The hybrid model future: ads, subs, events, and products together

The idea that a publishing business must “pick a lane”—either advertising-supported or subscription-based—has long guided industry strategy. Media commentators, particularly in the wake of digital disruption, have often framed sustainability as a matter of strategic purity. Focus on subscriptions, the argument went, and you’ll build loyalty. Focus on ads, and you’ll scale. But trying to do both? That was dismissed as muddled thinking.

Yet in 2025, it’s clear that the publishers thriving are the ones who rejected the binary model. Instead, they’ve built hybrid businesses—layering advertising, reader revenue, events, branded content, and proprietary products into a unified commercial architecture.

This complexity is not confusion. It’s resilience. And in a market defined by volatility, platform risk, and audience fragmentation, hybrid thinking isn’t just preferable. It’s essential.

Ads are no longer the villain

Advertising once symbolised a threat to reader revenue models. It was said to cheapen user experience, distort editorial priorities, and distract from the core subscription pitch. But this division was always overstated. When implemented well, advertising and reader revenue can coexist—especially when ads are high-quality, contextually aligned, and not reliant on third-party surveillance.

Today’s smartest publishers aren’t chasing scale with commodity inventory. They’re building direct-sold, brand-safe ad offerings tied to newsletters, podcasts, and high-intent niche verticals. These formats command higher CPMs and fit seamlessly into an experience built for readers—not around them.

A reader who pays for your journalism may still appreciate—or even welcome—sponsorships that add value. The key is relevance, tone, and placement.

Subscriptions as a gateway, not a gate

Subscription models, too, are evolving. It’s no longer about hard walls and binary access. Many publishers are moving toward tiered memberships, micro-payments, and flexible bundling. They’re thinking beyond paywalls and toward product ecosystems—where a newsletter, an app, a podcast, or a premium event forms part of the offering.

This diversification of subscription value expands the market. Instead of asking readers for £15/month or nothing, publishers are building ladders: free content, donation options, low-friction entry points, and premium tiers for power users.

Subscriptions in this model are not just a revenue stream. They’re a relationship architecture.

Events that anchor the brand

Events—once treated as isolated commercial plays—are increasingly being recognised as brand-defining products. Whether live or virtual, public or VIP-only, they serve multiple functions at once: revenue generation, audience engagement, lead capture, sponsor activation, and editorial enrichment.

Importantly, events are no longer annual spikes. Forward-thinking publishers are turning them into year-round engines of relevance, embedding them in content calendars and using them to generate material across channels: articles, reports, video clips, social snippets, and more.

In a hybrid model, events aren’t just about ticket sales. They’re about signal amplification—reinforcing a publisher’s authority in its space.

Owned products and IP

The most mature hybrid publishers are now going a step further—building products that extend beyond content altogether. This includes proprietary tools, data services, job boards, education offerings, and ecommerce integrations.

These products don’t just add revenue—they deepen utility. They position the publisher not just as an information provider, but as a solutions brand. The result is stronger audience stickiness and more varied ways to monetise attention without over-relying on any single model.

Think Skift’s research reports, The Financial Times’ B2B training programmes, or The Information’s VC database—these are publishing businesses moving toward product companies.

Internal alignment is the enabler

None of this works without internal coherence. Hybrid models are complex by nature. They require tight alignment between editorial, commercial, product, and marketing teams. Success depends on shared data, consistent audience insights, and cross-functional planning.

In siloed organisations, hybrid models can breed confusion. But in integrated ones, they unlock compounding value: the podcast promotes the newsletter, which sells event tickets, which drives sponsorships, which deepens subscriber engagement.

It’s not just about multiple revenue streams—it’s about mutually reinforcing dynamics.

Complexity is the new clarity

Media businesses have spent the last decade trying to simplify—focus on a single funnel, a single monetisation path, a single content strategy. But the current environment doesn’t reward singularity. It rewards adaptability.

A hybrid model is not about doing everything at once. It’s about knowing which levers to pull for which segments, which products to develop for which needs, and which revenue paths complement rather than cannibalise each other.

The future of publishing doesn’t belong to ads or subscriptions or events or products.

It belongs to those who can orchestrate them all.