Eldiario.es’s business model

The key element of El Diaro’s business model is a membership programme that invites readers to belong to a community of citizens sharing values like equality, democratization, social justice and more importantly, the need for free independent journalism without restraints. They refer to them as their “partners in crime” as together they make independent journalism possible.

“Eldiario.es is a digital news site which has become a major reference in current affairs for a new generation of Spanish readers, and also a pioneer in high quality content and innovative business model worldwide. Launched in the middle of the financial crisis with no big investors or corporates backing it – just a bunch of journalists and their savings – eldiario.es has developed a community-based journalism model reaching mainstream audiences with scarce resources. Among the dozens of new digital projects born in the past decade in Spain, eldiario.es stands out. More than 5M unique users per month (ComScore Mmx) now read eldiario.es and that figure grows every month.

The key business innovation is the ‘membership program’ – more than 20.000 people (“socios”) already give financial support to eldiario.es in order to strengthen our editorial and economic independence. But it is not a paywall: the “socios” of eldiario.es do not pay to read the news, they pay for the information to be freely spread and thus gain social impact. They pay to belong to a community of citizens sharing values like equality, democratization, social justice and more importantly, the need for independent journalism.

Thanks to them eldiario.es is also a profitable company. They represent more than 30% of our annual income. And in order to be fully transparent with their contribution, we biannually publish our financial accounts. This good practice has become an expected date for the audience who perceives us as a trustful and reliable newsroom.”

EU referendum tracker

This tracker enables readers to follow the U.K.’s Brexit referendum. This is the first time a pass for Apple wallet has been used to deliver news. The pass for Apple wallet updated readers in realtime with the latest news and results during the U.K.’s Brexit referendum, allowing them to track the vote via mobile without needing to download an app. It was the first time globally that this technology has been used to deliver news.

More than 10,000 passes were installed in a week, from users in over 100 countries. Users rated the tracker 8.4 out of 10 and 95 percent would recommend another POLITICO product. 74 percent of registered users were new to POLITICO, a new audience that has since formed the base of POLITICO’s expansion in the U.K. As well as being well-received by users, the tracker was hailed by the digital industry as an innovative way to engage an audience without requiring them to download a separate app.