Digiday+ Research: A third of publishers never discount subscriptions
This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →
In the face of an economic downturn and the flurry of the holiday season, holiday sales are rising to the top of both consumers’ and businesses’ minds — and even publishers’ subscriptions businesses aren’t immune.
Digiday+ Research surveyed 73 publisher professionals this month to find out more about how publishers are handling subscriptions, specifically when it comes to discounts leading up to the all-important holiday season.
Digiday’s survey found that publishers are fairly evenly split when it comes to bringing in revenue from subscriptions: Almost exactly a third of publisher pros each said they get a large portion of their revenue from subscriptions (34%), they get a small portion from subscriptions (32%) and none of their revenue comes from subscriptions (34%). All in all, two thirds of publishers get at least some of their revenue from subscriptions.
Of those publishers who do make money selling subscriptions, Digiday’s survey found that a full third never offer subscriptions at discounted prices. To be exact, thirty-two percent of publishers said their companies never discount their subscriptions.
Meanwhile, most of those who do offer subscription discounts do so throughout the year: Just shy of two-thirds of respondents to Digiday’s survey (62%) said they discount their subscriptions throughout the year.
And it turns out that subscription discounts are most decidedly not tied to the holiday season: Only 2% of publishers told Digiday that they only discount subscriptions during the holidays. And fewer than a quarter (21%) said they offer discounts throughout the year, with deeper discounts coming during the holiday season. In comparison, about twice that percentage (41%) said they offer discounts at similar rates regardless of the time of year.
More in Media
AI Briefing: How political startups are helping small political campaigns scale content and ads with AI
With about 100 days until Election Day, politically focused startups see AI as a way to help national and local candidates quickly react to unexpected change.
Media Briefing: Publishers reassess Privacy Sandbox plans following Google’s cookie deprecation reversal
Google’s announcement on Monday to reverse its plans to fully deprecate third-party cookies from its Chrome browser seems to have, in turn, reversed some publishers’ stances on the Privacy Sandbox.
Why Google’s cookie deprecation reversal isn’t actually a reprieve for publishers
Publishers are keeping a “business as usual” approach to testing cookieless alternatives despite Google’s announcement that it won’t be fully deprecating third-party cookies after all.