Recognising that the changing habits of their readers and the changing landscape of the industry called for a different approach to news, one newspaper built a platform to create a better model for both journalists and readers.

Two years ago, when half of the team working for Slovakia’s biggest newspaper left to establish an independent rival, their aim was to change newsroom practices. Targeting a gap in the market for quality, independent news, their paper, Denník N, attracted €1 million of private investment in just eight days. In a country of 5.4 million people, the paper has 23,000 paying digital subscribers – the most nationally – and 110,000 registered readers.

This autonomous setup has advantages. The paper doesn’t rely on money from advertising, giving them unique independence and transparency. Now, the team is using DNI funding for the development of the newspaper’s digital subscription platform. REMP, which stands for Readers’ Engagement and Monetisation Platform, is a set of free open–source tools for digital publishers that will help them adopt a similar model.

The platform will help publishers to understand and monetise their audiences better, market their content, and sell their services based on the best practices from e–commerce sites. REMP’s model hopes to shift the journalistic mindset away from working for clicks to focus on quality content. 

Download the full DNI Innovation Fund report 2016-2017 here to read more about some of our funded projects and key insights from the report.