The Design Towards a Collaborative Subscription Service: The Case of the Finnish Newspaper Industry

The newspaper industry is challenged with its business models. To stabilize revenues, publishers opted for digital subscriptions for generating additional revenue streams. However, digital subscriptions showcase limited success. News aggregator platforms may promise publishers a pool of paying readers. But platform fees and the loss of customer relationships enact barriers among publishers to join. This study proposes a software prototype based on design science research to address the aforementioned shortcomings by deriving design principles for a collaborative subscription service. Building on the strategic alliance, digital platform and business model literature, this research aims to identify design principles that create conducive conditions towards a collaborative subscription service among newspaper publishers.