Publishers prioritising subscriptions over display ads

An overview of publisher revenue priorities in 2021 and how this compares to 2019's priorities.

Subscriptions are now the most important revenue priority for news and magazine publishers, according to research across 43 countries by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Three-quarters (76%) of publishers say that subscription revenue will be important or very important for their company in 2021. This importance is unchanged from when the same research in 2018 asked about 2019's priorities.

However, while display advertising had led 2019's priorities list, it has since lost prominence. Now, a far smaller share (66%) say display advertising will be an important revenue priority in 2021.

The shift from advertising is...

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