My Experience with the New Medium Partner Program

Earnings from two of my articles and what I’ve learnt after two months of Medium Partner Program

Medium, the popular online publishing platform, has recently introduced significant changes to its Partner Program. These changes aim to revolutionize the way writers are recognized and rewarded for their craft. By shifting the focus from quantity to quality and emphasizing reader engagement, Medium is creating an environment where high-quality human writing is celebrated and valued. The goals for these changes are:

• Emphasizing Quality over Quantity: One of the most notable aspects of the revamped Partner Program is its emphasis on quality over quantity. Unlike many other content platforms that prioritize superficial clickbait, Medium recognizes the importance of well-crafted, insightful content that enriches the lives of readers.
• Rewarding Engagement: In the new Partner Program, Medium acknowledges the power of reader engagement and fosters a vibrant ecosystem where writers are rewarded based on the depth of their interactions with readers. This approach creates an opportunity for deeper connections between creators and their audiences. Medium recognizes that the impact of an article goes beyond mere clicks. Instead, the depth and quality of engagement, such as the amount of time readers spend engaging with the content, the number of claps (Medium’s equivalent of likes), the frequency of responses, and overall reader feedback, are key factors in determining earnings.
• More Meaningful Metrics for Earnings: Medium has introduced more meaningful metrics to calculate earnings in the new Partner Program. In addition to member read/listening time, which remains a primary factor, engagement signals such as claps, highlights, replies, and follows now contribute to earnings. However, only the first instance of each engagement by a reader is counted towards earnings. Medium aims to identify and reward story quality by going beyond mere attention-grabbing metrics. Stories that spark discussions and inspire meaningful interactions with readers are considered indicators of high quality and are rewarded accordingly.
• Boosted Stories for Greater Exposure: Medium has introduced a Boost feature that provides both distribution and earnings bonuses for stories that meet certain quality criteria. Any story, regardless of the number of followers or topic category, is eligible for Boost. This feature aims to incentivize authors to write meaningful, original, and constructive stories based on personal experiences. Boosted stories that are also part of the Partner Program earn at a higher rate, further encouraging writers to focus on quality rather than quantity.
• Adjusting Earnings Based on Read Ratio: Medium is discouraging clickbait content by adjusting earnings based on read ratio. The read ratio is calculated by dividing the number of people who read a story for 30 seconds or more by the total number of views. Stories with higher read ratios indicate that the title and preview accurately represent the content, while lower read ratios suggest clickbait or misleading titles. Medium aims to reward stories that deliver on reader expectations and provide valuable content. By adjusting earnings based on read ratio, Medium ensures that writers are incentivized to create engaging and honest content that resonates with their audience.
• Increased Earnings for Followers’ Engagement: Medium recognizes the importance of the connection between writers and their followers. Stories read by existing followers now earn an additional bonus in earnings. This approach aims to encourage writers to establish meaningful connections with their readers, resulting in more nuanced stories and deeper discussions. Medium has also implemented a distribution boost for stories from people you follow, increasing the chances of your stories being seen by those who follow you.

Two of my articles after the new Medium Partner Program

The earnings from my articles are currently experiencing two different situations. Some of them are now earning significantly more than before, while others are earning less. Let’s see tw examples.

Article earnings

The first one is:

This article earned 0.33$ in June and 5,15$ in August, while views were stable.

On the other hand, this article:

suffered an income reduction from 2.21$ to 0.06$. Also, views remain stable.

What’s the reason for this difference?

The main reason for this situation is the member views. The first one gathers more member visits than the second one. Therefore, it obtains more follows, comments and follows from member views, which is what the new member program takes into account to pay you. This is also seen in the Engagement report from Medium, while the first article obtains some claps, responses and follows from Medium members, the second one didn’t get any engagement because its visits come from non-members.

Conclusions

It seems that after the new Medium Parter Program was introduced, writers must focus on their article engagement. Therfore, networking in Medium is a must. Writers must now actively engage with others’ articles and seek collaborations to boost their overall engagement.

And you? What is your experience with the new Medium Partner Program? Are your earnings increasing or decreasing? Have you changed something in the way you write your Medium articles? Please write your opinion in the comments!

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