Why do people really pay for news in 2025 — and what keeps them paying month after month?
In this episode of Insight Shapes News by Kilkaya, host Nils Ove Håland Riise sits down with Dominic Grzbielok, Head of Paid Content s at Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). Dominic is a former journalist turned product leader who has spent the last 15 years living in the intersection of newsroom culture, product strategy, and subscription growth.
SZ has set an ambitious north-star: fund the entire company through digital subscriptions by 2030. That goal shapes everything — from what the homepage looks like, to how paywalls work, to what metrics matter most. Dominic shares how SZ is evolving from reach-first thinking to serving loyal subscribers, why churn is the ultimate truth, and how habits — not hacks — are the real retention engine.
We also dive into the most heated questions publishers face right now:
Should personalization climb higher on the homepage?
Do dynamic paywalls beat hard paywalls?
And in a world of AI answers and LLM distribution… do we still need a homepage at all?
🎧 Topics we cover:
Why people subscribe to news — and why “feeling informed” beats raw content
The 2030 goal: going all-in on digital subscription revenue
Why revenue matters more than subscriber counts (and the danger of discount addiction)
The homepage as front door and brand signal — with 3/4 of it paywalled
How SZ introduced hybrid personalization (editorial top, algorithmic modules below)
What it takes to earn editorial trust in personalization: dashboards, rules, fast fixes
The single most important metric
Habits that retain: newsletters, podcasts, quizzes, games, and serialized content
Bundling as a retention strategy — including SZ’s winning sports bundle with Kicker
Why regional mega-bundles are harder in Germany than in the Nordics
Dynamic paywalls: promising, but not worth the complexity yet
AI distribution and licensing: partner, don’t panic — but don’t give away the brand
The future for small publishers: specialization, local dominance, and cost discipline
Dominic’s biggest lesson: the best products happen when journalists, designers, and PMs build together
If you’re working on subscriptions, personalization, homepage strategy, or trying to navigate the AI-era business model shift — this conversation is a grounded, practical walk through what it takes to build a subscriber-first newsroom without losing your soul.