Building a new revenue stream for Caribbean news

When Vigilante reached out to us in late 2019, they were stuck. Their previous agency was four months past deadline on a promised subscription platform with no end in sight. Other agencies wanted more than double their budget to take it on.

The challenge was straightforward: they needed a platform where users could subscribe to read their news content. They wanted to reach Curaçaoans living abroad who wanted to stay connected to home, then expand to local users. They also needed to support a coupon system for local readers and critically, they wanted to integrate live-streaming of events. something no other newspaper on the island was doing.

We've been working together for five years now.

Starting with what mattered

We proposed starting with an MVP focused on getting the basics right: an easy-to-use platform for both the journalists writing the content and the readers consuming it. No subscription features yet.

We chose WordPress with WooCommerce because it gave us flexibility to evolve the platform as their needs became clearer. The initial build took about three months, from late January to early April 2020. Once they saw the core platform and felt confident we understood their needs, we started adding the subscription and monetization features.

Designing for the actual audience

Analytics told us something important early on: their readers were primarily on mobile, and skewed older and less technical. That insight shaped everything.

We prioritized clarity over complexity. Reduced friction wherever we could. Built navigation that helped readers find what they were looking for without hunting. The goal was to meet users where they were, not ask them to adapt to us.

Handling scale they didn't expect

The live-streaming feature changed things. Major events drove traffic spikes far beyond what we'd initially planned for, nearly 150,000 users during peaks. We worked through server optimization methodically, tuning configurations to handle not just the concurrent load during events, but also the daily volume of articles, images, and video.

Building the subscription model

With the foundation solid, we built out the revenue engine. Multiple subscription tiers daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Each with different perks. Online payments plus a coupon system for local readers who preferred buying physical vouchers.

Over time, we added what the business needed as it grew: multi-currency support, automated image watermarking, a soft paywall with integrated checkout to reduce drop-off, and a PDF option for readers who wanted that format.

The results

The platform now serves over 100,000 monthly readers, with peaks approaching 150,000 during major events.

More importantly, Vigilante has a revenue stream that didn't exist before. A direct relationship with readers, independent of traditional advertising. In an industry where business models are under constant pressure, that's not a small thing.

We're still building together, most recently adding features in late 2025. The partnership works because we're solving problems together, not just shipping features.

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