Digital magazine and newspaper platform Readly has secured a new partnership with EE that will give eligible customers access to thousands of publications as part of the telecoms company’s loyalty offering.

The agreement will see Readly become available through EE One Up, the rewards programme for EE One customers who combine broadband and mobile services.

According to Readly, the partnership has the potential to bring its digital publishing service to more than one million households, strengthening its position in the UK while giving EE another benefit with which to encourage customers to combine services and remain within its ecosystem.

More Than 5,000 Publications Available

Through the partnership, EE One Up customers will receive an extended period of free access to Readly’s catalogue of more than 5,000 magazines and newspapers from publishers around the world.

The service brings publications covering news, entertainment, technology, gaming, health, motoring and other interests together within a single app.

Titles available through Readly include The Guardian, Empire, Stuff, Edge, Women’s Health, Radio Times and Auto Express.

For EE, the addition supports its wider convergence strategy, which aims to bring broadband, mobile and other services together while providing additional rewards for customers taking multiple products.

For Readly and its parent Cafeyn Group, meanwhile, the agreement represents another significant distribution partnership and provides an opportunity to expand the audience for its subscription-based digital publishing model in the UK.

Laurent Kayser, CEO at Cafeyn Group, said:

“Partnering with EE, one of the UK’s leading consumer brands and subscription platforms, is an important milestone for Readly and Cafeyn Group. It also reflects the growing role trusted editorial content can play in helping telecom operators create deeper customer engagement. Together, we aim to make high-quality journalism more accessible to millions of UK consumers through a seamless and highly valued experience.”

Editorial Content Becomes a Customer Retention Tool

The deal also illustrates the increasingly important role that third-party digital services can play in the battle between telecoms providers for customer loyalty.

Rather than competing solely on mobile data, broadband speeds and price, operators have increasingly looked towards entertainment, media and other subscription benefits to differentiate packages and give customers additional reasons to remain with a provider.

For Readly, partnerships of this kind provide another route to consumers beyond acquiring subscribers directly.

Cafeyn Group operates a hybrid B2C and B2B2C business model, combining subscriptions sold directly to consumers with partnerships through telecom operators and other digital platforms.

The group has developed similar large-scale distribution relationships across Europe, allowing partners to add magazine and newspaper access to their existing customer propositions.

The model can potentially benefit publishers too, providing another distribution and monetisation channel for editorial content at a time when the media industry continues to adapt to changing consumer reading habits.

Readly Strengthens UK Presence

The agreement with EE comes as consumers continue to move between print and digital formats when accessing magazines and newspapers.

Despite significant changes within the publishing market, millions of UK consumers continue to regularly engage with newspaper and magazine journalism.

Making a large catalogue of titles available through an existing telecoms relationship removes the need for customers to subscribe individually to multiple publications, while potentially introducing participating publishers to readers who may not otherwise encounter their titles.

For Readly and Cafeyn Group, the partnership also strengthens their position as suppliers of editorial content to telecoms companies, digital platforms and distributors.

The companies see these partnerships as a way for operators to improve customer engagement and loyalty while generating sustainable revenue opportunities for publishers.

For EE, meanwhile, adding Readly to EE One Up provides another incentive for customers to combine mobile and broadband services – an increasingly important strategy as Britain’s major telecoms providers compete to secure a greater share of each household’s communications and digital spending.

Learn more:

Readly:
https://readly.com/

EE One:
https://ee.co.uk/ee-one

Image credit: Chat GPT