The Daily: Users Love Us, But We Won’t Say How Many

September 22, 2011 • 1 min read • By Brian Morrissey

The Daily publisher Greg Clayman is more than happy to open the kimono on plenty of stats about the News Corp iPad publication — demographics of users, time spent with ads — but there’s one he won’t divulge: how many people use it.

Speaking at Digiday Mobile, Clayman dodged the critical question hanging over the progress of the much-hyped digital publication. Asked for specific numbers about how big of an audience The Daily draws, Clayman joked, “So big,” before declining to get into specifics. The only color he would add was he has been told The Daily is one of the most successful subscription apps on the iPad.

In April, Clayman said “hundreds of thousands” had downloaded The Daily, although it is unclear how many have subscriptions.

Until The Daily can prove a large audience, the jury will remain out on the project that Rupert Murdoch reportedly spent $30 million to get off the ground. The Daily charges users 99 cents a day or $40 for an annual subscription.

Clayman painted an altogether rosy portrait of success at The Daily, bragging that users spend 20 to 30 minutes with the app, typically in the morning and evening. The demographics are diverse, spread around the country and not just in major metropolitan areas on the coasts. And they’re not young: the typical Daily reader is between 35 and 50.

“You might think it’s hipsters in Williamsburg,” he said. “It’s more likely to be their parents in Winnetka.”

On the ad front, Clayman reports that users spend over 20 seconds engaging with ads and have a 60 percent video-completion rate.

Those are stats that should excite advertisers and point to a good business for News Corp, assuming it can prove a big audience.

https://digiday.com/?p=2528

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