The number of ePaper users is growing. And it’s growing strong. Digital newspapers continue to show robust growth year by year. In Germany the first Quarter of 2017 shows an increase of almost 25% in the ePaper circulation number compared to the first quarter of the previous year. A big driver of this growth was the increase of ePaper subscribers by 29.2%. This highlights the significance of digital newspapers for publishers as revenue contributors.
Regional newspapers make up 75% of ePaper dailys
The IVW’s first quarter of 2017 report highlights the success of regional digital editions. Out of the 917.000 ePapers sold in the first quarter of 2017, 688.000 were by regional subscription newspapers. The rest were sold by the 6 German countrywide papers. Süddeutsche Zeitung has the largest ePaper circulation with 55.000 downloads.
Average revenue per ePaper user drives total digital ARPU
One measurement for a good overview of the markets is the ARPU; the average revenue per user per year. Comparing the ePaper ARPU with the one for online news websites, makes it clear how valuable your ePapers are. The value for nytimes.com visitors is below $2 while for ePaper readers in the US it is $68. That’s 34 times more.
Countries with higher ePaper user penetration exhibit a higher ARPU. The United Kingdom leads this group with an ARPU of USD 91. The European average lies at about USD 50 which is USD 16 less than the North American average.
