Anne Holland’s new venture, Subscription Site Insider, has just released an in-depth study of subscription and membership-based content sites. According to the study, it’s now a $15 billion market that continues to grow by $1 billion per year.
In the study, the market is split into three segments with b2c sites accounting for nearly $6 billion, b2b sites $5 billion and adult sites generating $4 billion in revenue each year. Dating and online gaming each contribute $1 billion to the b2c figure; the dating figure would be higher if you count the 4.3 million Classmates.com members, whose membership fees are often paid in hopes of rekindling a long-ago high school romance (note: author’s editorial comment, not taken from the study).
The study included market surveys of 600 industry executives, plus a research study of 550 subscription/membership sites, and also builds upon 3rd party research.
In line with their focus, Subscription Site Insider identifies many opportunities for additional revenue from these sites. Of the sites they review, roughly half were not using their site to drive ancillary revenues (ad sales, affiliate programs, online or instructor-led training, consulting, events and more). According to the study, only 10% of b2b sites and 16% of b2c sites engage in aggressive search marketing, as defined by the authors.
Some of the survey results were surprising. In the survey, industry executives were asked about M&A and expansion investments currently under consideration. While half of those surveyed said they were looking to launch another subscription product (no surprise), only 14% indicated that they were currently looking at launching a mobile subscription offering. A full 58% said that they were not considering a mobile subscription offering. Another 28% said they might do so “if a good deal fell into their lap”. I can understand that response when talking about M&A, but do they expect the iPhone Fairy to leave an app under their pillow?
Sounds to me as though three-quarters of those surveyed are pretty far out of touch with the what’s going on in the content world. I’m not suggesting that everyone rush out and launch an iPhone or Droid app today, but leaders not considering mobile as part of their delivery platform going forward could be considered negligent in my book.
The full report, Practical Research to Grow Subscription Site Profits, is available for purchase on the Subscription Site Insider website.
An executive summary is available for free download.
