jamie

Hybrid monetization (aka ‘mixed monetization’) was THE topic during @RevenueCat's New York App Week Which makes sense, because a lot of the hard vs soft paywall conversation is still stuck on “which converts more users into paying subscribers?” Useful question, but a pretty narrow way to think about your business If the only way to use your app is to subscribe for $10/month, you’re doing two things: 1️⃣ Restricting your audience to people who are willing AND able to pay for a subscription right now That’s a fraction of the people who might enjoy your app, get value from it, and generate revenue for you Someone who won’t subscribe might happily watch an ad, make a small purchase, or become a subscriber later With a hard paywall, you lose the opportunity to find out 2️⃣ Giving everyone the same spending decision The person who’d happily spend $3 gets turned away, while the person who’d happily spend $50 has no reason or opportunity to spend more than $10 Fewer revenue-generating users at one end, less revenue from your highest-intent users at the other I’ve been calling this “dropping the floor and raising the ceiling” It’s what I’m talking about when you see me wildly gesturing up and down at a conference @philgcarter talks about this a lot, and calls it capturing value along the demand curve Either way: your audience isn’t a monolith, so why give everyone exactly one way to pay you? Games have been doing this forever: ads, rewarded ads, currencies, one-time purchases, subscriptions, season passes Those options work together Watch an ad to keep playing, buy something you actually want, subscribe because you’re coming back every day You can start generating revenue from someone long before they’re ready to subscribe, and offer more value to people who want to spend more Short-drama apps are a very visible example of this today (and, after AI agents, the only category to meaningfully break into the top 100 grossing apps in YEARS) Free episodes get you invested, then you can watch ads, buy coins to unlock more, or subscribe In our short-drama analysis, median install-to-payer conversion by day 35 was 5.5%, versus 1.6% for other Entertainment apps First-month revenue per payer was $23.85 versus $13.09 There’s a lot more going on here than ‘paywall optimization’ (If you ask me, paywalls will be irrelevant within a year or two, but that’s another post entirely) It’s about finding WHAT each individual user is willing to pay for, and HOW they’re willing to pay Then building customer journeys in your app that match those preferences That won’t be a nice-to-have when your competitors are turning more users into payers AND making more money from them Because they’ll use that revenue to outbid you in every user acquisition channel imaginable Pretty soon, we’ll all need to: 👇 Drop the floor ☝️ Raise the ceiling (PS. Let me know if you want me to share my favourite way to 'dip your toes' into mixed monetization: It doesn't require a massive overhaul of your app, and can be shipped in a few days, max!)