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How The Ankler converts its free audience into paid subscribers

Simon Owens

Apr 30

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When Richard Rushfield launched his Hollywood industry newsletter The Ankler in 2017, he ran every aspect of the business, from the content creation to the customer service. Today, The Ankler resembles a more traditional trade magazine, with a seasoned editor-in-chief and multiple staff writers.

But even though Richard took on a small amount of VC investment, most of the company’s growth has been organic, fueled in large part by an extremely successful paid subscription model.

In my interview with Richard, he walked me through The Ankler’s comprehensive strategy for converting its free audience into paid. Our conversation included:

How his staff determines which articles to place in front of and behind the paywall
Why they diversified into multiple newsletters focused on specific niches
How The Ankler uses teaser content to drive conversions
Why he’s decided to stay with Substack as The Ankler evolved from a solo newsletter to a fully diversified media company

Watch our interview in the video embedded below:...