The fourth quarter of 2017 was record-high in the history of Gazeta Wyborcza’s digital subscription project - the daily gained 23 thousand new subscribers. December was the best month ever as far as the sale of digital subscriptions is concerned, with the result 86% higher than last year. The stable growth of quarterly and annual subscriptions, which was the objective of Gazeta Wyborcza’s team for 2017, is particularly important - long-term orders at the end of December 2017 accounted for 93% of all active subscriptions sold. In total, in the entire 2017, the readers of the digital Gazeta Wyborcza made 300 thousand decisions to purchase subscriptions.

“We are particularly pleased that the group of individual subscribers has increased by 93% annually - this is one of the most important information about the growth dynamics of the Gazeta Wyborcza online business. The commitment of our editorial staff in important social matters translates into great results. On the one hand, many new subscribers came to Gazeta Wyborcza during the summer protests against the reform of the judiciary, and on the other – there is a growing number of subscribers convinced to buy the subscriptions because of the local content. Longer texts, especially reportages of the Duzy Format or features by Wysokie Obcasy – both well-known magazine supplements of Gazeta Wyborcza, are also invariably important to our paying readers,” said Danuta Breguła, Online Strategy Director of Gazeta Wyborcza.

The editorial team of Gazeta Wyborcza works intensively on increasing the commitment of subscribers  and their satisfaction with the subscriptions. In 2017, the daily introduced new rules for leaving comments under the texts on Wyborcza.pl websites and some other special features increasing the reader's comfort. Recently, Gazeta Wyborcza has also started publishing the Wyborcza to Wy section dedicated to its readers’ commentaries.

“Our subscribers are the most valuable recipients of our content – on average they read several dozen texts more than readers without subscriptions, share texts in social media, comment on articles and watch more online advertisements. Therefore, our subscribers are at the center of our editorial, publishing and development activities - we want to provide them with the best possible service,” added Danuta Breguła.

Focus on subscribers has also changed the strategy of Gazeta Wyborcza's presence on Facebook. With the efficient - also in the terms of costs - use of Facebook's tools to target the campaign, it was possible to acquire a large group of new subscribers, which is especially important in the situation of shrinking media outreach on Facebook.

In 2017, Gazeta Wyborcza also developed the digital subscription offer for institutions and companies, as well as special projects with large partners such as The Wall Street Journal and T-Mobile - in the direct billing model. The daily is also available in digital form for the clients and wifi users in the cafes of the Green Caffe Nero coffee-shop chain.

Key factor in the success of the Gazeta Wyborcza’s digital subscription project were the growing competences of the entire editorial staff and improving monetization of the content generated by the local teams.

"Gazeta Wyborcza reaches currently almost a quarter million readers who have an access to its digital content on a daily basis and buy paper edition of the daily**. It’s extraordinary! We are very pleased that despite such a difficult time for the press advertising market, Gazeta Wyborcza has a stable position based in more than half on the sale of its content. Our entire online project has already gained a significant share in the revenues of Gazeta Wyborcza,” commented Jerzy Wójcik, Publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza. “What is really important, I think I can safely say that the readership of Gazeta Wyborcza does not fall - it only changes, largely supported by the process of digital transformation of the press, which we have been leading in Poland. We accompany our readers when they need it - in their towns, kiosks, computers and smartphones, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

* Data: Gemius / PBI, average from X-XII.2017, real users, total platform, total number of users of Wyborcza.pl, Wyborcza.biz, Wysokieobcasy.pl, Komunikaty.pl.
Polskie Badania Czytelnictwa by Kantar Millward Brown, X-XII.2017, N = 4 994, COB indicator.
** The sum of the number of "Gazeta Wyborcza" digital subscribtions (sold and active) at the end of December, 2017 (almost 133 thousand) and the average sales of the “Gazeta Wyborcza” paper edition in 2017 (average sales nationwide - 124.2 thousand).
ZKDP, paid circulation, "Gazeta Wyborcza" - 6 issues a week, May-December 2017; data by Agora S.A.

Agora S.A. was established in 1989; since 1999 the Company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Its biggest undertakings are: Helios S.A. – Poland’s largest cinema network operator, ranked in terms of number of facilities, and the owner of the NEXT FILM distribution and production company, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland’s most popular opinion-forming newspaper, available in paper and electronic form – at Wyborcza.pl and Wysokieobcasy.pl, and via the application for smartphones, tablets and e-readers, and AMS – one of Poland’s leading outdoor advertising companies. Agora is also the publisher of the following magazines: Avanti, Logo and Cztery Kąty. Agora Group owns three brands of local music radio stations: Radio Złote Przeboje, Radio Pogoda, Rock Radio, and the Tuba.FM web radio, in addition to being a majority shareholder in the Radio TOK FM cross-regional radio station. Agora’s web portals are leaders in terms of popularity in their respective categories. Among the Company’s several dozen web-based brands there are portals such as Gazeta.pl, Sport.pl and Tokfm.pl, available on-line and via mobile applications. The Company is also engaged in book publishing. Agora is a co-owner of the Stopklatka TV channel launched in collaboration with Kino Polska TV S.A.
(http://www.agora.pl)