As The Atlantic draws closer to 1 million subscribers, the publisher must battle declines in traffic to keep momentum going

This year, The Atlantic hired around 30 people to its editorial team, including four staff writers and a senior editor from The New York Times, as well as other editors and writers from publications like Politico, Wired and Engadget. Two people were added to the experimental storytelling team, and on July 26, the company announced the launch of a new section called “America In Person” to explore the complexity of American identity. This all comes after the magazine laid off 68 employees, or 17% of its workforce, in May 2020.

The Atlantic publishes a mix of stories, some that bring in traffic and others that convert subscribers, according to Thompson. Analysis on breaking news tends to bring in more traffic, while deeper, longer-form stories are what convert readers to become subscribers, he said.

In the last 30 days, the story with the highest conversion rate went to Elizabeth Bruenig’s article on the crisis at Yale Law School around the professor Amy Chua, he said. Other high-converting stories include Ed Yong’s synopsis on how the pandemic ends and Anne Applebaum’s look at My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. High-trafficked stories include Jennifer Senior’s piece on families coping with the tragedy of 9/11 two decades later and articles about the U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan, Thompson said. He did not share specific numbers. 

Both types of stories are necessary when subscriptions and advertising are large sources of revenue for the company. Subscription revenue makes up 45% of The Atlantic’s business (the rest is advertising, events and business-to-business revenue). Both subscription and advertising revenue has increased this year, according to Thompson, who again declined to share the numbers.

The Atlantic has also added people to its business side to support its subscription goals. A few recent hires include svp of audience strategy Andrea Valdez and Megha Garibaldi as senior director of consumer strategy & growth.

When asked about churn rates (when a subscriber cancels or does not renew their subscription) at The Atlantic, Thompson declined to share the numbers but said they are “not really an issue for us,” in part because The Atlantic stopped offering discounts on its subscription when it launched its paywall. “It’s much easier to retain people if they haven’t come in through a crazy discount,” he said. With discounts, you might get “people who don’t really want to subscribe… and those people churn more… The higher your introductory price, the lower your churn rate,” Thompson said.

In April 2020, the number of publishers offering free trials or subscription plans increased to 18%, according to subscription management platform Zuora. Publishers took advantage of a surge in traffic, as people hungrily searched for information about the spreading COVID-19 virus. However, discounts mean people are paying far less than the value of the product. 

The goal is to eventually get all of The Atlantic’s subscribers to pay its online introductory rates “through careful next-term pricing and messaging,” Thompson said. Those rates are $49.99 for an annual digital subscription, $59.99 for an annual print and digital bundle or $100 a year for a premium subscription that includes an ad-free experience online and a gift subscription. There are still about 230,000 legacy subscribers who only pay for the print magazine.

“There is an optimal price for The Atlantic, but it’s a math problem, and it’s probably higher than we currently charge…” Thompson said. The Atlantic will continue to experiment with its pricing, he said, but did not share specific plans.