Subscription Economy News: Week of 01/27/2020

Every week, we bring you the top stories and analyses from the global Subscription Economy.

It’s a subscription world now: Top 100 app subscription revenue surged to $4.6 billion last year in the U.S. alone

Excerpts from an article by Michael Grothaus on Fast Company

Consumer willingness to spend money on subscriptions is only increasing.

That’s according to a new report from market intelligence firm SensorTower. The firm’s report found that customers in the U.S. alone spent a whopping $4.6 billion on in-app subscriptions in the top 100 apps in 2019. That’s a 21% increase from the year earlier.

What’s more staggering is those numbers are for in-app subscriptions excluding game subscriptions—so only apps that provide content like streaming video, digital magazines, or software services.

And while the $4.6 billion number covers subscriptions from both the Apple App Store and Google Play store, keep in mind that the figure doesn’t include subscriptions (such as Netflix) that people pay for outside the two app stores, nor does it include in-app subscriptions for apps that fall outside the top 100.

For more, read the full article on Fast Company

Apple Hires Key Netflix Engineer in Bid to Boost Subscription Services

Excerpts from an article by Tripp Mickle and Joe Flint on The Wall Street Journal

Apple recently hired one of Netflix’s top engineers, part of a broader strategy to build out the technical team supporting its newly launched TV-streaming and subscription services.

Ruslan Meshenberg, who helped build out Netflix’s platform and was involved in key initiatives to create a speedier, more consistent service for viewers, joined Apple’s internet-services organization this week.

He joins Apple at the same time it is expanding its $4.99-a-month TV+ service with other new hires, additional shows and movies—a complex undertaking that has tripped up other entrants into the video-streaming business.

For more, read the full article on The Wall Street Journal and learn how Zuora is helping streaming companies succeed with a subscription business model  

Business revolution: What is the membership economy?

Excerpts from an article by Robbie Kellman Baxter on Big Think

“I think that the membership economy is having as big an impact on business as the industrial revolution,” says Silicon Valley consultant Robbie Kellman Baxter. Memberships or subscriptions fundamentally change the relationship between the consumer and the brand by delivering what Baxter calls a “forever promise.”

The famous example of Blockbuster vs. Netflix illustrates this perfectly.

Subscriptions are not a new idea. Charles Dickens released his books to subscribers one chapter at a time, as he wrote them. What’s different today is technology and the speed at which even a one-person business can reach a huge number of customers.

For more, read the full article on Big Think 

Juicar EV-by-subscription launched in Germany & Italy

Excerpts from an article by Chris Randall on Electrive

The Swiss energy group Alpiq is now launching its electric mobility subscription service Juicar in Germany and Italy. Juicar has been on the market in Switzerland since August 2018. In Germany the subscription is now available nationwide in cooperation with the fleet operator Arval.

In the field of electric mobility, Juicar operates along the lines of the monthly flat rates of Netflix. The package at a fixed price includes all services related to the vehicle: from the electric car itself, the matching home charging station, public charging and motor vehicle tax to insurance and the payment of electricity costs.

By 2025, one in ten vehicles is expected to be used via subscription. And as Gerhard says, “We want to be the leader in this market.”

For more, read the full article on Electrive and learn how Zuora is helping automotive companies succeed with a subscription business model. 

For more Subscription Economy resources and events, head to www.subscribed.com

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