Q1 2025 Saw Largest Increase in Digital Publisher Revenues Since Pandemic, AOP and Deloitte Reveal

Published: 26 Jun 2025

Subscriptions finally overtake display advertising as largest revenue driver

London, UK, 26^th June 2025: The latest Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index (DPRI) from the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) and Deloitte reveals the largest year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth in the post-pandemic period, with total revenues increasing by 9.27% compared to Q1 2024. With the exception of display advertising and classifieds, all revenue categories showed significant growth, resulting in total Q1 2025 revenues of £166.94 million.

For many years, subscription revenues have been gradually increasing while display advertising revenues have contracted, with their respective trajectories indicating subscriptions would eventually become the largest revenue driver for premium publishers. This milestone has now been met: subscriptions accounted for 34% of Q1 2025 revenues versus display advertising’s 31%, with the former increasing by 21.8% YoY and the latter decreasing slightly by 2%.

Video and digital audio — which have both been on a gradual, years-long growth journey — returned solid YoY increases at 8.3% and 20.2% respectively and, combined, now make up 7.2% of revenues. Sponsorships, the largest revenue driver after subscriptions and display advertising, saw an 8.1% increase, while miscellaneous revenues (which includes data monetisation) and off-platform revenues increased by 20.5% and 26.5%.

Significant declines were reported in revenue from classifieds, with recruitment classified falling by 24.4% and other classified falling by 15.2% YoY. However, the impact of these losses is minor as the combined revenues of these categories only account for 3.6% of the quarterly total. Classifieds are now the smallest revenue categories, having been overtaken by digital audio for the first time.

The share of publishers seeing growth has been bolstered too, with 69% of participants reported a revenue increase in Q1 2025. This is up from 60% reporting growth in Q4 2024, and just 30% in Q3 2024, and represents the highest share of publishers showing growth since the pandemic.

Andy Cowen, lead partner for telecoms, media and entertainment at Deloitte, said: "These results demonstrate a significant shift in the digital publishing landscape. Substantial year-on-year growth, particularly in subscriptions, highlights the value and recognition of high-quality digital content and effective strategies focusing on reader engagement and revenue diversification. The surpassing of display advertising by subscription revenue is a key indicator of this positive trend and reflects a continuously evolving market that is unlocking new sustainable business models.”

Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP, commented: “For years, I’ve been quietly taking bets on when subscriptions would overtake display advertising as the largest slice of premium digital publishers’ revenue pie. It’s fantastic to see this milestone finally pass, and sooner than expected, with all credit due to the long-term revenue diversification strategy that has been adopted by our members. Most heartening is what this represents as the wider information ecosystem fractures: audiences recognise the value of professional journalism and are willing to pay for it.”