By Stewart Robinson, Founder

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at Press Gazette’s Future of Media Technology Conference. I joined a panel with Andy Morley from The Independent, Fiona Spooner from The Financial Times, and Terry Hornsby from Reach to talk about how reader data is driving revenue for publishers. 

I’ve summarised some key takeaways from the session that you might find useful if you’re looking to drive more digital revenue in 2025. 

Key takeaways 

• Reader data is no longer optional. Publishers are moving from chasing raw traffic to truly understanding their quality audience in a meaningful way. It’s quality over quantity, whether playing for reader revenue or audience appeal to attract advertisers and sponsors.
• Take control back from Google; publishers can collect and collate their data to know their readers better than anyone.
• Taxonomy unlocks deep audience insight. Through mapping content properties to audience segments, publishers can go far beyond “which story performed well” and start creating personalised reader experiences.
• B2B publishers can sell higher-value access – Reader data enables sponsors to target hand-picked audiences for events, thought leadership, or focus groups, delivering stronger ROI than selling ads or white papers against volume.
• B2C publishers can optimise paywalls dynamically – Using data to adjust paywalls based on reader habits lets publishers increase subscription revenue without alienating audiences.

The shift 

In our session, we talked about how reader data has gone from being a “nice extra” to absolutely essential. It’s at the core of publishing strategy and decision-making. More and more of our customers are shifting from relying on traffic to becoming laser-focused lead-generation engines for their customers.

The ability to see who’s actually engaging, not just high-level demographics, but firmographics and even at a more micro-level behaviour, is powering this shift. For years, we’ve let Google be the one who knows everything about our audiences from what they read, what they buy, and where they go, and we’ve happily handed over that insight. So thanks to Google for the distribution, but it’s time publishers know their own audiences better than anyone else. Now, how granular do we really need to get? 

Power of taxonomy 

What’s really exciting is how far taxonomy can take publishers. Instead of just looking at the story or article level, we can pull out any taxonomic property from a piece of content topic and pinpoint exactly which micro-segment of the audience engaged with it. That level of detail means publishers can go way beyond basic analytics and create experiences for their readers.

That’s why I say relying on Google Analytics is just not enough. The real power lies in using your CMS to capture, structure, and act on that data so that ultimately you can drive more revenue. 

So how does this directly tie into growth and create new revenue streams? 

To start, let’s look into B2B publishers. Instead of selling classic sponsored posts or white papers, using reader data to offer sponsors something much more valuable, direct access to the right people at the right time pushes value propositions and creates unique channels for clients. That could mean hand-picked audiences for events, thought-leadership campaigns, or focus groups. More real human-to-human connections. When you know who’s reading content, opportunities lie far beyond selling ad space. Instead, you have a deeper understanding of who in the audience would be able to assist or be sold to by the customers. 

Whereas in B2C, we’ve seen opportunities for publishers to push variable paywalls in different content and audience segments. In the past, it was okay to use simple paywall concepts such as “three free articles a month,” and it did work. But now there’s a shift towards looking specifically at which audiences are the most engaged and which content converts best using proprietary data, then adjusting the paywalls accordingly. It’s a responsive way to grow subscriptions and revenue without scaring your audience away.

Wrap up

By taking control of your data, using your CMS to its full potential, and leveraging tools like taxonomy, publishers can build digital products that truly serve audiences and customers. Whether it’s creating premium sponsorship opportunities, fine-tuning paywalls, or improving engagement, the power lies in knowing your readers better than anyone else. We’re here to help publishers make this shift.