Monthly view
November 2026 subscription marketing
Blended cost
$12.19/ sub start
Total spend
$42,091
November 2026
- Subscriptions2,264 starts · $12.19 / start$27,587
- Midwest Sports+44 starts · $96.93 / start$4,265
- St. Cloud Live23 starts · $67.62 / start$1,555
- Advertising$8,684
Blended cost per start is Subscriptions spend over Subscriptions starts. Midwest Sports+ and St. Cloud Live are shown on their own, and Advertising is excluded.
Subscription starts
2,331
Starts report, all titles
Spend
Where the money went
- SEM local news (8 markets)$12,14729%
- SEM streaming (WDAY+ and Midwest Sports+)$7,51718%
- Facebook ads$4,61111%
- Facebook Midwest Sports+$4,26510%
- Ralph Engelstad Arena banner$3,3138%
- SEM advertising$2,8347%
- Programmatic advertising$2,0005%
- Facebook St. Cloud Live$1,5554%
- CPC Agweek advertising$1,5004%
- LinkedIn ads$1,0002%
- Facebook BOTM advertising$1,0002%
- LinkedIn article boost$3501%
Efficiency
Paid channel cost per start
| Channel | Spend | Starts | Cost / start |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEM local news (8 markets) | $12,147 | 32 | $380 |
| SEM streaming (WDAY+ and Midwest Sports+) | $7,517 | 100 | $75 |
| Facebook ads | $4,611 | — | — |
| Facebook Midwest Sports+ | $4,265 | — | — |
| Ralph Engelstad Arena banner | $3,313 | — | — |
| SEM advertising | $2,834 | — | — |
| Programmatic advertising | $2,000 | — | — |
| Facebook St. Cloud Live | $1,555 | — | — |
| CPC Agweek advertising | $1,500 | — | — |
| LinkedIn ads | $1,000 | — | — |
| Facebook BOTM advertising | $1,000 | — | — |
| LinkedIn article boost | $350 | — | — |
Starts are campaign-attributed conversions tied to each spend line. A dash means no tagged campaign conversions for that line this month.
Shopping cart
Online shopping cart starts
2,243 starts came through the online shopping cart (96% of all 2,331 starts), from the Starts online report.
Stops
Starts vs. stops
Starts
2,331
Stops
1,650
1,403 digital only, 247 print + digital
Net gain
681
Starts minus stops, Nov 1–9
Why people stopped
| Did not renew | 584 | 35% |
| Lost interest | 440 | 27% |
| Price | 266 | 16% |
| Moved away | 72 | 4% |
| Went to a competitor | 63 | 4% |
| Content | 37 | 2% |
| Technical issues | 26 | 2% |
| Deceased | 22 | 1% |
| Other | 140 | 8% |
Top 10 markets by stops
| Inforum | 266 | 16% |
| Duluth News Tribune | 186 | 11% |
| Post Bulletin | 163 | 10% |
| Grand Forks Herald | 114 | 7% |
| Brainerd Dispatch | 95 | 6% |
| SLS - Livestream Subscription | 92 | 6% |
| Mitchell Daily Republic | 80 | 5% |
| Echo Press | 65 | 4% |
| Bemidji Pioneer | 63 | 4% |
| Dickinson Press | 61 | 4% |
Markets
Starts by market
| Market | Total starts | Campaign starts | Paywall starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midwest Sports+ | 872 | 1 | 42 |
| InForum | 351 | 181 | 1,117 |
| Rochester | 186 | 14 | 143 |
| Duluth | 129 | 15 | 100 |
| Grand Forks | 114 | 10 | 92 |
| Mitchell | 67 | 11 | 76 |
| Brainerd | 65 | 13 | 58 |
| Alexandria | 62 | 8 | 39 |
| Willmar | 62 | 11 | 48 |
| Sioux Falls | 53 | 6 | 36 |
| Dickinson | 40 | 5 | 31 |
| Worthington | 31 | 6 | 22 |
| Jamestown | 30 | 2 | 23 |
| Bemidji | 29 | 2 | 29 |
| Pierre | 28 | 1 | 4 |
| Park Rapids | 26 | 6 | 24 |
| Superior | 25 | 5 | 24 |
| Detroit Lakes | 24 | 3 | 16 |
| St. Cloud | 23 | 13 | 12 |
| Cloquet | 22 | 0 | 18 |
| Fergus Falls | 21 | 4 | 10 |
| Pine&Lakes | 16 | 1 | 12 |
| Perham | 14 | 4 | 13 |
| Wahpeton | 11 | 0 | 3 |
| Sidney | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Agweek | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Watford City | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Wadena | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Madison | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Williston | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Hankinson | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| NewsCenter1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Levers
Starts the team can influence
Paywall placements and campaigns — the two tables your team can act on. Total starts (2,331) come from the Starts report; these are the marketing-driven slices inside it.
Paywall placements · 2,011 starts
Top campaigns · 334 attributed starts
Campaigns
Campaign performance
334 campaign-attributed starts.
- cpc132 · 40%
- newsletter93 · 28%
- promo send55 · 16%
- lifecycle flow22 · 7%
- facebook ad8 · 2%
| Campaign | Source / medium | Starts |
|---|---|---|
| WDAY+ Aug26 - Apr27 #2 | google / cpc | 99 |
| dailyam | email / newsletter | 64 |
| $2for6novemeber_send1_versionb_sixmonths | email / promo_send | 21 |
| InForum Local News #2 | google / cpc | 15 |
| $2for6novemeber_send1_versiona_sixmonths | email / promo_send | 13 |
| $2for6novemeber_send2_versiona_get6months | email / promo_send | 10 |
| Brainerd Local News | google / cpc | 6 |
| (ai-assistant) | chatgpt.com / ai-assistant | 5 |
| westernedgefall2026_set2_fbad_fourcommunities | paidsocial / facebook_ad | 5 |
| ccdecline | email / lifecycle_flow | 5 |
| dailypm | email / newsletter | 5 |
| obituaries | email / newsletter | 5 |
| (not set) | dappier / widget | 5 |
| introperiodending | email / lifecycle_flow | 4 |
| $2for6novemeber_send2_versionb_get6months | email / promo_send | 4 |
| Duluth Local News #2 | google / cpc | 3 |
| Grand Forks Local News #2 | google / cpc | 3 |
| St. Cloud Local News | google / cpc | 3 |
| abandoncart2 | email / lifecycle_flow | 3 |
| newsletter_welcome | email / lifecycle_flow | 3 |
| nonsubscriberincludes_tiredofthechaos | email / newsletter | 3 |
| Endorsements: Here's a summary of our 2026 endorsements | email / newsletter_breakingnews | 3 |
| Three Olmsted County commissioners win re-election | email / newsletter_breakingnews | 3 |
| (data not set) | (data not available) / (data not available) | 2 |
| registration1 | email / lifecycle_flow | 2 |
Top 5 campaigns
Rolled up by campaign name across every source and medium it ran on.
#1
WDAY+ Aug26 - Apr27 #2
99
starts · 29.6% of attributed
google / cpc
#2
dailyam
64
starts · 19.2% of attributed
email / newsletter
#3
$2for6novemeber_send1_versionb_sixmonths
21
starts · 6.3% of attributed
email / promo_send
#4
InForum Local News #2
15
starts · 4.5% of attributed
google / cpc
#5
$2for6novemeber_send1_versiona_sixmonths
13
starts · 3.9% of attributed
email / promo_send
Opportunity
Lift on campaigns & paywall
3%
lift applied
+10
from campaigns
+60
from paywall placements
Kept separate on purpose: a start can be tagged to both a campaign and a paywall placement, so the two figures should not be added.
Top campaigns
WDAY+ Aug26 - Apr27 #2
dailyam
$2for6novemeber_send1_versionb_sixmonths
InForum Local News #2
$2for6novemeber_send1_versiona_sixmonths
Paywall placements
Subscribe page
Direct to checkout
Subscribers only
Front page
CTA banner
At today's blended $12.19 per start, a 3% lift is worth about $122 in equivalent media on campaigns and $735 on paywall placements.
Action
Recommended next best steps
1 · Scale the email engine
Email drove 177 starts (53% of everything campaigns can account for) with no media cost — newsletters 93, promo sends 55, lifecycle flows 22.
2 · Fix the on-site paths
CTA banners produced 3 starts against 68 from the front page and 70 from subscribers-only content.
- 28 of 31 markets logged zero banner starts — check the banner is actually firing before rewriting the creative.