This article summarizes key insights from ARC XP’s community webinar, hosted in partnership with Viafoura, where industry leaders discussed strategies for transforming audiences into loyal, engaged communities.
From Audiences to Communities: Key Insights from ARC XP’s 2025 Webinar
In a media landscape marked by fragmentation and declining traditional traffic sources, publishers are redefining audience engagement, highlighting the urgent need to shift from passive audiences to active, loyal communities. Mark Zohar, President and CEO of Viafoura, shared actionable strategies and data-driven insights on how publishers can drive engagement, loyalty, and revenue by prioritizing community. Here’s what stood out.
The Imperative to Own Your Audience
The webinar underscored a critical challenge: audience acquisition is under pressure. Social referral traffic, once a reliable driver, has plummeted by over 50% for many publishers. Third-party cookie deprecation, Google’s generative AI overviews, and the rise of alternative platforms like podcasts and Substack are further fragmenting media consumption. These trends are pushing publishers to focus on direct, owned relationships.
Viafoura’s data shows that community members – users who actively participate through comments, Q&As, or chats – are far more valuable than anonymous audiences. They generate 5x more revenue, spend significantly more time on site, and are 31% more likely to subscribe. By fostering direct traffic and reducing reliance on third-party platforms, publishers can build sustainable, loyal audiences that drive long-term growth.
Community as a Driver of Engagement and Revenue
Community engagement isn’t just about connection – it’s a measurable business driver. Viafoura’s platform, integrated with ARC XP, empowers publishers to transform casual visitors into active participants. Features like article commenting, live Q&As, polls, and community chats create participatory experiences that align with modern audience expectations. These tools deliver results: community members double registration rates, reduce churn by 2.5x, and contribute to 30-40% of monthly registrations for Viafoura’s clients.
The Toronto Star’s success illustrates this impact. Initially hesitant, the publisher leaned into community by integrating Viafoura’s tools across its site, including polls, AMAs (Ask Me Anything), and native app features. Over 12-14 months, they moved from low engagement to industry-leading metrics, with community driving significant increases in time on page, page views, and subscriptions. Editorial teams now actively participate, embedding community into newsletters, mobile strategies, and subscription funnels.
Bridging Broadcast and Digital Through Community
For publishers with broadcast roots, community serves as a powerful bridge to digital audiences. GB News, a fast-growing UK broadcaster, launched a “Have Your Say” page that pairs live-streamed broadcasts with real-time community interaction. Viewers comment, ask questions, and engage with hosts, who pull community contributions on air. This strategy has driven over 30% of site registrations, with three million conversations fueling a habit-forming digital experience. Similarly, Corus Media Group’s Breakfast Television uses live chat to connect broadcast and digital, creating second-screen experiences that boost retention.
These examples highlight how community can unify audiences across platforms, fostering loyalty and creating new monetization opportunities, such as membership models or ad revenue from highly engaged users.
Strategic Community-Building: Intention, Cultivation, Operation
Viafoura’s approach focuses on three pillars:
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Intention: Align community efforts with clear KPIs, such as registration growth or subscription conversion. Engage stakeholders across editorial, product, and commercial teams to ensure buy-in.
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Cultivation: Define community guidelines to maintain brand safety and civility. Use personalized notifications (e.g., “someone replied to your comment”) to build habits and drive return visits.
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Operation: Develop playbooks for initiatives like live Q&As and leverage first-party data to enhance personalization, ad targeting, and subscription models.
This structured approach ensures community efforts deliver measurable ROI, from increased dwell time to diversified revenue streams like tiered subscriptions or premium micro-communities.
”Community isn’t a “set it and forget it” tactic—it requires strategy
Mark Zohar, President and CEO of Viafoura
Community as a Competitive Edge in 2025
The webinar made one thing clear: audiences crave connection, not just content. Younger, digitally native users, in particular, are drawn to interactive experiences like live Q&As or comment sections, often prioritizing community over content itself. A 2024 FT Strategies study, NextGen News, found that these audiences value connection with peers and brands, making community a key driver for attracting and retaining new readers.
Community also offers a buffer against AI-driven disruption. While generative AI can produce content, it can’t replicate the authenticity of human interaction. By investing in community, publishers differentiate through trust, engagement, and first-party data, which fuels personalization and subscription growth amid tightening privacy regulations.
Taking Community Back from Platforms
As Mark Zohar noted, media brands once “outsourced” their audiences to social platforms, but 2025 is the year to reclaim them. The Toronto Star’s live Q&A series, sparked by a high-profile investigative podcast, drove 2x site-average registrations and 16x higher engagement. Newsweek’s homepage now features top community contributions, boosting discoverability and participation. These examples show how community can transform audiences into collaborators, driving loyalty and revenue.
Publishers ignoring community risk falling behind. Platforms are unpredictable, but owned communities offer a sustainable path to engagement and growth.
