Zuora SEI Report: Flexible, Recurring Monetization Models Drive 3.4x Faster Growth Rates Than the S&P 500 Over the Past 12 Years

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zuora, Inc. (NYSE: ZUO), a leading monetization suite for modern business, today released the latest Subscription Economy Index™(SEI) report, which found that companies in the SEI have experienced 3.4x faster growth rates than the S&P 500 over the past 12 years.

In 2023, amid economic challenges and slowed digital transformations, companies in the SEI demonstrated resilience through Total Monetization strategies. By aligning and evolving their monetization models with customer demand, they pursued innovative approaches beyond traditional subscriptions, including hybrid and flexible bundling strategies. This agility and customer focus have driven sustainable growth despite market uncertainties.

In the latest SEI report, The Subscribed Institute at Zuora® found:

• Companies in the SEI continue to outpace the S&P 500: In 2023, companies in the SEI experienced a 10.4% revenue growth rate on average compared to 6% for the S&P 500.
• Customer acquisition slowed, but retention is up: While customer acquisition slowed in 2023, companies in the SEI are retaining their customers, with churn numbers lower than the previous three years.
• Customer expansion, or annual revenue per account (ARPA), is on an upward trend and slightly improved in 2023: Starting with a quarterly growth rate of 0.73% in Q1 2023, ARPA growth ended the year over 2x stronger at 1.76% in Q4. The quarterly average also improved year-over-year, with 1.5% growth in 2023 compared to 1.29% in 2022.
• While growth rates slowed in the SaaS sector, churn is down and consumption-based models are continuing to demonstrate promising revenue growth: The SEI SaaS sector experienced a 10.1% revenue growth rate on average. The 6-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for SEI SaaS companies employing consumption-based models reached 20.1% in 2023 compared to 16.3% for the non-consumption counterparts.
• In the Media & Entertainment sector, the New Media subset experienced faster revenue growth, but Publishing Media successfully expanded subscriber count over time: Media & Entertainment experienced a revenue growth rate of 6% on average in 2023. While the New Media subset experienced a faster revenue growth rate (12%) than Publishing Media (5.6%), Publishing Media grew ARPA year-over-year (YoY), while New Media ARPA growth slowed.

“Staying competitive means embracing agility and flexibility to incorporate a diverse mix of business models as opposed to a reliance on any single approach,” said Amy Konary, Senior Vice President and Founder of The Subscribed Institute at Zuora. “Companies that are able to evolve their monetization with demand will be better set up for faster and recurring growth.”

Zuora’s SEI report analyzes the growth and resilience of over 600 recurring revenue businesses based on anonymized, aggregated, system-generated activity on the Zuora Billing service. The latest report includes data by sector in SaaS, Media & Entertainment and Manufacturing, as well as by region in EMEA and APAC.

To read the full report, visit here.

About Zuora, Inc.

Zuora provides a leading monetization suite to build, run and grow a modern business through a dynamic mix of consumption models, subscription bundles and everything in between. From pricing and packaging, to billing, payments and revenue accounting, Zuora’s flexible, modular software platform is designed to help companies evolve monetization strategies with customer demand. More than 1,000 customers around the world, including BMC Software, Box, Caterpillar, General Motors, Penske Media Corporation, Schneider Electric and Zoom use Zuora’s leading combination of technology and expertise to turn recurring relationships and recurring revenue into recurring growth. Zuora is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. To learn more, please visit zuora.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including but not limited to statements regarding the expected growth and trends of recurring revenue-based companies, such as subscriptions (including companies in the SEI report) and non-recurring revenue based companies. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements. This report also includes market data and certain other statistical information and estimates from industry analysts and/or market research firms. Zuora believes these third party reports to be reputable, but has not independently verified the underlying data sources, methodologies, or assumptions. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research, or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties and may differ materially from actual events or circumstances.

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SOURCE: ZUORA FINANCIAL