Friday Five: Exploring Media Subscription Insights
Welcome back to Friday Five! In this issue, we review Twitter letting publishers charge users per article read, Di5rupt acquiring What’s New in Publishing, Spotify passing 500 million users, Google launching a new subscription tool for publishers, and the UK ad market growing by 8.8%.
Twitter To Let Publishers Charge Users Per Article Read
Elon Musk , CEO of Twitter, announced that publishers will be able to charge users a per-article fee to read articles on Twitter. This feature is set to launch in May, and users who do not sign up for a monthly subscription will pay a higher per-article price. It was also revealed that Twitter will take a 10% cut on content subscriptions after the first year. Read the full article.
Di5rupt Acquires What’s New in Publishing
B2B media intelligence and connections network, Di5rupt, has acquired What’s New in Publishing, a media website and newsletter, to expand its digital business and develop its industry network. Di5rupt plans to create a digital platform to engage and provide services to its audience throughout the year. Read the full article.
Spotify Passes 500 Million Users
Spotify’s user base has reached 515 million , with 210 million paid premium subscribers and 317 million on the ad-supported plan. The ratio of paid-to-free listeners is in decline, dropping from 46% in Q1 2019 to just under 42% in the previous quarter. Although ad-supported users are growing faster than premium subscribers, advertising income fell by 27% the previous year, causing total revenue to decrease by 4%. Read the full article.
Google’s New Subscription Tool for Publishers
Google has quietly launched the Reader Revenue Manager (PR) suite of products, which aims to help small publishers and creators charge for their content through transparent paywalls. This suite is an extension of Google’s existing “Subscribe with Google” technology and offers an easy installation process for publishers. Google will take a 5% cut of revenue and promises to keep away from publisher’s data. Read the full article.
UK Ad Market Grew by 8.8% in 2022
The UK’s ad market grew 8.8% to £34.8 billion in 2022, despite a dip in the final quarter of the year. However, the outlook for 2023 is not as positive, with projections downward of +0.5%, compared to +3.8% in January. Several factors contribute to this including high inflation, muted growth, and talent shortages. The UK’s ad market is forecast to grow by 3.9% in 2024, but this is still below its long-term average. Read the full article.