UK publishers turn to subscriptions as referrals erode

Reach's trading update flagged ongoing disruption in referrals, primarily from Google, while off-platform revenue grew, supported by an AI licensing agreement, and print advertising was strong on the back of the FIFA World Cup. The group launched a corporate subscription bundle the same week, and Press Gazette reported CNN is bringing its All Access subscription to the UK and Canada on 20 October at £4.99 a month, a year after launching in the US, against a backdrop of CNN.com monthly visits down 44 percent over three years. The specialist end of the market kept growing, with London Centric passing 5,500 paid subscribers and free video-first newsbrand Electrify reporting booming revenue.

The crux

With referral traffic structurally declining, UK publishers are swapping reach for recurring subscription revenue, and even the largest are restructuring costs, Reach estimates £35 to 40 million in restructuring spend, to fund the transition.

Sell-side read

Subscription and membership revenue is becoming the counterweight to a shrinking advertising referral base, and the publishers moving early, Reach's bundling and CNN's paywall are the templates, are the ones that will own direct audience relationships when search and AI summaries finish re-intermediating discovery.

Watch

Reach's full-year results and whether CNN extends All Access to more countries within the year, as it has signalled.