspiration into practice, Delfi organized offline gatherings in regional towns and introduced its journalists to new communities in order to strengthen trust. “It can’t be one-way communication anymore. The future of subscriptions is listening”, the team believes.
Plans are underway to deepen that listening loop with ongoing interviews, on-site feedback forms, and to keep meeting their readers in an offline format.
Embracing changes within the team
Delfi is investing not only in product innovation, but also in cross-departmental collaboration. “Success today isn’t about having good journalists alone. You need good marketers, strategists, data analysts to work together, understand each other’s tasks”
That collaboration has already reshaped internal dynamics. Once sceptical, editorial teams now embrace the subscription model: “We’re changing society’s mindset and our own. Subscriptions are everywhere now, not only on Spotify, Netflix, and audiobooks. If you buy a car today, you’ll need an app just to drive. Media, as any other industry, must evolve.”
The Transition Accelerator is part of the Media Innovation Europe programme (MIE), made possible with the support of the European Union.
