Monthly view
October 2026 subscription marketing
Blended cost
$9.29/ sub start
Total spend
$88,672
October 2026
- Subscriptions5,559 starts · $9.29 / start$51,661
- Midwest Sports+189 starts · $79.18 / start$14,964
- St. Cloud Live56 starts · $45.70 / start$2,559
- Advertising$19,487
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
5,804
Starts report, all titles
Spend
Where the money went
- Facebook / Instagram newsletter lead ads$15,87518%
- SEM local news (7 publications)$10,80012%
- Facebook / Instagram advertising promotions$7,1948%
- Facebook / Instagram top headlines (4 publications)$6,0587%
- Facebook / Instagram news app downloads (11 publications)$4,8856%
- SEM advertising (Duluth News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, Post Bulletin, InForum)$4,7935%
- Programmatic adv product (Duluth News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, InForum, Post Bulletin)$4,0005%
- SEM Midwest Sports+ streaming$3,0003%
- SEM WDAY+ streaming$3,0003%
- Programmatic Midwest Sports+ general promo$2,5003%
- Programmatic Midwest Sports+ Watch campaign$2,5003%
- Programmatic Western Edge (Dickinson Press, Mckenzie County Farmer, Sidney Herald, Williston Herald)$2,0002%
- Programmatic adv solutions (Duluth News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, InForum, Post Bulletin)$2,0002%
- Facebook / Instagram $2 for 6 October$1,8672%
- Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ app downloads$1,8412%
- Facebook / Instagram Western Edge$1,8232%
- Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ app download$1,6572%
- SEM St. Cloud Live local news$1,5002%
- LinkedIn advertising branding$1,5002%
- Billboard Midwest Sports+ branding$1,4502%
- Billboard Sioux Falls Live branding$1,4502%
- Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ October football games$1,2001%
- Facebook / Instagram St. Cloud Live top headlines$1,0591%
- Programmatic Midwest Sports+ October football games$1,0001%
- Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ October football games$9361%
- Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ multisport games$6581%
- Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ MN football playoffs$6171%
- Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ ND fall tournament$5091%
- Programmatic Midwest Sports+ Sioux Falls teams$5001%
- Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ Sioux Falls football$5001%
Efficiency
Paid channel cost per start
| Channel | Spend | Starts | Cost / start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook / Instagram newsletter lead ads | $15,875 | — | — |
| SEM local news (7 publications) | $10,800 | 53 | $204 |
| Facebook / Instagram advertising promotions | $7,194 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram top headlines (4 publications) | $6,058 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram news app downloads (11 publications) | $4,885 | — | — |
| SEM advertising (Duluth News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, Post Bulletin, InForum) | $4,793 | — | — |
| Programmatic adv product (Duluth News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, InForum, Post Bulletin) | $4,000 | — | — |
| SEM Midwest Sports+ streaming | $3,000 | 32 | $94 |
| SEM WDAY+ streaming | $3,000 | 83 | $36 |
| Programmatic Midwest Sports+ general promo | $2,500 | — | — |
| Programmatic Midwest Sports+ Watch campaign | $2,500 | — | — |
| Programmatic Western Edge (Dickinson Press, Mckenzie County Farmer, Sidney Herald, Williston Herald) | $2,000 | — | — |
| Programmatic adv solutions (Duluth News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, InForum, Post Bulletin) | $2,000 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram $2 for 6 October | $1,867 | 9 | $207 |
| Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ app downloads | $1,841 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram Western Edge | $1,823 | 24 | $76 |
| Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ app download | $1,657 | — | — |
| SEM St. Cloud Live local news | $1,500 | 4 | $375 |
| LinkedIn advertising branding | $1,500 | — | — |
| Billboard Midwest Sports+ branding | $1,450 | — | — |
| Billboard Sioux Falls Live branding | $1,450 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ October football games | $1,200 | 1 | $1,200 |
| Facebook / Instagram St. Cloud Live top headlines | $1,059 | — | — |
| Programmatic Midwest Sports+ October football games | $1,000 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ October football games | $936 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ multisport games | $658 | 1 | $658 |
| Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ MN football playoffs | $617 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram WDAY+ ND fall tournament | $509 | — | — |
| Programmatic Midwest Sports+ Sioux Falls teams | $500 | — | — |
| Facebook / Instagram Midwest Sports+ Sioux Falls football | $500 | — | — |
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
5,451 starts came through the online shopping cart (94% of all 5,804 starts), from the Starts online report.
Markets
Starts by market
| Market | Total starts | Campaign starts | Paywall starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| InForum | 1,094 | 233 | 1,372 |
| Midwest Sports+ | 821 | 34 | 202 |
| Rochester | 496 | 80 | 349 |
| Duluth | 459 | 72 | 280 |
| Grand Forks | 442 | 64 | 315 |
| Mitchell | 337 | 29 | 255 |
| Brainerd | 236 | 39 | 150 |
| Willmar | 216 | 24 | 155 |
| Alexandria | 156 | 25 | 104 |
| Detroit Lakes | 141 | 12 | 87 |
| Dickinson | 140 | 14 | 89 |
| Bemidji | 131 | 11 | 81 |
| Worthington | 119 | 9 | 73 |
| Superior | 117 | 18 | 81 |
| Sioux Falls | 96 | 5 | 49 |
| Jamestown | 93 | 5 | 65 |
| Park Rapids | 88 | 8 | 76 |
| Williston | 72 | 17 | 17 |
| Watford City | 66 | 10 | 28 |
| Perham | 64 | 2 | 43 |
| St. Cloud | 56 | 12 | 42 |
| Wahpeton | 55 | 8 | 4 |
| Fergus Falls | 53 | 16 | 13 |
| Pine&Lakes | 44 | 0 | 25 |
| Wadena | 41 | 2 | 31 |
| Cloquet | 38 | 0 | 30 |
| Sidney | 30 | 13 | 13 |
| Hankinson | 25 | 1 | 2 |
| Pierre | 25 | 9 | 12 |
| Madison | 23 | 6 | 0 |
| Agweek | 16 | 0 | 10 |
| NewsCenter1 | 14 | 2 | 0 |
The by-market report totals 780 campaign starts; the campaign report totals 767. These source reports differ by 13 starts.
Levers
Starts the team can influence
Paywall placements and campaigns — the two tables your team can act on. Total starts (5,804) come from the Starts report; these are the marketing-driven slices inside it.
Paywall placements · 4,053 starts
Top campaigns · 767 attributed starts
Campaigns
Campaign performance
767 campaign-attributed starts.
- newsletter273 · 36%
- cpc172 · 22%
- promo send168 · 22%
- lifecycle flow58 · 8%
- facebook ad35 · 5%
| Campaign | Source / medium | Starts |
|---|---|---|
| dailyam | email / newsletter | 151 |
| WDAY+ Aug26 - Apr27 | google / cpc | 83 |
| 2for6oct2026_send8_lastchance | email / promo_send | 47 |
| MS+ Aug26 - Apr27 | google / cpc | 32 |
| obituaries | email / newsletter | 29 |
| 2for6oct2026_send7_try6months | email / promo_send | 24 |
| 2for6oct2026_send2_limitedtimeoffer | email / promo_send | 21 |
| westernedgefall2026_set1_fbad_onesubscription | paidsocial / facebook_ad | 19 |
| Grand Forks Local News | google / cpc | 17 |
| dailypm | email / newsletter | 15 |
| 120257786586990777 | fb / paid | 14 |
| 2for6oct2026_send1_only2for6 | email / promo_send | 14 |
| 120257791438950777 | fb / paid | 13 |
| ccdecline | email / lifecycle_flow | 13 |
| 2for6oct2026_send3_clearnews | email / promo_send | 12 |
| subscribenewsletterad_generic | email / newsletter | 12 |
| InForum Local News #2 | google / cpc | 11 |
| 2for6oct2026_send4_knowwhatmatters | email / promo_send | 10 |
| 2for6oct2026_send5_nopressure | email / promo_send | 10 |
| breaking | email / newsletter | 10 |
| catchupreport | email / newsletter | 9 |
| sports | email / newsletter | 9 |
| Post Bulletin Local News #2 | google / cpc | 8 |
| Mitchell Local News | google / cpc | 7 |
| 2for6oct2026_send6_localnews | email / promo_send | 7 |
Top 5 campaigns
Rolled up by campaign name across every source and medium it ran on.
#1
dailyam
151
starts · 19.7% of attributed
email / newsletter
#2
WDAY+ Aug26 - Apr27
83
starts · 10.8% of attributed
google / cpc
#3
2for6oct2026_send8_lastchance
47
starts · 6.1% of attributed
email / promo_send
#4
MS+ Aug26 - Apr27
32
starts · 4.2% of attributed
google / cpc
#5
obituaries
29
starts · 3.8% of attributed
email / newsletter
Opportunity
Lift on campaigns & paywall
3%
lift applied
+23
from campaigns
+122
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
dailyam
WDAY+ Aug26 - Apr27
2for6oct2026_send8_lastchance
MS+ Aug26 - Apr27
obituaries
Paywall placements
Direct to checkout
Subscribe page
Front page
Subscribers only
CTA banner
At today's blended $9.29 per start, a 3% lift is worth about $214 in equivalent media on campaigns and $1,130 on paywall placements.
Action
Recommended next best steps
1 · Scale the email engine
Email drove 503 starts (66% of everything campaigns can account for) with no media cost — newsletters 273, promo sends 168, lifecycle flows 58.
- The 8-send offer series (resends folded into their original send) averaged 18.3 starts a send, but "2for6oct2026 send 8" hit 48. Rebuild next month's series off that winning offer and subject line instead of 8 fresh creatives.
2 · Fix the on-site paths
CTA banners produced 10 starts against 265 from the front page and 226 from subscribers-only content.
- 24 of 31 markets logged zero banner starts — check the banner is actually firing before rewriting the creative.