Readers ARE More Willing to Pay for Content

Some welcome positive news for publishers focusing on reader revenue - quality news is very much still in demand.
A recent report from WAN-IFRA showed a strong 208% growth in global digital news subscriptions over the last five years, with 13% growth predicted for 2019.
The broad trend seems to be that although there is an industry wide contraction due to falling print revenues, this is being counteracted to a degree by the increasing success of digital media.
The report also notes that guest pageviews increased 76% in the 11 months prior to February 2019, and that this suggests that readers are seeking out legitimate sources in a world of misinformation.

"There is a vast potential to grow subscriber base”

Other key points from the report:

• Mobile First - the majority of this traffic comes from mobile devices. The report notes that forward thinking publishers have made mobile strategy central to their strategy.
• SEO is king - Google continues to be the primary traffic driver for in the digital news ecosystem. It provides 25x the traffic of Twitter, and 2.5x that of Facebook.
• Relevant content builds loyalty - loyal readers are the cornerstone of reader revenue and account for more than 40% of pageviews. If your content is relevant enough to make users read more than one page, this can lead to a 3x higher return rate.

The report concludes with an interesting and mostly encouraging look at the road ahead.

“Audience numbers are expected to grow in the years ahead as forward-thinking publishers continue to innovate, deliver value to communities – and thrive.”

Check out this great article from What's New in Publishing for the full picture!