Digiday interviews Nick Hugh about the publication’s goal of reaching 10 million registered users and 1 million paying subscribers by 2023.
The interview comes after The Daily Telegraph announced this week that its number of paying subscribers and registered users have reached an all-time high. The publication has reached 400,000 paying subscribers and 5 million registered users – this means that 54% of its revenue now comes from readers.
What are you pleased with from these latest numbers?
I look at it as very strong progress. I’m well aware of the way some of the numbers are reported, but the fact we have an operating profit of £8.1 million implies a much stronger underlying base. For a business in the process of complete transformation from advertising to subscription-led, it requires restructuring and some other work. The point is we remain profitable while transforming the business. That makes us unique. By definition, transforming means you have to run close to the line. I’m comfortable with that and confident we’ll drive more profit in 2019 and 2020. If you have revenue down 2.6% and profit down double-digits it’s because there are costs involved. We’re focused on hiring journalists and investing in subscription capabilities and technology. It is an investment.
Read the full interview on Digiday.
