Estimate reader revenue

If you’re considering whether to launch a subscription, use this calculator to:

• Get a sense of whether reader revenue is worth your investment
• Identify what impacts your reader revenue
• See which metrics to improve to increase revenue

Keep in mind that this value is only an estimate – use directionally, rather than exactly.

What affects reader revenue?

• How large your audience is, measured by monthly active users and their growth rate
• How many people subscribe, measured by conversion rate
• How much revenue each subscriber brings in, measured by average revenue per user (ARPU)
• How many subscribers you keep, measured by churn rate

All metrics are measured monthly.

What metrics affect reader revenue?

• Monthly active users
• Monthly active user growth rate
• Conversion rate
• Average revenue per user (ARPU)
• Churn rate

Learn about each metric, how they’re calculated and best practices to improve them.

1. Monthly active users are how many people have engaged with your site or app in the last month. If you use Google Analytics, this is typically calculated based on the last 28 days.

Conversion rate measures how many people subscribe each month, compared to your audience.

Let’s say 1,000 people subscribe each month and you have 100,000 monthly active users. Your conversion rate is 1%.

💡Best practice:

• Reduce your article limit to two articles
• Promote your subscription across your site
• Use a dynamic paywall, which lowers the article limit for more engaged audiences
• Estimate conversion rate by surveying your audience: 'On a scale of 1-5, would you pay for a subscription to the Example Times?' Use the percentage of respondents who answer four or five.

Average revenue per user measures how much revenue you earn from a subscriber every month.

To calculate your average revenue per user, divide your total monthly subscriptions revenue by your number of subscribers.

For example, let’s say you earn $50,000 in subscription revenue each month and have 5,000 subscribers. Your average revenue per user is $10.

💡Best practices:

• Use dynamic pricing, like offering a promotion to people who are less engaged
• Offer different subscriptions
• Estimate average revenue per user (ARPU) by surveying your audience: 'If you’re willing to subscribe, how much would you be willing to pay each month for your subscription?'

Churn rate measures how many people unsubscribe each month.

68% of the 50 leading subscription businesses surveyed said that retention is their top strategic priority. Reducing churn rates by 5% can increase profits by 25%–95%.

💡Best practices:

• Send emails or recommend articles to subscribers who haven’t logged in for a while
• Send emails for your subscriber’s milestones, like on their birthday or celebrating their first year as a subscriber
• Schedule onboarding emails for new subscribers, such as a welcome from the editor and newsletter offerings