Summary
Since 1853, DPG Media has been a pillar of journalism in the Netherlands and Belgium. It distributes eleven national and regional publications, and has a mission to support media literacy and combat the spread of misinformation.
While the company maintained a commanding presence with an older, established audience, reaching Gen Z—a group that’s 45% more likely to source news from Snapchat than traditional outlets—presented a formidable challenge. To ensure its long-term relevance and more deeply connect the next generation to verified, independent journalism, DPG Media launched an exclusive offer that enabled students to subscribe for free. The company used SheerID’s Audience Network to verify eligibility for the offer, protect it from abuse, and make it easy to access.
The new program drove 40,000 student subscriptions in just 48 hours, sparking a cultural shift within DPG Media’s subscriber base and anchoring the brand—and the importance of media literacy—in the lives of the next generation.
Challenge
DPG Media has nearly three million subscribers. For years, the company tried to bring more younger readers into the fold, but it kept coming up short. Even giving students a significant discount didn’t seem to work.
“We offered students a 40% discount in the past, and while we gained a few thousand subscriptions across all titles, the program never achieved the traction necessary for long-term success,” said Imke Rodermans, DPG Media’s marketing project manager, IT.
DPG Media realized that while students loved a discount, many didn’t see enough value paying for news, even at a reduced rate. So the company removed the price barrier altogether, and that made a big difference.
“Students have limited budgets, and when we made their subscription free, the number of student subscribers significantly increased,” Imke said.
From the moment DPG Media decided to offer free news access to students, it knew that speed and security were top priorities. Gen Z has an incredibly high expectation for instant access, and any friction in the sign-up process would have been a dealbreaker.
DPG Media knew it had the right offer, it just needed a way to instantly and securely verify students in real time and with the implementation speed needed to meet its swift timeline.
To give DPG Media a robust future, we needed to remove the obstacles that prevented younger audiences from reading everything we produce.
Solution
DPG Media partnered with SheerID to scale its student offer. The company gave students in the Netherlands and Belgium a free digital subscription to all eleven publications in the company’s portfolio, and used SheerID’s Audience Network to instantly verify that every customer redeemed the offer was actually a student.
Despite having a massive and complex internal IT structure, DPG Media was able to easily integrate the verification process into its subscription flow. Students simply enter basic information into a form and SheerID instantly verifies them.
DPG Media strategically timed the launch of the offer with national elections. This gave students the tools to navigate political discourse and form their own opinions based on verified journalism.
The company also hosted in-person roundtables at the Media College in Amsterdam and at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Zwolle to promote the launch. The events brought together students, educators, and DPG Media’s editors-in-chief to discuss how to bridge the gap between young people and journalism.
We chose SheerID because they deliver an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution. It is very smooth, simple, and easy to implement within our complex IT structure. It’s been a dream partnership.
Results
Within the first 48 hours of launch, DPG Media verified 40,000 students, bringing thousands of new subscribers every hour. And in the five months since launch, the number of verified students has doubled to more than 80,000.
“Seeing this level of student engagement is incredibly promising,” says Imke. “We are now iterating on these results to build long-term loyalty—testing new content formats that mirror the platforms they already love, like TikTok and Snapchat.”
DPG Media’s verified student offer has given the company a bright future by transforming the company from a traditional publisher into a mission-driven brand that resonates with Gen Z’s values. By helping DPG Media give students clear value, SheerID is enabling the media company to build a trusted connection with students that will carry the brand into the next fifty years.