Q: Do you think that the fact that vk.se was a very successful web site with lots of traffic early on in the 1990s and 2000s when there was no paywall, has helped the title to get many paying subscribers in the last 10 years after the paywall was set up?
A: Yes, the early online success built strong brand recognition and habits of going directly to vk.se, which later made it easier to convert readers when the premium paywall was introduced in 2013.

Q: When you click on a major news story, would that be paid for? Do you need to pay for that, or will you keep some stories open?
A: Breaking news is usually open, but in-depth follow-ups and added value reporting are behind the paywall. Maybe half of our articles are premium articles, and the rest goes on the frequency model. That balance has worked well for us.

Q: Do you have any special offers for younger people, subscribers?
A: Yes, we use student discounts and other special campaigns targeted at younger audiences to make subscriptions more affordable.

Q: How many, and you might have said, I don't know, how many young audience subscribers do you have compared to older ones in percentage?
A: Roughly one in three of our subscribers is under 45, and that share is growing thanks to the young audience projects.

Q: Do you follow user needs data in real-time analytics?
A: We don’t act on every spike in real time, but we follow data very closely. The focus is on combining analytics with surveys and interviews to build lasting insights.

Q: Which formats, like text, audio, video, newsletter, are used most for your young audience? Is there like a split in that type of platform way?
A: Text is still the dominant format, but we are investing in audio, video, and newsletters. Newsletters in particular have proven effective for loyalty with younger readers. On the audio side, we’ve started experimenting with podcasts and text-to-speech to make content more accessible, while video is being tested for crime, sports and community coverage. We see potential, but it’s still about finding the right balance with our resources.

Q: How many people work in the departments that are included in the cross teams, cross-functional teams? Like what is the total staff and how many people are at any one time working in a cross team?
A: VK’s newsroom is about 40 people, and cross-teams usually have three to seven members. Several projects can run in parallel, each with a dedicated project manager.

Q: How much of your traffic to VK.se is organic and how come you have this result?
A: Around 80–85% of traffic is direct. That is a result of being a strong local brand and building reader habits over many years. We rely much less on Facebook or Google.

Q: So in 2025, if publishers participating today want to achieve the same number, how should they do it?
A: Start with small, focused projects. Build cross-functional teams, use data, test, and don’t be afraid to fail. Over time, this creates both culture and results.

Q: For many young people, local news are only nice to read instead of need to read news. And that's why they can be reluctant to pay for them. How do you meet that challenge?
A: By showing relevance. We angle stories toward life stages, highlight younger voices, and explain issues that matter in everyday life. It’s about connecting journalism to their reality.

Q: You mentioned that you develop your own user models for each project? Can you tell us more?
A: Yes, every project begins with target groups and hypotheses. We create simple models for what those users need — for example, new parents — and then test and refine based on data.

Q: What is VK Lite?
A: It’s a new lighter app we are developing, aimed at making the reading experience faster and more convenient, especially for mobile users.