After six months of testing with selected publishers, INMA extends an invite for a new digital performance benchmarking service to all INMA corporate members. 

The Subscription Benchmarking Service is exclusive to INMA corporate members that publish at least one online news service and requires an additional subscription. 

The full service costs US$7,500 per year, per publisher. In 2022, a publisher can sign up multiple brands without extra costs.

In total, 102 national and regional brands from all over the world contributed the data to the service since the launch of the pilot in autumn 2021. That is 30 publishers from 19 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Pacific.

Publishers were telling us for years: “Without benchmarks, running a business is like driving with your eyes closed.”

The INMA board of directors imagined a club within the club: an on-going, peer-to-peer, secure, and confidential exchange of data, allowing international comparisons and analyses, as well as networking. 

I lead this benchmarking programme in addition to the Readers First Initiative. 

How does it work

Every quarter, INMA confidentially collects 20 data points on performance, calculates 34 KPIs, and slices them by cohorts: geography, maturity, target market, type of a paywall, etc.

The data is presented in an aggregated and anonymised way in the form of an online report (dashboard): 150+ charts and tables in 10 interactive tabs. 

Each brand has personalised scorecards on digital reader engagement, registration, and digital subscription, allowing comparisons to cohorts of similar brands and the top performers in each KPI. 

We partnered with Laboratorium EE, a Polish-Lithuanian research and software development company, to build the online report and assist in data collection, verification, and analysis.

During exclusive Webinars, we present in-depth analyses of trends, striking differences between cohorts and inspiring correlations. We also invite the best performers to share best practices. 

On request, we also connect publishers for one-to-one meetings to exchange ideas and experiences.

During individual briefings and ask-me-anything sessions with INMA analysts, we demonstrate how to use the benchmarks for gap and opportunity analyses, strategy and budget, and for planning new initiatives. 

What is different about it

We design this as a peer-to-peer exchange: low-tech but also low-cost. Participants are not locked-in into any hardware, software, nor consulting agreements.

We select comparable brands from across the world to ensure the value of benchmarks. We also limit participaction to news brands only.

The data-rich dashboard is an immediate deliverable, but equally valuable are actionable insights and best practices shared during Webinars curated by INMA.

We build a benchmarking community and not just a data product. We facilitate learning from each other. We save your time and money in finding expertise or peers.

Our customer success team and analysts assist in data collection, verification, and analysis. We build frameworks to help apply the insights.

Click here to learn more and apply to the INMA Subscription Benchmarking Service.

Greg’s Readers First newsletter is a public face of a revenue and media subscriptions initiative by INMA, outlined here. Subscribe here. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .