News and Updates on Quantum Partners and Projects
• Internet Subscription Sales Continue to Rise, MPA Survey Reports
July 14, 10: Nearly 25% of all magazine subscriptions will be generated online, according to the recently released Magazine Publisher’s of America (MPA) survey, which Quantum Media principal Jean Hellering helped produce.
The survey found that 93% of internet new subscription orders really are from brand new subscribers, showing that internet subscription sales continue to be a source of circulation growth. This is supported by data from the survey’s previous three years, which shows that this percentage has remained high since 2006, and has grown each year.
Internet subscription sales increased 78% from 2006 to 2009, according to data from past surveys. Almost nine out of ten of those internet subscriptions are sold directly by the publishers themselves, according to the 2009 survey. This includes subscriptions sold on editorial websites; both internal and external e-mail lists; cross-selling; internal upsells; and offline to online.
In 2009, 43% of new subscription orders on the internet were placed mainly on publishers’ own websites, reports the survey. It also stated that search engine advertising accounted for less than 5% of new subscription Internet sales.
The survey reported that internet renewals are growing as a percentage of overall internet activity. Information from the past three surveys shows that e-mail has overtaken editorial websites as the main source of internet renewals; that editorial websites have been and still are the largest source of new subscriptions placed on the internet; and that overall internet payment has steadily improved.
Hellering assisted MPA in varying ways, including participating in writing the survey questions; compiling the responses; and preparing all of the analyses—both one version regarding only this year’s results and another version, a trend analysis, including only magazines that responded to all three surveys considered. Hellering also prepared the survey result documents posted on MPA’s website, with assistance from Ken Godshall of the MPA.