---
aliases: ["Sponsorship MRR"]
Is A: Measure
Belongs to: "[[responsibility-sponsorships]]"
Unit: "EUR/month"
---
# Sponsorship MRR

Sponsorship MRR (monthly recurring revenue) is the top-line financial metric for the business and the north star for [[responsibility-sponsorships]]. It measures the total monthly revenue from all active sponsorship contracts, normalized to a monthly figure even for contracts billed quarterly or annually. This is the number that determines whether the business can sustain its current team, fund product development, and grow.

MRR is the single metric that connects audience growth ([[measure-subscribers]]), engagement quality ([[measure-open-rate]]), and sales effectiveness ([[measure-close-rate]]) into a financial outcome. It is the ultimate downstream measure of whether the newsletter business model is working.

## How it's tracked

Calculated monthly by summing all active sponsorship contracts and normalizing to monthly amounts. Annual contracts are divided by 12; quarterly contracts by 3. New contracts are included from their start month; churned contracts are excluded from their end month. Tracked in the sponsor CRM ([[24q2-sponsor-crm]]) and the financial spreadsheet. Reviewed monthly and reported alongside other financial metrics during [[procedure-monthly-portfolio-review]].

## Targets

- **2024 target**: 14,000 EUR/month, as set by [[2024-double-revenue]]. Achieved ~15,200 EUR by December 2024.
- **2025 target**: 22,000 EUR/month, as set by [[2025-reach-22k-mrr]]. Currently tracking at ~19,000 EUR.
- **Long-term**: 30,000+ EUR/month. At this level, the business comfortably supports a team of 4-5 and funds product investments without external capital.

## Notes

- MRR growth is driven by three levers: new sponsor acquisition, existing sponsor upsells (larger packages or more frequent placements), and pricing increases. All three should be active simultaneously.
- Renewal rate is as important as new business. Losing a 2,000 EUR/month sponsor and acquiring a 2,000 EUR/month sponsor is zero progress despite the sales effort. Track renewal rate separately.
- [[measure-subscribers]] growth is the primary enabler of pricing power. Every 10,000 subscriber increase supports approximately 1,500 EUR in additional monthly pricing.
- Diversification matters: no single sponsor should represent more than 20% of MRR. Concentration risk makes the business fragile to individual sponsor decisions.
- Revenue from the podcast ([[measure-podcast-downloads]]) is tracked within this metric when podcast sponsors overlap with newsletter sponsors. Separate the podcast contribution for channel-level analysis.
