Join us Oct. 15-17 in Phoenix to connect with top media buyers
Digiday+ Research: Publishers look to cash in on growing events revenue
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 →
Interested in sharing your perspectives on the media and marketing industries? Join the Digiday research panel.
Publishers are seeking revenue beyond the old standby of advertising this year. Subscriptions seems to be one revenue stream publishers are dialing up. Events is another. Publishers are getting significantly more revenue from events in 2025, and they’re going to focus on growing that even further.
This is according to Digiday+ Research surveys conducted annually among publisher professionals.
Digiday’s surveys found that publishers are reporting a notable spike in events revenue this year. Seventy percent of publisher pros said in Q1 2025 that they get at least a very small portion of their revenue from events, compared with 47% in Q1 2024.
Not only is that a significant jump in the percentage of publishers making money from events, but that percentage had been trending downward before this year. In Q1 2022, 63% of publisher pros told Digiday they made at least a little bit of money from events. That percentage fell to 57% in Q1 2023 before hitting 47% in Q1 2024.
Put another way, the percentage of publishers who don’t tap into events as a revenue stream is down significantly this year. Fewer than a third of publisher pros (30%) said in Q1 2025 that they don’t get any revenue from events. In Q1 2024, more than half (53%) said events was not a revenue stream for them.
And events is emerging as a sizeable revenue stream for many publishers. The percentage of publishers making a lot of money from events is also up significantly this year. Nearly a quarter of publisher pros (23%) said in Q1 2025 that they get a large or very large portion of their revenue from events. Just 8% said the same in Q1 2024.
As events emerges as a more valuable revenue stream for publishers, Digiday’s survey found that publishers are increasing their focus on building that part of their business even further. More than three-quarters of publisher pros told Digiday in Q1 2025 that they would focus at least a little on growing their events business in the coming months — a big jump following years of a downward trend.
In Q1 2022, 71% of publishers said they would put at least a very small focus on building their events business in the next six months. In Q1 2023, that percentage fell to 67% and then fell again to 52% in Q1 2024. This year, however, 77% of publisher pros told Digiday they would put at least a very small focus on growing events in the next six months.
In other words, nearly half of publishers (48%) said last year that they would not focus at all on building their events business. This year, fewer than a quarter (23%) said the same.
And the percentage of publishers putting a large focus on growing their events business is up as well, also following a downward trend. Twenty-nine percent of publisher pros told Digiday in Q1 2025 that they will put a large or very large focus on building their events business in the next six months. In Q1 2024, 21% of publishers said the same, down from 25% in Q1 2023 and 29% in Q1 2022.
See a full breakdown of Digiday’s survey data on publishers’ events revenue and their focus on building that revenue stream below:
More in Media
In the AI dealmaking rush, Trusted Media Brands is at the table but holding back
Trusted Media Brands is in talks with big tech on AI licensing, but delaying signing deals to avoid giving away content without clear terms.
Inside The Economist’s plan to grow revenues in a post-search, AI-driven future
The publisher is investing in formats that are more difficult for machines to mimic, like video and audio, while holding a hard line against licensing deals with AI firms it views as competitors.
Discord puts proof behind its ad pitch with first measurement push
The measurement test comes a year and six months after Discord rolled out Quests, and is the latest signal that it is going all-in on measurement in 2025 as it moves from experimental campaigns to something advertisers can trust at scale.