V. Glossary and sample
Throughout this online report, we define the terms used according to the definitions below. If you have any questions, please connect to the INMA Subscription Benchmarking Service's customer success team at benchmarking@inma.org
1. Metrics and Calculations
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Average digital-only subscription lifetime in months (modelled) | Measures the estimated length of an average digital-only subscription relationship in months. We model this value using monthly churn rates. |
| Average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) | Measures the value of an average subscriber. We calculate a ratio of the total digital-only subscription revenue per the total number of digital-only subscribers in a month. To compare ARPU across brands and countries, we adjust values in local currencies for the purchasing power of the local currency vs. U.S. dollar. We use the World Bank's purchasing power parities for 2023. More: worldbank.org |
| Casual users | Measures the size of the segment of online users who did between 2 and 9 sessions in a month. We calculate this number based on the total number of online users in a month, and segments of users who did 1 and at least 10 sessions in a month. |
| Check-out flow efficiency rate | Measures the effectiveness of the subscription flow. We calculate a ratio of check-out finishes to check-out flow starts in a month. |
| Check-out flow finishes | Measures the effectiveness of the subscription flow. We collect the number of users who viewed the last page in the check-out flow (e.g., payment success page) in a month. |
| Check-out flow starts | Measures the effectiveness of the subscription flow. We collect the number of users who viewed the first page in the check-out flow (e.g., landing page with offers) in a month. |
| Check-out start rate | Measures the attractiveness of the subscription offer. We calculate a ratio of check out starts to paywall stops in a month. |
| Clicks per opt-ins rate | Measures the performance of the e-mail newsletter database. We calculate a ratio of all e-mail newsletter clicks to the total number of users registered to newsletters in a month. |
| Clicks to opens rate | Measures the effectiveness of the newsletter program. We calculate a ratio of all e-mail newsletter clicks to all e-mail newsletter opens in a month. |
| Content formula | Informs what best describes a content formula of a brand: quality news (e.g, historic broadsheet), popular news (e.g., historic tabloid), niche (e.g., sports, business), non-news (e.g., lifestyle, hobbies). We ask brands to declare this information. |
| Depth of sessions | Measures average user's engagement with the site's content. We calculate a ratio of number of pageviews per session in a month. |
| Digital subscription churn rate | Measures the effectiveness of the subscription program. We calculate a ratio of online subscriptions that were stopped in a given month to online subscriptions at the end of a previous month. |
| Digital subscription penetration rate | Measures the effectiveness of the subscription program. We calculate a ratio of online subscriptions to online users in a month. |
| Digital-only subscription acquisition rate | Measures the effectiveness of the publisher's subscription acquisition efforts. We calculate a ratio of digital-only paid subscriptions that were started in a given month to digital-only paid subscriptions at the end of that month. |
| Digital-only subscription revenue | Measures digital reader revenue. We collect the total revenue collected from all digital-only subscriptions in a month in U.S. dollars at the exchange rate for the last day in each month. |
| Digital-only subscription starts | Measures demand for subscriptions. We collect the number of digital-only subscriptions for which contracts were started during a month. |
| Digital-only subscription stops | Measures demand for subscriptions. We collect the number of digital-only subscriptions for which contracts were cancelled their contract during a month. |
| Dwell time of sessions | Measures average user's engagement with the site's content. We collect an average session duration in minutes and seconds. |
| Fly-bys | Measures the size of the segment of online users who did 1 session in a month. We collect this number. |
| Heavy users | Measures the size of the segment of online users who did 10 and more sessions in a month. |
| In-market households | Measures the size of the total addressable market of a site. We collect the number of households in the area of focus of the publisher, e.g., a distribution area for a printed product or news coverage area for an online site. |
| Known users | Measures the size of the audience that is known to a site. We collect the number of users who are registered, subscribed or for any other reason gave their identifier, such as e-mail, to the publisher. |
| Known users with digital-only subscription | Measures the effectiveness of the online reader engagement. We calculate the proportion of known users with digital-only subscription, by dividing the number of users who are registered subscribed or for any other reason gave their identifier, such as e-mail, to the publisher by the number of digital-only subscriptions. |
| Lifetime value | Measures the estimated revenue that a digital-only subscription will generate for a company over the entire period of their digital subscription. We model this value using the average survival (retention) rate and a monthly average revenue per digital-only subscription, and present it for the first 12 and 36 months. |
| Market penetration rate (all paid subscriptions) | Measures the reach of the subscription program. We calculate the proportion of households in the market that signed up for any paid subscription, by dividing the number of paid subscriptions (digital, print, others) by the number of in-market households. |
| Market penetration rate (digital-only subscriptions) | Measures the reach of the digital subscription program. We calculate the proportion of households in the market that signed up for a digital-only subscription, by dividing the number of digital-only subscriptions by the number of in-market households. |
| Market penetration rate (known users) | Measures the reach of the audience that is known to the site. We calculate the proportion of households in the market that are registered, subscribed or for any other reason gave their identifier, such as e-mail to the publisher, by dividing the number of known users by the number of in-market households. This rate may exceed 100%, as users might use multiple identifiers, across multiple websites, and publishers' databases might not be deduplicated. |
| Market penetration rate (online users) | Measures the reach of the site. We calculate the proportion of households in the market that accessed the website in a month, by dividing the number of online users by the number of in-market households. This rate may exceed 100%, as households may be larger than one person, users might access with multiple devices and browsers, and part of the audience may be out of market. |
| Newsletter click-through rate | Measures engagement with e-mail newsletters. We calculate a ratio of newsletter clicks to newsletter sends. |
| Newsletter click-throughs | Measures the effectiveness of the newsletter program. We collect the number of unique newsletter click-throughs or sessions with newsletters being the visits' source. |
| Newsletter e-mail database | Measures e-mail newsletter capture effectiveness. We collect the total number of users registered to newsletters in a given month. |
| Newsletter open rate | Measures engagement with e-mail newsletters. We calculate a ratio of newsletter opens to newsletter sends. |
| Newsletter opens | Measures the performance of the newsletter program. We collect the number of unique newsletter opens in a month. |
| Newsletter opt-in rate | Measures e-mail newsletter capture effectiveness. We calculate a ratio of users registered to newsletters to the total number of online users. |
| Newsletter sends | Measures the performance of the newsletter program. We collect the number of unique newsletter e-mails sent to all recipients in a month. |
| Online Users | Measures size of the audience. We collect the number of all users active in a month. |
| Opens per opt-ins rate | Measures the performance of the e-mail newsletter database. We calculate a ratio of all e-mail newsletter opens to the total number of users registered to newsletters in a month. |
| Other paid subscriptions with digital access | Measures the progress of digital transformation. We calculate the proportion of non-digital only paid subscriptions (e.g., print, others) with activated access to subscriber-only online content and features, by dividing the number of other paid subscriptions by the number of other paid subscriptions with activated access to subscriber-only online content and features. |
| Pageviews | Measures demand for online news. We collect the number of pageviews generated by all users in a month. |
| Paid stop conversion rate | Measures the effectiveness of the paywall. We calculate a ratio of check-out finishes to paywall stops in a month. |
| Paid subscriptions | Measures the size of the total paid subscription base. We collect the number of paid subscriptions to the online editions, print editions, e-replica of the print editions, etc. on the last day of a month. |
| Paid subscriptions that are digital-only | Measures the progress of digital transformation. We calculate the proportion of total paid subscriptions that are digital-only, by dividing the number of digital-only subscriptions by the total number of paid subscriptions (digital, print, others). This rate might reach 100% for publishers which don't sell print or other subscriptions. |
| Paywall stop rate | Measures the effectiveness of the paywall. We calculate a ratio of users who hit a wall and were exposed to subscription offers to online users in a month. |
| Paywall stops | Measures the effectiveness of the paywall. We collect the number of users in a month that were exposed to an offer to subscribe by hitting a barrier (modal, interstitial, inline wall). |
| Paywall type | Informs what type of a digital subscription access model generated most of conversions in the past quarter: no paywall/membership, freemium, metered, hard or hybrid. We ask brands to declare this information. |
| Ratio of new subscription starts per 1 million users | Measures the effectiveness of the publisher's engagement and subscription acquisition efforts. We calculate a ratio of the number of digital-only paid subscription starts to the number of online users in a month. |
| Sessions | Measures demand for online news. We collect the number of sessions generated by all users in a month. |
| Survival (retention) rate | Refers to the percentage of digital-only subscribers who remain subscribed over a specified period of time. We model this rate for the first 36 months using the average monthly churn rates, and present an average for the entire digital-only subscription base. |
| User engagement | Measures average user's engagement with the site's content. We calculate a ratio of number of sessions per user in a month. |
| Website penetration rate (digital-only subscriptions) | Measures the reach of the digital subscription program relative to the online audience. We calculate the proportion of online users that signed up for a digital-only subscription, by dividing the number of digital-only subscriptions by the number of online users. This rate fluctuates, as the number of online users changes with a news cycle. |
| Website penetration rate (known users) | Measures the reach of the registration program relative to the online audience. We calculate the proportion of online users that are registered, subscribed or for any other reason gave their identifier, such as e-mail to the publisher, by dividing the number of known users by the number of online users. This rate fluctuates, as the number of online users changes with a news cycle. This rate may exceed 100%, as users might use multiple identifiers, across multiple websites, and publishers' databases might not be deduplicated. |
2. Segments
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Selected region | Segmentation of brands in the study. The new North American cohort includes brands based in U.S. and Canada. The Nordic cohort -- Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The DACH cohort -- Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. |
| Your ARPU | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their average monthly revenue per digital-only subscription calculated based on data reported in 4Q 2023. The ranges for cohorts are: below $6, $6-8, $8-12.5, over $12.5. |
| Your content formula | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on declared content formula. There are three cohorts: news - popular (e.g., historic tabloid), news - quality (e.g., historic broadsheet) and news - niche (e.g., business news). |
| Your LTV | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their 3-year digital-only subscription lifetime value modelled based on data reported in 4Q 2023. The ranges cohorts are: below $85, $85-150, $150-225, over $225. |
| Your market size | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their target market size by the reported number of in-market households in the latest 1Q. There are five cohorts: below 0.5m households, 0.5m-1m, 1m-2m, 2m-10m, and over 10m. |
| Your paywall type | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on declared type of digital subscription access model method that has generated most of conversions in the last quarter. There are five cohorts: freemium paywall, hard paywall, hybrid, metered paywall and no paywall/membership. |
| Your region | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their declared target market. There are three cohorts: North/South America, Europe/Middle East/Africa, Asia/Pacific. |
| Your subscriptions base size | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their total digital-only subscription size by the average of reported monthly numbers in the latest 1Q. There are five cohorts: below 7.5k digital-only subscriptions, 7.5-20k, 20-50k, 50k-100k, and over 100k. |
| Your target market | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their declared news target market. There are two cohorts: national and regional/metropolitan brands. |
| Your tenure | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on declared tenure of their digital subscription program. There are three cohorts based on the year of the program's start: before 2015, 2016-2018, 2019-2021. |
| Your website size | Segmentation of brands in the benchmarking study. We assign brands to cohorts based on their website size by the average reported monthly number of online users in the latest 1Q. There are five cohorts: below 1.25m monthly online users, 1.25-2.5m, 2.5m-4m, 4m-10m, and over 10m. |
3. Size of the samples, by cohort to which you benchmark your brand
| Your region | Your target market | Your tenure | Your paywall type | Your content formula | Your market size | Your sub's base size | Your website size | Your ARPU | Your LTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe/ Middle East/ Africa | National | 2016-2018 | Freemium paywall | News - quality | 2m-10m | 50k-100k | 1.25m-2.5m | below $6 | below $85 |
| Your region | Your target market | Your tenure | Your paywall type | Your content formula | Your market size | Your sub's base size | Your website size | Your ARPU | Your LTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 155 | 99 | 57 | 96 | 215 | 55 | 21 | 55 | 21 | 28 |
4. Size of this study's sample: the total number of brands in each tier that contributed data since 2021
Region*
| Asia / Pacific | Europe/ Middle East/ Africa | North/ South America |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 155 | 100 |
Selected region**
| USA+Canada | Nordic | DACH |
|---|---|---|
| — | — | — |
Target Market*
| National | Regional/Metropolitan |
|---|---|
| 99 | 171 |
Tenure of The Digital Subscription Program*
| before 2015 | 2016-2018 | 2019-2021 | 2022-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | 57 | 92 | 53 |
Paywall Type*
| Freemium paywall | Hard paywall | Hybrid | Metered paywall | No paywall/ membership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 96 | 43 | 105 | 13 | 13 |
Content Formula*
| News - niche | News - popular | News - quality |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | 21 | 215 |
Size of the Market by the Number of In-Market Households*
| below 0.5m | 0.5m-1m | 1m-2m | 2m-10m | over 10M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103 | 45 | 31 | 55 | 34 |
Size of The Digital-Only Subscription Base*
| below 7.5k | 7.5k-20k | 20k-50k | 50k-100k | over 100k |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | 61 | 38 | 21 | 28 |
Size of the Website by the Number of Online Users*
| below 1.25m | 1.25m-2.5m | 2.5m-4m | 4m-10m | over 10m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79 | 55 | 29 | 35 | 23 |
Size of the monthly digital-only subscription ARPU*
| below $6 | $6 - $8 | $8 - $12.5 | over $12.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 26 | 35 | 65 |
Size of the 3-year digital-only subscription LTV*
| below $85 | $85-$150 | $150-$225 | over $225 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 30 | 16 | 73 |
* assigned based on data from Q1 2025
** USA+Canada includes brands based in U.S. and Canada. Nordic includes Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. DACH includes Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
Minimum and maximum size of samples of engagement indicators, by year
| Min/Max | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min | 59 | 83 | 107 | 97 | 86 | 82 | 67 | 64 |
| Max | 138 | 160 | 178 | 193 | 199 | 236 | 198 | 183 |
Minimum and maximum size of samples of registration and newsletter indicators, by year
| Min/Max | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min | 38 | 51 | 56 | 52 | 42 | 38 | 35 | 33 |
| Max | 71 | 91 | 127 | 148 | 158 | 215 | 181 | 168 |
Minimum and maximum size of samples of subscription indicators, by year
| Min/Max | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Max | 96 | 134 | 149 | 177 | 187 | 223 | 184 | 170 |