Publishers are recent off of third-quarter earnings and gearing up for a brand new yr — which implies it’s time for them to kind out their income sources, each those they’re creating wealth from now and those they’ll give attention to rising in 2026.
As senior media reporter Sara Guaglione reported earlier this month, many publishers noticed progress in digital promoting income whereas the programmatic advert market continued to wrestle. The likes of The New York Instances, USA In the present day and Ziff Davis are planning to reinvest in video, and Folks Inc. and Information Corp are amongst these seeking to AI licensing offers to make more cash from platforms.
On the similar time, Digiday+ Analysis performed a survey amongst almost 40 writer professionals in Q3. Here’s what they needed to say about these income sources:
Direct-sold advertisements
Survey outcomes mirrored publishers’ Q3 earnings relating to digital promoting — direct-sold advertisements stay the highest income supply for publishers, with 95% saying in Q3 2025 that they get a minimum of a really small portion of their income from direct-sold advertisements and 56% saying they get a big or very giant portion of income from this supply.
These percentages have remained regular over the previous couple of years, based on Digiday’s survey information, and lend themselves to how a lot publishers say they’ll give attention to rising this a part of their enterprise within the subsequent six months: Each respondent to Digiday’s survey stated they’d put a minimum of a really small give attention to constructing their direct-sold advertisements enterprise and simply shy of three-quarters (72%) stated they’d put a big or very giant give attention to constructing that a part of their enterprise.
Programmatic advertisements
Digiday’s survey outcomes additionally mirrored the struggles within the programmatic advert market.
From Q3 2024 to Q3 2025, the proportion of publishers who stated they get a minimum of a really small portion of their income from programmatic advertisements dropped from 86% to 75%, whereas the proportion who stated they get a big or very giant portion of income from this supply fell from 36% to 25%.
On the similar time, publishers’ plans to construct their programmatic advertisements enterprise have additionally fallen: 80% of publishers stated this yr that they’d put a minimum of a small give attention to constructing their programmatic advertisements enterprise in contrast with 84% final yr, and 37% stated they’d put a big or very giant give attention to constructing that a part of their enterprise within the coming months in contrast with 47% final yr.
Video promoting
Video promoting (together with branded content material and pre-roll advertisements) is proving to be a little bit of a blended bag for publishers, based on Digiday’s survey.
Whereas the proportion of publishers who stated they get a minimum of a really small portion of their income from video advertisements has fallen barely from 91% final yr to 85% this yr, the proportion who stated they get a big or very giant portion of their income from video has risen from 18% final yr to 24% this yr.
In the meantime, publishers’ give attention to constructing their video advertisements enterprise has fallen over the past yr: 90% of publishers stated in Q3 2024 that they’d put a minimum of a really small give attention to constructing that a part of their enterprise, whereas 86% stated the identical in Q3 2025, and 41% stated final yr that they’d put a big or very giant give attention to constructing their video advertisements enterprise, in contrast with 33% this yr.
Content material licensing and gross sales
Opposite to information relating to publishers’ AI licensing offers, Digiday’s survey discovered that content material licensing and gross sales doesn’t account for a good portion of publishers’ revenues now, neither is it doubtless that it’ll within the close to future.
Fewer than three-quarters of writer professionals (71%) stated in Q3 2025 that they make a minimum of a really small portion of their income from content material licensing (down solely very barely from the 72% who stated the identical in Q3 2024). In the meantime, simply 6% stated this yr that they get a big or very giant portion of income from content material licensing, down from 11% final yr.
The share of publishers who will give attention to constructing their content material licensing enterprise has additionally fallen over the past yr: 71% stated in Q3 2025 that they may put a minimum of a really small give attention to constructing their content material licensing enterprise within the subsequent six months, down from 83% in Q3 2024, and 11% stated in 2025 that they’ll put a big or very giant give attention to constructing this a part of their enterprise — a major drop from the 21% who stated the identical in 2024.
Subscriptions
Regardless of a scarcity of reports on subscriptions in latest reporting, it’s price mentioning that Digiday’s survey discovered some noteworthy shifts to publishers’ subscriptions companies — however not precisely in a constructive path.
The share of writer professionals who stated they get a minimum of a really small portion of income from subscriptions fell considerably within the final yr, from simply in need of three-quarters in Q3 2024 (74%) to simply over half (57%) in Q3 2025. The share of publishers who get a big or very giant portion of their income from subscriptions additionally fell, though a lot much less sharply, from 22% in 2024 to 18% in 2025.
This shift is mirrored in how a lot publishers plan to give attention to constructing their subscriptions enterprise within the coming months. Final yr, 83% of publishers stated they’d put a minimum of a really small give attention to rising their subscriptions enterprise. This yr, that share fell to 73%. The share of those that stated they’d focus quite a bit additionally fell considerably — from precisely half (50%) in Q3 2024 to one-third (33%) in Q3 2025.
