Petar Press Chapter 03 · Retention State of the Reader 2024 / Audience / Engagement Decay Q4 Editorial Board · 18 Nov 07 / 24
Finding 07 · 18-month cohort, paid newsletter readers

Subscribers don't churn — they fade.

Hard cancel rate4.1%
Silent fade-out38.6%
Window observedM0 — M18
Open-rate decay vs. cancellations
Monthly · paid subscribers acquired Q1 2023 · n = 12,840
Active opens Cumulative cancels
100% 75% 50% 25% 0% M1 M3 M5 M7 M9 M11 M13 M15 M18 Fade zone · 54.4 pts of attention lost 86.4% 31.2% Share of cohort (%)
Orange — active opens (30-day rolling) Cohort: 12,840 paid subscribers · Acquired Jan–Mar 2023 Method: server-side open events, dedup by reader_id
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