Promising data for subscription news sites from the Newspaper Association of America this week!Although total multiplatform revenue was down slightly to $37.59 billion in 2013 from $38.60 billion in 2012, circulation revenue for U.S. newspapers enjoyed a second consecutive year of growth in 2013, the association reported on Friday. Specifically, circulation revenue as a whole — a figure that apparently includes print subscriptions, single-copy sales and digital paywalls — rose 3.7% to $10.87 billion last year. Of that, digital-only subscription revenue grew 47% while print-and-digital bundles shot up by a whopping 108% in revenue.Print-only circulation revenue from home delivery and single-copy sales, meanwhile, dropped by 20%.Of last year’s total $37.59 billion in overall revenue, $23.57 billion came from advertising across all platforms and $3.15 billion from new and “other” sources. Revenue from digital channels – including advertising, circulation and digital marketing services – increased 5.8% and accounted for 12% of total industry revenue.

Digital advertising specifically increased 1.5% to $3.42 billion and accounted for 19% of advertising revenue, while pure-play (digital only) advertising rose 14%. Mobile advertising revenue — while still less than 1% of overall total revenue — jumped 77%.”Our industry continues to thrive and evolve,” said Caroline Little, the association’s president and CEO.But others take a more cautionary approach to this news:”In 2014, American newspapers still get 83 percent of their advertising revenue from print,” lamented the Nieman Journalism Labs’ Joshua Benton this morning. “The key question for 2014 is whether circulation revenue gains can continue.”That’s exactly what we plan on answering for you, and mobile platforms and flexible payment options are two recent examples of digital innovations that are paving the way to more subscription sales.