This article walks through a series of scenarios to illustrate how earnings accrue on a paywalled story. For a full explanation of how earnings are calculated, see Medium Partner Program earnings calculation.
How engagement points are earned
Earnings are based on a combination of member activity on your story. The scenarios below show how different types of engagement affect your earnings.
Scenario 1: Logged-out user
A reader finds your story through a search result or a social media share, but is not logged in to Medium. Their visit is recorded as a non-member view. If they read for 30 seconds or more, it counts as a non-member read. No earnings accrue from non-member activity.
Scenario 2: Logged-in non-member
A reader visits your story while logged in to a free Medium account. Their visit is recorded as a view, and if they stay for 30 seconds or more, it counts as a non-member read. If they clap, highlight, or reply, those actions will appear in your story stats but will not contribute to earnings.
Scenario 3: Member views but does not read
A paying member visits your story but leaves before 30 seconds — by pressing back, closing the tab, or swiping away. Their visit is recorded as a member view, but no earnings accrue.
Scenario 4: Member read, no engagement
A paying member stays on your story for at least 30 seconds. This counts as a member read, and their reading time contributes to your earnings.
Scenario 5: Member read with engagement
A paying member reads your story and also claps 10 times, highlights 2 sentences, and leaves a reply. The reading time contributes to earnings as in Scenario 4. Additionally, each type of engagement — clap, highlight, and reply — adds engagement points the first time it occurs, regardless of how many times the action is repeated.
Scenario 6: Member read from an external source
A paying member finds your story through a link you shared on social media and clicks through to read it. Their visit and reading time contribute to earnings as in Scenario 4. Because the read originated from outside Medium, a 5% bonus is applied to the earnings from that member's activity.
Scenario 7: Member read from a search engine
A paying member searches for a topic on Google, finds your story in the results, and reads it. Their activity contributes to earnings as in Scenario 4 or 5, depending on whether they engage beyond reading. Because the read originated from a search engine, it is counted toward the share of the Partner Program budget allocated to search traffic, earning at a higher rate than a read from within Medium.
Scenario 8: Member read from an email notification
You publish a new story and choose to notify your subscribers by email. A paying member receives the notification, clicks the link, and reads the story on Medium. Their activity contributes to earnings as in Scenario 4 or 5. Because the read originated from an email notification, it earns at a higher rate than a read from the Medium app or feed.
Scenario 9: Non-member converts after hitting the paywall
A non-member finds your paywalled story — through a search result, a social media share, or the Medium Daily Digest — and decides to become a paying member to read it. Once they complete their membership purchase and read the story, your story earns a one-time conversion bonus in addition to any member reading time and engagement points accrued. If the new member cancels their membership shortly after joining, the conversion bonus is not applied.
For a full explanation of how Boost bonuses and the member read ratio adjustment affect earnings, see Medium Partner Program earnings calculation.