The Hill Nexstar, the local TV giant, is getting into the digital subscription business through its national political news brand The Hill.
The Hill on Wednesday will launch what it is calling The Hill Insider, with exclusive content and access that the company hopes will appeal to political professionals and news junkies alike.
It’s “for people who want to just better understand what’s happening in Washington today, and what it means for tomorrow,” says Justin Eli, senior VP of digital business strategy & product development for Nexstar, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re not trying to be everything to everyone, but wanted to go deeper on what we do today.”
That will include exclusive podcasts and newsletters, and calls with Hill journalists for $5.99 per month. A premium tier for $9.99 per month will tack on an ad-free experience on The Hill’s website, as well as VIP access to Hill events.
“For us, the core value proposition is the ‘and’ component, offering more, so it builds on what we’ve done, and that’s always had a longtime commitment to trusted bipartisan political journalism,” Eli says. “With The Hill Insider, members receive a slew of things. There’s exclusive reporting, premium newsletters, direct access to our journalists through live conversations. They can actually join some of these shows and calls and ask a question, so they are right in the thick of things. There’s additional experiences and benefits around if there’s a an event in D.C., you’ll actually have a kind of VIP if you’re a Hill Insider, you can have access early to set events, better seats, things like that. There’s obviously a better viewing experience online, so fewer or little to no ads on thehill.com.”
While D.C. outlets like Politico and Axios have leaned on premium offerings targeting lobbyists or other professionals (often at eye-watering prices that can run thousands of dollars per month in the case of Politico Pro), The Hill is keeping its offering more grounded and consumer-focused, even if those consumers are, for example, Supreme Court justices.
“One of the things we’re most excited about with The Hill Insider is the opportunity to offer readers reporting they simply can’t get anywhere else,” says Bill Sammon, senior VP of Washington, D.C. editorial content at The Hill & NewsNation. “Take The Gavel, Zach Schonfeld’s deep dive into the Supreme Court and federal judiciary. Zach is exceptionally well-sourced in that world, and not long ago, at an event, one of the Supreme Court justices actually sought him out to tell him how much they were enjoying the newsletter. We got such a kick out of that because it really speaks to the level of reporting and expertise we’re delivering. That’s exactly the kind of premium journalism we’re building Insider around. The Hill has been a trusted institution in Washington for more than 30 years, and Insider allows us to build on that reputation with even deeper reporting for our most engaged readers.”
The Hill, in fact, is banking on its vast digital presence, which routinely tops the Comscore ranking in the news-politics category. Nexstar is betting that even a small percentage of those users signing up would become a meaningful business. The core free website will remain unchanged, with the emphasis being on added content and fewer ads.
“There is, obviously, the folks in Washington to rely on The Hill for insights and what’s going to happen, what it could mean, what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Eli says. “There’s also a very strong core profile of customers or users across the country who look and depend on The Hill, so there’s a couple tiers when we look at it of casual readers and potentially really more hobbyists or serious kind of followers of political news as well. The way people consume news today continues to evolve, and there has never been more information available.
“We’ve intentionally designed it to be a platform that continues to evolve based on what our members want,” he adds. “I think what’s exciting is we have a set of new shows, new newsletters, and customers, insiders or subscribers can now get access to our journalists in a way they couldn’t before … And again, if you still want to view the free experience, everything that has always been The Hill will stay free, our commitment to free journalism remains unchanged. The Hill Insider just complements that existing journalism by offering additional reporting and deeper analysis.”
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