Condé Nast launches paid subscription service for Bon Appétit and Epicurious

Condé Nast is today launching a recipe subscription service for Bon Appétit and Epicurious, drawing from the brands' extensive archives and editorial expertise in food.

"Today we're introducing a paid recipe subscription on both Bon Appétit and Epicurious. Moving to a subscription model will help us sustain our business and hard-working staff in a fast-changing industry – and allow us to keep bringing you recipes that live up to our own and our community’s exacting standards. Your support gives us the opportunity to deliver not just recipes but trusted advice on cooking methods, reporting on industry leaders, and soup-to-nuts (pun intended!) primers on our favorite ingredients," says Dawn Davis, Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, in a letter on bonappetit.com.

Readers will pay up to $59.88 per year (based on the non-discounted monthly rate of $4.99) for access to more than 50,000 recipes across bonappetit.com and epicurious.com. Find out more about how you can subscribe here.

Dwayne Sheppard, our Senior VP of Consumer Revenue, spoke to Adage about the launch, saying: "In 2021, subscription and membership revenue grew 14% year-over-year, which is the second year in a row with double-digit subscription and membership revenue growth. We are heavily investing in consumer revenue opportunities and products, and are targeting consumer revenue to grow another 50% by 2024. Our strong consumer revenue last year was also driven by continued growth in our global audiences—up 28% from 2019."

Continuing he said: "Since launching paid digital subscriptions at The New Yorker in November 2014, Wired in February 2018 and Vanity Fair in April 2018, consumers have proven that they are willing to pay for the quality content we create, and performance has exceeded our expectations. At the same time, each of these brands has increased the number of visitors to their sites, plus the amount of time those visitors spend there. These successes have proven the ultimate measure of our audience engagement: Beyond time spent, it's money spent."

This article was published in Adage on 1 February, 2022. Read it here.