Revenue Management: #9 Revenue Recognition in Media & Publishing
Media & Publishing industry has evolved in recent times. It offers subscriptions, bundles digital and print access, runs sponsored content, and sometimes even sells ad spaces. If you run a media or publishing business, you will always get into a situation where you get paid in advance, but how do you determine what part of the money is earned today versus what needs to be deferred for the future? Can you recognize all of them upfront? Or should it spread across issues or impressions?
How do publishers and media platforms handle revenue?
Revenue Recognition Scenarios in Media & Publishing
Subscriptions, advertising contracts, bundled content, and sponsored campaigns often complicate revenue recognition in media and publishing. Though accounting guidelines like ASC 606 and IFRS 15 apply, how you use them varies based on how you deliver content.
Subscription Revenue
When a customer pays for a weekly, monthly, or annual subscription, the revenue must be spread across the subscription period, as content is delivered over time rather than upfront.
Example: A $120 annual magazine subscription should be recognized at $10 monthly over 12 months.
Bundled Offerings
You may offer print+digital access, or magazine+e-book bundles. Each component should be recognized separately based on delivery schedules and relative values.
Example: A $240 subscription includes $180 of weekly print magazines and $60 for e-book access. Revenue is recognized $15/month for print and $60 once access is granted.
Advertising Revenue
Advertising may be sold per issue, impressions, or based on clicks. You can recognize revenue only after delivery of an impression or publication, not when the ad is sold or paid for.
Example: A $5000 ad campaign for 1,00,000 impressions recognizes revenue only as impressions are delivered (say $500 for every 10,000)
Sponsored Content or Paid Articles
Sponsored stories or influencer placements should be recognized on publication date or campaign completion, depending on the agreement.
Example: A $2000-paid article is published on July 5th, and revenue is recognized on the same day.
Cancellations & Refunds
If a subscriber cancels mid-cycle and gets a partial refund, revenue must be adjusted with only the earned portion as recognized.
Example: $120 yearly subscription cancelled after 3 months. Only $30 will be considered recognized.
These scenarios highlight how delivery, not payment, drives revenue recognition. With multiple formats and monetisation models in place, manual revenue recognition handling is a huge task prone to errors and misstatements.
Scenario:
Your publishing company sells an annual subscription package at $240. This subscription covers weekly print magazine work of $15 and on-demand access to the digital library, which is valued at $60. The customer pays upfront on the 1st of January.
Zoho Billing for Media Revenue Recognition
Publishers and content creators will be able to work with Zoho Billing to define revenue recognition rules based on content delivery and access architecture.
For the scenario above, you may go with the following revenue recognition rule configuration,
Component | Recognition Frequency | Recognition Method | Recognition Time |
Print Magazines | Monthly | Evenly Distributed Prorated | Period Start |
Digital Library | Once | One-Time (Daily) | Period Start |
Even though the $240 is received upfront, revenue must be split evenly for the subscription-based service.
Reports in Zoho Billing
Let's say you are checking the reports during March.
i) Recognized Revenue Report
Component | Recognized Revenue | Description |
Digital Library | $60 | Fully recognized on the subscription start date |
Print Magazine | $45 | $15x3 issues delivered |
Total Recognized | $105 | recognized at the end of three months |
ii) Deferred Revenue Report
After three months of offering, nine print issues are still pending delivery.
Component | Deferred Amount |
Digital Library | $0 |
Print Magazine | $135 (9 months of deliverables) |
Total Deferred | $135 |
iii) Revenue Waterfall Report
Month | Digital Library | Print Magazine | Total |
Month 1 | $60 | $15 | $75 |
Month 2 | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 3 | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 4 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 5 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 6 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 7 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 8 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 9 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 10 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 11 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Month 12 (upcoming) | ---- | $15 | $15 |
Total (after 3 months) | $60 | $45 | $105 |
Only at the end of one year will the full payment you received be considered recognized revenue.
Best Practices for the Media Industry while recognizing revenue
- Break Down Subscriptions: Separate print, digital, access, ads, and events into individual deliverables.
Match Revenue to Delivery: Recognize only when issues go out, impressions are served, or access granted.
Account for Returns & Refund: Handle cancellations by adjusting the deferred revenue schedules automatically.
Monitor Reports Monthly: Revenue Waterfall and Deferred reports ensure timely recognition tracking.
Up Next: Common Mistakes while Recognizing Revenue
Topic Participants
Hari | Zoho Billing
Sticky Posts
Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020
Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here'sCommunity Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020
Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly youCommunity Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020
Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate mostIntroducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020
Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides
Recent Topics
Improved Security in SAML/OIDC Sign-in Redirection Flow
To enhance the security of our authentication system, we’ve made a change to how SAML and OIDC sign-in redirections are handled. This update resolves a potential open redirection vulnerability and adds an extra layer of protection during the sign-in process.GA4 data
Hi, I have data being pulled from GA4 into numerous tables. There are a few major errors in the source data. Eg for a period of time GA4 reported ecommerce sales that were $98 as $9,800 and $42 as $4,200. It's not happening now but my historical dataLost Search Box with new UI Design
I would like to suggest bringing back the Search Box in the new Zoho Project UI. I use the search feature a lot and having to click the magnifying glass to type for a search is one extra click that we did not have with the old UI.Adaptación de zoho books a la nueva regulación de facturación electrónica
La facturación electrónica será obligatoria para todas las empresa en España en 2025, en Francia probablemente también e imagino pronto en todos los países europeos. Ya en 2024 todas las empresa grandes tienen que utilizar el sistema de facturación electrónica.ZOHOBOOK Sales_QUOTE: To Add Discount At Each Line Item Table
Hi, Our quote need to display with discount at each line item level as well. Try to edit template, >CUSTOMISE>EDIT TEMPLATE> Table, I can see template view with discount column, but when hit SAVE the template, view in PDF the discount column not shown.How to account for vat with postponed VAT accounting
Hi everyone, looking for some help with postponed VAT accounting, I use DHL express for my imports and they used to pay the VAT for me and then invoice me. I could then log this as a bill and the VAT element from import was recorded as input VAT, allWeekly Automation Trigger for Equipment Calibration Reminder
Dear Team, I’m currently working on an automation in the Equipment module. The goal is to track calibration schedules for tools — all of which require regular calibration. I’ve created an automation that sends email reminders for tools that are due forADDDATE formula using 2 calculations
Hello, I want to create an ADDDATE formula using 2 calculations, add 1 month and deduct 1 day. the formula that I need should look like this: ADDDATE(due_date, 1, "Months")+ ADDDATE(due_date, -1, "Days") Each row itself works fine, but when I'm tryingUpgrading from Zoho Invoice to Books was a major downgrade in functionality for me
I have been a user for many years of a free plan on Zoho Invoice for my personal consulting business. I recent upgraded my organization to Books since some of the additional functionality looked useful to me, and played around with the free trial for🎉 Dynamic Org Chart for Zoho CRM Extension Published [2025]
Hey Zoho CRM Community! We're thrilled to unveil our latest Zoho extension:🥁 Dynamic Org Chart for Zoho CRM 🎊 This extension is now available to transform the way your teams visualize, manage, and interact with org chart directly inside any Zoho CRM'sDetailed General Ledger has problem of exporting out to excel and missing ledger details for some accounts
I have been encountering some problems generating Detailed General Ledger report with Zoho books. Firstly, I cannot export out the report of Detailed General Ledger to Excel. It will show this error message "invalid value passed for sort column", andUpload a file to a File Upload Field through API
Hello, Is there any way to upload a file to a custom file upload field in a module when doing an Update using the Record API? I've found and I am able to upload files to attachments but I don't know how to upload them to a field. I've checked the documentation at https://www.zoho.com/crm/help/api/v2/#update-specify-records but the File Upload field type does not appear in the examples. ThanksKaizen #131 - Bulk Write for parent-child records using Scala SDK
Hello and welcome back to this week's Kaizen! Last week, we discussed how to configure and initialize the Zoho CRM Scala SDK. This week, we will be exploring the Bulk Write API and its capabilities. Specifically, we will focus on executing bulk writeAutomatic pricing feature for sales orders
I am currently setting up my Zoho Inventory system and would like to implement an automatic pricing feature for sales orders. We have created a custom field called "brandline" for our items. All products with the same brandline value should have the sameAbility to access VAT returns and submit them has disappeared.
I have been using Zoho books successfully to submit quarterly VAT returns. Without reason I have lost that facility. I have followed all available instructions eg going into settings, taxes, VAT etc. without success. My registration number is there andHow to automatically schedule a meeting After Blueprint Transition
As part of our sales process, we require a technician to go to the customer's site and perform an installation prior to advancing to the next stage of the blueprint. So this will require (a) scheduling a meeting for the technician to visit the customer's site and (b) a reminder phone call the day before the scheduled meeting. As I'm designing the Deal Blueprint, I see that I can automatically add a Task to the deal, but I can't add a Meeting or a Call. What am I missing? There seem to be 3 typesZoho Recruit > Workflow
I have created a workflow for my application module Whenever a record is created The condition , application status is 1st call invitation I have set this OI do not receive the email that was suppose to be send outMultiple locations but one parent company
I am trying to configure my accounts that have multiple locations under one parent company to show separate locations in the portal.Stock Count History in Product Details – Zoho Inventory
Hello Zoho Team, When I perform a Stock Count for a product in Zoho Inventory, I would like to view the history of those stock counts later — especially from the product details page. Currently, I can perform the count and update the quantity, but I’mCreate Project while winning potentials - Projects v3 api updated code
Hi all, I've been using the built in function to create a project while a deal is closed won and noticed it had some missing fields when trying to reference the zoho projects v3 api documentation. Specifically the project group had some issues when adding[Free Webinar] Zoho RPA - OCR, PDF Automation, & More
Hello Everyone! Greetings from the Zoho RPA Training Team! We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar on the latest release updates for Zoho RPA, where we’ll unveil powerful new capabilities designed to make your automation journey smarter, faster,Merge feature parity with writer
Hello Zoho team, I have run into a workflow limitation with Zoho Contracts and the lack of merge feature parity with what Writer can do. We have created a fairly complex merge process to create a statement of work based on several fields in our CRM whichExport option in Contacts is missing
Hello - I've been clicking around Zoho all morning trying to find the export option. It formerly was in the right hand corner, above the search box, but now I don't see it. I've looked everywhere - Am I missing it somehow? I've attached a screenshot.Formatting of cells changing by itself and formulas not always calculating automatically
I'm new to Sheets and have been setting up a budgeting template that has many linked tabs. It's going fairly well except certain quirky things have been happening from time to time. 1- sometimes when I scroll up or down I lose formatting from a randomUnable to open iOS Zoho CRM app
i am unable to open Zoho CRM iOS App in iPhone 14 Pro Max v18.5 and it is crashing immediately after i click to openWhatsapp BOT with CRM
Hello, how do you use Whatsapp integrations in zoho CRM?sync two zoho crm
Hello everyone. Is it possible to sync 2 zoho crm? what would be the easiest way? I am thinking of Flow. I have a Custom Module that I would like to share with my client. We both use zoho crm. Regards.Side-by-Side view on Windows 11
Is there a way to open two notes in a side-by-side view? I'm running Notebook on a Desktop running Windows 11. If this feature doesn't exist, do you have plans for it?Value shows in balance sheet for Goods in Transit
We have transferred goods from one warehouse to another warehouse and accepted the same at another warehouse. Although my balance sheet shows X amount as goods in transit value. I don't understand, how to clear that Can anyone guide us please?Resolution Time Report
From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports What are time-based reports? Time-based reports are valuable tools that help us understand how well things are going by breaking down key metrics over specific periods. By tracking, measuring,Ask for a quote to multple vendors
We are able to send a Purchase order, but How can we Send a quote request to our vendor, once the value changes every time? I didn't see any feature like this in Zoho Books/ Inventory. Send this request with the Items that we want to know the cost, toBigin merge field in email template for subject line to match lead name
Hello We Are using email in to automatically create leads in our pipelines. When we want to reply from conversations, and apply an email template, it’s not matching the original subject line. It should be lead name to match. But it’s not working. EvenHow to create auto-link between Invoice and Quote in CRM
It's strange that when you 'convert' a quote into an invoice, it doesn't auto-link the two. How can we develop an auto sync so we don't need to manually link each invoice to their respective quote?Why Are Columns Reset When Deleting Entry
Hello, this is quite annoying. We use forms as a questionnaire for candidates, we filter entries by removing columns, when we delete an entry the columns reset. Every "delete" the columns reset, why!? Thank youPi or Pie? A slice of infinity in customer service
Hey everyone! While Pi Day is on March 14 (3.14), July 22 marks another special occasion: Pi Approximation Day! On this day, we recognize the mathematical constant π (pi ≈ 22/7); a number that's infinite, irrational, and never-ending. Pi is essentialConfiguración
Hola acabo de instalar Zoho CRM y quiero configurarlo correctamente. Al respecto me surgen algunas dudas tales como la diferencia entre: Cuentas, posibles Clientes y Contactos. ¿Conceptualmente que son cada uno? ¿Como se se relacionan entre ellos? SiWhy Can't I add unicode emoji's to my signature?
Why would Zoho Mail prevent me from adding unicode emojis to my email signature? Every time I try to save the signature, Zoho Mail erases the emoji and any nearby content. Every time I setup something with Zoho, I know I'm going to run into some incrediblyGL account associated to each supplier for new bill
Hello I'm facing problem for all items of my bills that are not inventoried. The need is each time I enter new bill and after I select supplier the GL account section is autopopulated with default GL account (that I would like to add in supplier settings)LinkedIn verification link and otp not receiving
For the last 2 to 3 weeks I'm trying to verify my LinkedIn account to access my company's LinkedIn page, Linkedin is sending verification links and codes to this email address but I have not received any codes or links. Please help me here. Looking forwardZoho reply to not working. just reply to my self
Hello. i using on my wordpress website a contact form from Wsform. i can set the reply to email there. normally it works. but since i am using your wordpress plugin zoho mail it doesn`t work. its not using the reply to (email from customer). I just canNext Page