Readly announces its first sustainability report

Building on its commitment to make a positive difference through the digitalisation of magazines, Readly has announced its first annual sustainability report. The report highlights Readly’s sustainability efforts and how environmental and societal value is embedded in the core business model.

During 2020, Readly conducted a materiality analysis, engaging stakeholders both externally, such as investors, publishers and subscribers, as well as internally, such as the board of directors and employees.

– Our sustainability ambitions are tightly connected to our core business. When we grow as a company, whether it is in terms of subscribers, readership, content or employees, we also strengthen our opportunities to increase our positive impact. As a first step, our ambitions are described through our materiality assessment. During 2021 we will also continue to develop our sustainability strategy, goals and plan based on that assessment, says Maria Hedengren, CEO Readly.

This is another step in Readly’s journey as the European category leader within digital ”all-you-can-read'' magazine services. During 2020 the number of subscribers grew 33 percent compared with the preceding year.

– With increased size comes greater responsibility on how we, as pioneers within our segment, make a positive contribution to urgent challenges such as climate change and the spread of fake news. I’m very proud of how the team at Readly take on this responsibility on a daily basis, says Hedengren.

Readly recently launched a study about the climate impact from reading magazines in a digital format on Readly. The calculation points out that reducing paper production and printing are the main reasons why reading digitally cuts emissions by 76% compared with print. A recent global user survey reveals that saving paper was one of the reasons why a fourth of all users chose to sign up for Readly*.

Alongside a review of Readly’s environmental impact, the report also covers how the magazine app is working to meet people’s needs for knowledge, inspiration and entertainment. In total Readly’s global content portfolio grew by approximately 800 magazine titles and 15 newspaper titles under the past year. The company places a lot of emphasis on the discovery of quality content, adding reach to the 900 publishers that are on the platform.

– There are countless examples of how journalistic content can be a force for good and we want to use every digital opportunity to bring as much of that positive influence to people as possible. Readly subscribers, on average, consume no less than 13 different magazine titles per month – a number that indicates that we are contributing to the discovery of new titles through our product and content development as well as how we engage with our users. We are proud that consumers have access to so many titles that they can read from trusted and transparent sources on our platform in a climate friendly way, says Hedengren.

Read the full annual report including the sustainability report here.