Daily Mail Australia hires head of digital subscriptions
The Daily Mail Australia is leaning into its subscription model
Daily Mail Australia is doubling down on its partial paywall strategy, hiring Melissa Dennis as its new head of digital subscriptions.
Dennis comes from Are Media, where she spent three years working in audience growth.
Dennis announced her new role on Linkedin, saying she will “focus on growing and retaining our digital subscriber base by delivering premium and curated content experiences that our audience values”.
“With millions of reading visiting daily, our goal is to strengthen long-term sustainability and build deeper relationships with our readers.”
Daily Mail Australia’s managing director Lachlan Heywood confirmed Dennis’ appointment to Mumbrella.
“This is a significant local appointment as we continue to grow and strengthen our subscription offering,” Heywood said.
“Melissa has the expertise and the ideas to take Mail+ to the next level.”
This hire continued the increased focus on the masthead’s Mail+ offering, which launched in October 2024.
The Daily Mail Group has previously signalled that subscription payments will be key to the company’s future. DMG has suffered from a loss in Google traffic since the introduction of AI overviews, as well as a soft advertising market.
Melissa Dennis is joining Daily Mail Australia from Are Media
The Daily Mail Australia declined around 2.5m monthly readers in the twelve months to January 2026, amounting to 28.5% of its monthly audience, according to Ipsos Iris monthly tracking.
In February, the Daily Mail’s UK parent company blamed a 15% digital revenue drop for the year ended September 30 on “website traffic being adversely affected by the introduction of AI overviews by search engine providers, resulting in fewer users clicking through to news websites.”
Its 2026 outlook was similarly grim, warning revenues will continue to be “affected by website traffic and the advertising market, which is expected to remain volatile.”
The Daily Mail Australia offers two subscription tiers. A basic version gives subscribers access to hundreds of otherwise locked-off stories each month, as well as a ‘Best of the Mail’ weekly newsletter, for $12.99 a month. A $15.99 version promises all the above, plus 80% fewer ads on the site, and access to puzzles.
Last year, the Daily Mail Group announced a goal to reach one million digital subscribers, globally, by October 2028.
The Daily Mail has been contacted for comment.
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