It’s no secret that publishers are having a tough time right now. While global ad revenues are growing, the vast majority of that growth is being swallowed up by major tech platforms, leaving publishers to compete for whatever remains. Those same platforms are delivering less traffic to publishers’ content – Meta in particular has been open about deprioritising news content on its platforms. And AI poses a whole new threat in terms of drawing viewers away from publishers’ owned and operated sites.
It’s not an entirely bleak picture though – while many are making fairly radical structural changes in order to adapt to conditions, most are finding growth somewhere in the business – both within and outside of their ad revenue streams.
Here’s where major publishers are finding growth right now.
Reach: Data-Driven Ads and Partnerships
UK-based news publisher Reach splits its digital revenues into two streams: data-driven revenues and non data-driven revenues. Reach’s definitions aren’t as straightforward as might be expected, since even non data-driven revenues involve some sort of data. Open market programmatic ad revenues, for example, are classed as non-data driven.
Data-driven revenues are those which are based on its own first-party data products, and are less sensitive to page view volumes. These include direct ad campaigns powered by Reach’s data, as well as partnerships, ecommerce, and affiliate revenues.
These data-driven revenues were up nine percent year-on-year in H1, and 13 percent in Q2 specifically. While non-digital revenues were down overall in H1 due to falls in non data-driven revenues, the strength of Reach’s data offering in Q2 meant digital revenues were up by seven percent during this period.
Dotdash Meredith: Programmatic and Direct Sold Ads, Content Licensing
Dotdash Meredith, owner of titles including People, Health, InStyle, and Travel + Leisure, saw 12 percent overall growth in digital revenues in its most recent quarter. This was enough to outweigh declines in the print segment.
Within digital, there were several specific streams which were up year-on-year. Digital ad revenues grew by 16 percent year-on-year, with both programmatic and direct sold ads delivering growth. Programmatic ad revenues were boosted by higher rates and growth in core sessions, while direct sold revenues were particularly strong in the home/consumer packaged goods, retail, and travel categories.
Affiliate revenues saw a significant rise, up by 17 percent year-on-year. This offset declines from other revenue streams included within Dotdash Meredith’s performance marketing category.
The publisher also reported 19 percent growth in licensing and other revenues. Performance across some of its syndication partners improved, with Apple News+ getting name checked by Dotdash. And the company is now getting licensing revenues from AI giant OpenAI, thanks to a licensing partnership agreed in May this year.
New York Times: Subscriptions, Display Ads and Games
The New York Times is a rare example of a publisher where all of its major revenue streams are growing.
The Times has put a big focus on subscription revenues, which make up around 70 percent of its total revenues. Digital-only subscriptions in turn make up roughly 70 percent of total subscription income. These revenues continue to grow – digital only subscription revenues were up by 12.9 percent in Q2.
While advertising is not the NYT’s primary business, it’s still around 20 percent of the business. Digital ad revenues have grown year-on-year in four of the five most recent quarters, up 7.8 percent most recently in Q2. The Times attributed this to growth in display advertising on both the New York Times and The Athletic, the sports-focussed publisher which it bought in 2022. The NYT’s Games business unit, which got a big boost last year through the publisher’s acquisition of popular word game Wordle, is now generating meaningful advertising revenue according to CEO Meredith Kopit Levien.
Digital ad revenue grew fast enough in Q2 that ad revenues as a whole increased year-on-year, up by 1.2 percent.
BuzzFeed: Programmatic and Affiliate Commerce
BuzzFeed, the archetypal social publisher, has been hit particularly hard by changes to social platforms’ algorithms. The company has already made a big push to bring more audience engagement onto its owned and operated properties. Now its big push is to embrace AI, seeking to become “the defining company of the AI era” according to CEO Jonah Peretti.
While BuzzFeed’s AI investment is a long-term play, it’s already driving visible growth in audience engagement. And this in turn is spurring growth in programmatic ad revenues and affiliate revenues, which in Q2 rose three percent and nine percent respectively. BuzzFeed anticipates continued growth in these streams across the rest of the year.
Future: Affiliates and B2B
Specialist publisher Future Plc posted a revenue drop for the first half of the year, but reported a return to year-on-year organic growth in Q2, up three percent. The company said this growth demonstrated the benefits of its diversification efforts, since its advertising business was hurt by a challenging market.
Specifically, Future’s price comparison site Go.Compare, which sits within its affiliate revenues category, had a strong H1, up 30 percent year-on-year. Revenues from vouchers were also up, by four percent on an organic basis.
Within Future’s main media businesses, its B2B titles returned to growth, up seven percent during the first-half of the year. This helped counteract a 13 percent fall in revenues at its B2C titles.
There are also green shoots visible within Future’s ‘premiumisation’ push across its titles, where it’s leveraging more first-party data and contextual targeting. Future says it saw a 2 percentage point increase in the amount of digital ad revenue funnelled into direct advertising and branded content, bolstered by Future’s data.
Gannett: Programmatic, Affiliates, and Marketing Services
US publisher Gannett, which owns USA Today as well as a host of local publications, has been on a turnaround mission following a period of sustained revenue decline. For the time being, total revenues continue to decline, but the publisher is now at least reporting growth in total digital revenues, which were up 6.2 percent year-on-year in Q2.
Within digital revenues (which make up 44 percent of Gannett’s business), all segments grew in the second quarter. Digital ad revenues were up four percent, subscription revenues grew 22 percent, and digital marketing services (through LocaliQ, a digital agency owned by Gannett) were up one percent.
Gannett CEO Michael Reed said increased audience engagement across its digital properties helped deliver the increase in digital ad revenues, primarily through an increase in programmatic revenues.
Affiliate revenues, while still small for Gannett, also delivered strong growth, up by over 100 percent year-on-year.
Ziff Davis: Subscriptions, Gaming and Entertainment Ads
Specialist publisher Ziff Davis mainly generates revenues through subscriptions and advertising via its primary media business, as well as through its cybersecurity and martech arm.
Within media, it’s subscriptions which are currently driving growth – though not much. Subscription and licensing revenues were up 0.3 percent year-on-year in Q2, primarily driven by Ziff Davis’s health and wellness and connectivity businesses.
Advertising revenues meanwhile were down, though Ziff Davis did report gains in its gaming and entertainment business, which partly offset ad revenue falls in its health and wellness and technology businesses.
