TL;DR
Media teams are stuck in tradeoffs: subs vs. ads vs. access.
NBA uses AI to pick the best action in real time—no more one-size-fits-all rules.
Publishers using NBA are seeing higher conversions, better UX, and team alignment.
Every moment is scored and optimized—so the system gets smarter over time.
NBA isn’t just about gating—it’s a growth engine across channels and teams.
The Challenge: Internal Tradeoffs are Blocking Growth
For media publishers, growth used to mean picking a lane: drive subscriptions, boost ad revenue, or build loyalty through open access. But those goals no longer live in isolation.
In conversations across our publisher base, a clear pattern has emerged: each team is optimizing for a different outcome.
Subscription teams want to gate content earlier to improve conversion rates
Ad teams push to keep pages open for monetization
Editorial teams prioritize access—especially when civic impact is involved
All of these goals are valid—but when they collide, the customer experience suffers. High-potential subscribers get blocked too soon. Casual readers stay unmonetized. Valuable first-party data slips through the cracks. And teams end up debating which tradeoffs are “worth it.”
That tension is made worse by static metering systems and rule-based targeting that apply the same logic to every visitor—regardless of intent or context.
The Shift: Letting the System Decide, One Moment at a Time
Instead of forcing a single experience on every visitor, publishers are now using next best action (NBA) to decide what to show based on live behavior and business context.
NBA works by analyzing:
How someone arrived (e.g., referral source, campaign click)
What they’re doing (e.g., scrolling, hovering, engaging)
Who they are (e.g., location, known vs. anonymous)
What they’ve done before (e.g., repeat visits, past subscriptions)
Then, the system scores every available action—subscribe, register, keep reading, show an ad—and delivers the one with the highest expected value in that moment.
This means:
A high-intent user might see a hard paywall
A mid-funnel reader could get prompted to register or sign up for a newsletter
A low-likelihood user might be allowed to read freely, preserving impressions and trust
It’s not about personalization for personalization’s sake. It’s about smarter prioritization.
What’s Changing: Outcomes Across the Board
In controlled tests, publishers using NBA have seen major lifts in key performance areas. While results vary by strategy and audience, the directional impact is consistent:
Higher paywall conversions, because the system shows the paywall only when it’s most likely to succeed
More qualified lead capture, driven by better-timed and better-matched registration prompts
Improved user experience, with fewer abrupt paywall stops and smarter decisions about when not to show anything at all
Better alignment across teams, because decisions are made based on total business value—not just individual KPIs
Even more importantly, the model gets better over time. With every click, bounce, scroll, and signup, the system learns and adapts—so decisions keep improving without constant manual tweaking.
What Comes Next: Moving Beyond the Paywall
For the publishers embracing NBA, the next horizon isn’t just about converting more readers—it’s about increasing value over time.
That includes:
Promoting loyalty actions like app downloads or exclusive content access
Extending NBA logic into email and paid media channels
Optimizing post-subscription journeys for retention and LTV
Using real-time decisions to balance every revenue stream—not just the first one
In short: they’re turning NBA into a cross-functional growth engine, not just a conversion tool.
Final Thought: You Don’t Have to Pick Sides Anymore
If your teams are still debating which metric matters most—conversion, engagement, monetization—it might be time to reframe the question.
With Next Best Action, you can prioritize the right action for each person, each time they visit. No more hardcoded tradeoffs. No more one-size-fits-all journeys. Just smarter decisions that create more value from every visit.
Want to see how NBA could help your team align around outcomes? Request a demo today.
