For years, puzzles and games have been considered simple diversions tucked between the comics and classifieds. But for some of the nation’s leading local media companies, they’ve become central to building sustainable digital audiences, creating new first-party data streams, and even boosting customer lifetime value.
That’s the shared experience of Jay Horton, president of WEHCO Digital Media; Lee Bachlet, COO of CherryRoad Media; and Roland Hamilton, SVP of Sales and Distribution at King Features. During a recent Editor & Publisher-sponsored webinar, the three spoke candidly about how interactive games—particularly through King Features Puzzles & Games —have become critical to audience development strategies across small and mid-sized markets.
Creating habit-forming engagement
“News is really king in terms of customer acquisition,” Horton said. “But we work very hard to introduce puzzles to those people because we know the value of that daily habit.” He emphasized that when users get “hooked on your puzzles, they come back and they stick around more so than one single headline or topic.”
Hamilton echoed the importance of consistency. “We’re looking at building more of a direct relationship with audiences, and we feel like we’ve cracked the code, especially with puzzles and games. Our research has shown that to build direct traffic, publishers need to develop products that foster daily habits. A good benchmark is three activities per week. That’s the sweet spot.”
Driving loyalty and lifetime value
Horton shared one striking metric: “From our puzzle users, our CLV—customer lifetime value—is $159 higher than our average subscriber.” That means that not only are puzzle players more engaged, but they’re also more profitable over time. “We love our puzzlers very much,” he added.
Bachlet offered similar insights from CherryRoad’s sprawling portfolio of 93 newspapers across 18 states. “We understand that our future is in growing digital subscriptions. And in order to get people to subscribe, you have to give them value. When they come to your website, they have to find things they want to interact with—whether it’s stories or videos or photo galleries or puzzles and games.”
He credited that engagement with helping lower churn and increase revenue: “A little over a year ago, we were running a churn rate on our circulation that I don’t even want to talk about. Today, we’ve driven that number down to less than 5% on an annualized basis.”
First-party data goldmine
In an industry racing to replace cookie-based targeting, both Horton and Bachlet see puzzles as an effective tool for first-party data capture.
“We offer a freemium model,” Horton said. “Some puzzles are behind a paywall, many are not. But we’ve started a soft wall, asking people to give us their email and phone number. Since April, we’ve had about 4,500 people submit their email this way—and 75% of those were new to us.”
Bachlet is seeing similar results. “We’re running well over 2,000 free access sign-ups, which gives us an incredible database of first-party data to market to. And we’ve made a significant turn.”
Sticky content with monetization potential
When it comes to monetizing puzzles, both direct and indirect methods are showing promise. “We’ve added flip inserts under the puzzles,” Horton explained. “The indirect monetization on these is really very good. And we’re starting to sell sponsorships, though we haven’t done a very good job yet. There is an opportunity there from the advertising side.”
Bachlet agreed that they haven’t fully tapped the sponsorship potential yet, but said the ROI is already clear. “It doesn’t take very many subscription sales just to pay for the puzzles that you’re putting out there.”
Hamilton added context from King Features’ research: “Across our markets, users who interact with our digital content spend six times more time per visit, are more likely to make frequent visits, and are more likely to complete a subscription. Ninety percent of our puzzle players say they play at least several times a week, and 71% play daily.”
Simplicity of implementation
Despite the sophistication of the results, rolling out puzzles and games is remarkably simple.
“I think our first puzzle was up in 45 minutes,” said Horton. “We just take our open page template, pop the puzzle code in, and go live. The hard part was deciding on our soft wall strategy.”
Bachlet added, “We didn’t need good tech people to do this. King Features knows how to make it easy. Implementation is not a challenge.”
Hamilton confirmed that the product was designed to be turnkey. “It’s an iframe product. It’s very easy to implement on any CMS—whether it’s homegrown or something like Blox Digital. Maintenance is minimal. We update the content daily. It’s designed to work well for both large and small publishers.”
Flexibility and reach
While both Horton and Bachlet are focused on growing paid digital audiences, neither locks puzzles behind a full paywall. Instead, they use puzzles to invite casual users into deeper engagement funnels.
“We do not require a paywall,” Hamilton clarified. “It’s up to each publisher to decide how they want to monetize—subscriptions, engagement, advertising, or all three.”
Horton noted that puzzles draw traffic from far beyond local markets. “Roughly 41% of our puzzle traffic comes from out of market. That’s a good problem to have.”
He’s now exploring a lower-cost, puzzles-only subscription tier to capture value from those out-of-market users: “Is there a price point we can test to get some additional value? We’re still figuring that out, but it’s worth exploring.”
Puzzles vs. comics
When asked to compare the value of puzzles to comics, Horton didn’t hesitate. “Puzzles are better than comics. Better repeat visits, stronger engagement time—two important metrics to us.”
Bachlet agreed. “Everybody has their favorite comics, but puzzles are more universal. They keep people longer. They create those kinds of consumer interactions that we want to create.”
Hamilton offered a balanced view: “Comics are an integral part of the print experience and key for subscriber retention. That’s why we continue to invest in both, including bringing new voices and interactive experiences into our comics and puzzles platforms.”
A strategy for all audiences
Some may assume puzzles are primarily for older readers, but Hamilton pointed to shifting trends. “We’re seeing a younger audience pick up on gameplay. They’re moving beyond Candy Crush into traditional crosswords. The key is the quality of editorial.”
He added, “Even social platforms like Snapchat are pushing games now. That’s telling you something.”
Looking ahead
Both Horton and Bachlet emphasized they’re not just dabbling in puzzles—they’re building long-term strategies around them.
“This is not something we would give up,” Bachlet said. “It’s critical to our digital strategy, our newsletter strategy, and our entire audience development approach.”
Horton concluded with this advice to any publishers on the fence: “If you’re a subscription-focused media entity, this is a no-brainer. Get as many puzzles in front of your subscribers as possible. See which ones resonate. Remind them of it when they don’t show up. Keep them coming back.”
As legacy media outlets grapple with audience erosion and revenue pressure, puzzles and games may just prove to be the most unlikely heroes—low-cost, high-return, and habit-forming in the best possible way.
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