Morningstar.com has long served a niche segment of loyal, highly engaged, and active investors. That said, you are correct that memberships have declined since 2007. Memberships peaked at roughly 180,000 in December 2007 and declined to roughly 100,000 by December 2023. 

The decline over this time period can be traced to several factors. Memberships fell particularly sharply in the years following the global financial crisis, a trend that was consistent with that experienced by other competitive subscription products, driven in part by economic uncertainty. At the same time, the move toward passive investing shifted some investor focus from investment selection (which is a major part of the value proposition for the Morningstar.com paid subscription) to portfolio planning and asset allocation. We’ve also experienced increased competition from other financial websites and online brokerage platforms—many of whom license our data and research to fuel their offerings.

Demand for our subscription-based offering has also been influenced by price increases, including a price increase implemented in December 2021. Since 2007, we’ve increased prices for a one-year subscription by more than 50%, reflecting the values of the tools, data, and research that are available to paid subscribers.

Despite some pressure on subscription growth, we believe that Morningstar.com continues to provide a unique and comprehensive offering to individual investors and has a loyal core subscriber base. Morningstar.com provides users with critical data, research, and insights curated by our analysts to help them find and evaluate investments, as well as robust tools to help them manage their investments. Since late 2023, we’ve started to see early signs of an encouraging trend in subscriptions, driven in part by our strategic focus on search engine marketing and enhanced targeting programs.