A Bulgarian newsroom built an AI application. They needed to solve four challenges before monetizing it.

We spoke to Capital.bg about how they decided on investing in AI and why the publisher thinks extending their paywall is a good idea.

Capital is Bulgaria's leading business media platform, with nearly a million monthly visitors. They were the first on the market to introduce a digital subscription program and are now experimenting with AI-generated audio versions of articles. We spoke to Maria Toycheva, Director of Products & Reader Revenue, about their efforts.

Media Finance Monitor - How many paying digital subscribers do you currently have?

Maria Toycheva - We currently have 10,000 active subscribers at Capital, where we pioneered this approach in Bulgaria, and in July, Dnevnik [a general news site by the same publishing group] also introduced a subscription model, making it the second Bulgarian media outlet to do so.

Media Finance Monitor - Capital is a business publication, many people read it to be able to make more money. This might make subscriptions an easier sell. Do …