Understanding Your Publisher Performance Dashboard
Your My Performance tab gives you a one-glance view of how your magazine is doing this issue. There are two sections:
- The top row — five cards summarizing your TCV, sales, commissions, deadline, and renewals for the current issue.
- The Publication Tier section — a deeper look at revenue earned on the selected magazine, including the Revenue Tracker progress bar.
All numbers refresh overnight and are tied to your current issue cycle (the period between your last ad deadline and your next one), unless noted otherwise.
The Top Row — Five Cards
1. Total Contract Value (TCV)
What it is: The total dollar value of new 12-month+ agreements you and your sales team have sold in the current issue cycle.
- Print — Dollar value of new 12-month+ print contracts signed this cycle.
- Digital — Dollar value of new 12-month+ Social Media Marketing (SMM) contracts signed this cycle.
"New" means signed since the last issue closed. Anything under a 12-month term is not counted. Renewals are tracked separately on the Renewals card.
2. Monthly Sales (12+ Mos Agrmts)
What it is: The count of new 12-month+ agreements closed this issue cycle — i.e., the number of deals, not their dollar value.
- Print — Number of print deals marked Closed Won AKA Signed with a 12-month+ term.
- Digital — Number of new digital (Social Media) deals signed.
Use this to see your deal volume. TCV tells you the dollars; Monthly Sales tells you the deals.
3. Commissions
What it is: Your projected commission payout for the current commission month, plus what's still outstanding.
- Headline number — Commissions earned for this commission cycle, based on the official Commission Report.
- Aging — Total unpaid invoices on accounts attached to your magazine(s). This is money you've earned that hasn't been collected yet.
- Collections Deadline — The cutoff date for collecting outstanding payments to have them included in this commission cycle. After this date, unpaid invoices roll to the next cycle.
If the Aging number is large and the Collections Deadline is near, that's a signal to follow up on unpaid invoices before the cutoff.
4. Ad Deadline
What it is: The ad deadline for your current issue, and how many days you have left to close deals that will run in it.
Once this date passes, new print agreements roll into the next issue.
5. Renewals (Potential Revenue)
What it is: How much of your renewable revenue you've successfully re-signed this issue.
- Headline number — Potential Revenue: The total monthly revenue from contracts that are up for renewal this issue. This is the maximum you could renew.
- Renewed: How much of that potential has actually been re-signed.
- Renewal Rate: Renewed ÷ Potential Revenue, shown as a percentage. 100% means you renewed everything that was up.
Only 12-month+ contracts are counted as renewable. A renewal rate below 100% means there are accounts that haven't re-signed yet — chase them down.
The Publication Tier Section
This section is per-magazine. If you publish more than one, use the magazine dropdown to switch.
Total Revenue
What it is: The actual earned revenue for the selected magazine this issue (not contract value — money tied to ads/services that are actually running).
- Print — Revenue from active print ad insertions running in this issue.
- Digital — Revenue from active Social Media Marketing subscriptions during this issue's month.
- Bundled Rate — The percentage of your print clients who also have an SMM subscription. Calculated as: clients with both ÷ clients with print. A higher bundled rate means you're successfully cross-selling digital to your print advertisers.
TCV (top row) is new dollars sold. Total Revenue is dollars actually earned from ads/services running right now. They will not match — that's by design.
Revenue Tracker (the colored progress bar)
What it is: A visual showing how the selected magazine's revenue compares to publication tier thresholds (e.g., First Draft → Flagship Issue). The named segments on the bar are the tier cutoffs.
Three indicators sit on the bar:
| Color | What it means |
|---|---|
| Blue | Current issue's revenue so far. |
| Gray | Last issue's final revenue. (Hidden for pre-launch publications.) |
| Red | 3-month forecast — projected revenue based on current trajectory. |
Inside the blue current-issue fill, a green sub-segment shows how much of that revenue came from Social Media (Digital). The bigger the green portion, the more your digital business is contributing.
The goal is to push the blue marker into a higher tier than the gray marker. The red forecast helps you see whether you're on track to do that.
Digital Tracker
What it is: A separate three-bucket progress bar specifically for your digital (SMM) revenue.
| Bucket | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Starter | Up to $10k |
| Intermediate | $10k–$20k |
| Pro | $20k+ |
This is a focused view of where your magazine sits on digital revenue alone, independent of the print-driven tier progression above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why is my TCV higher than my Total Revenue (or vice versa)? They measure different things. TCV = new contracts you sold this cycle (future revenue). Total Revenue = money from ads/services actually running this issue (earned revenue). A great sales month with deals starting next issue will spike TCV but not Total Revenue.
Q: Why is my Renewal Rate 0% on a new issue? Renewals are tracked as the issue progresses. Early in the cycle, very little has been re-signed yet. The number grows as the cycle plays out.
Q: My Commissions number changed — did I lose a commission? The Commissions card reflects the current state of the Commission Report. If an invoice gets voided, an account is adjusted, or a contract is cancelled, the commission figure updates. The Aging value can also shift it indirectly — collecting an aging invoice before the Collections Deadline moves it into this cycle's commission total.
Q: Why doesn't my Digital number on Monthly Sales match TCV's Digital number? Monthly Sales (Digital) counts the number of digital deals. TCV (Digital) sums the dollar value of those deals. One large deal and ten small ones produce very different numbers.
Q: What counts as "new" vs "renewal"? A new contract is a brand-new agreement with an advertiser. A renewal is an existing advertiser re-signing when their current term ends. New contracts show up in TCV and Monthly Sales. Renewals show up only on the Renewals card.
Q: Why is the gray "Last Issue" marker missing? That happens on pre-launch publications, where there's no prior issue yet to compare against.
Appendix: Date Matrix — Where Each Date Comes From
The dashboard uses a few different "clocks" at the same time, which is the main reason support questions come up. Here's a cheat sheet.
Calendar dates shown on the dashboard
| Date displayed | Where it shows up | What it is | How it's set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad Deadline | Ad Deadline card (headline) | The next upcoming ad deadline for your publication. | The magazine's configured ad deadline day, applied to the current month. If that day has already passed this month, it rolls to next month. |
| "X days left" | Ad Deadline card (footer) | Days between today and the Ad Deadline above. | Simple deadline − today in days. |
| Collections Deadline | Commissions card (footer) | The last day to collect outstanding invoices for them to count toward this commission cycle. |
Derived from the magazine's Pay Day: • If Pay Day = 15th → Collections Deadline = the **9th** of the commission month. • If Pay Day = 1st → Collections Deadline = the **24th** of the month *before* the commission month. *(One day before the system's internal "pay cutoff" date.)* |
| Commission month | Drives the Commissions card numbers | The month you're currently earning commissions for. |
If today is past Pay Day → commission month = next calendar month. Otherwise → commission month = **current** calendar month. |
Time windows used to calculate the metrics
Each card counts deals or revenue over a specific window. They are not all "this calendar month."
| Card | Number shown | Window used | How the window is set |
|---|---|---|---|
| TCV — Print | $ of new 12-mo+ print contracts | The current issue's sales window — roughly the month leading up to the next ad deadline. | Starts the day after the previous ad deadline; ends one month later (at the next ad deadline). For late-month deadlines (> 22nd), the window shifts back an extra month so it lines up with the issue you're currently selling. |
| TCV — Digital | $ of new 12-mo+ SMM contracts | The current issue month (1st → end of that month). | Pulled from the monthly leaderboard stat keyed to your magazine's current issue month. |
| Monthly Sales — Print | Count of "Closed Won" deals (12-mo+) | Day after previous ad deadline → next ad deadline (same as TCV Print). | Same logic as TCV Print. |
| Monthly Sales — Digital | Count of new digital deals | Day after previous ad deadline → next ad deadline. | Same date range as Monthly Sales Print, applied to digital deals. |
| Commissions — Headline | $ of commissions earned | The commission month (see table above). | Pulled from the Commission Report for that month. |
| Commissions — Aging | $ of unpaid invoice items | All time, as of right now. | Live total of unpaid invoice items on your magazine's accounts. Not bound to a single month. |
| Renewals — Potential Revenue | $ that could be renewed this issue | The current issue month. | Sum of average monthly cost for 12-mo+ contracts that are up for renewal this issue. |
| Renewals — Renewed | $ of renewals already signed | The current issue month. | Sum of revenue from renewed contracts whose new term starts this issue. |
| Renewals — Renewal Rate | % | The current issue month. | Renewed ÷ Potential Revenue. |
| Total Revenue (Publication Tier section) | $ of active print + digital revenue | The current issue month (for the magazine selected in the dropdown). | Sums two monthly stats for that magazine and month: AdList (print insertions running this issue) + SocialMediaRevenue (active SMM subscriptions this issue). |
| Bundled Rate | % of print clients with SMM | A 12-month forward window anchored at the first of the current calendar month. | clients with both print + SMM ÷ clients with print over that 12-month window. |
| Revenue Tracker — Current Issue (blue) | Tracked revenue so far | The current issue month. | Same source as Total Revenue. |
| Revenue Tracker — Last Issue (gray) | Tracked revenue, last issue | The previous issue month. | Final revenue for the magazine's last completed issue. Hidden for pre-launch publications. |
| Revenue Tracker — 3 mo. Forecast (red) | Projected revenue | A 3-month forward projection from the current issue. | Produced by the forecasting engine — projects revenue based on contracts in flight and current run-rate. |
| Digital Tracker | Digital revenue vs. Starter/Intermediate/Pro buckets | The current issue month. | Same source as Total Revenue — Digital portion. |
"Issue month" vs. "calendar month"
This is the single most common source of confusion:
- Calendar month = today's actual month on a wall calendar.
- Issue month = the month of the magazine issue you're currently selling for.
Because ad deadlines fall before the issue ships, the issue month is usually one or two months ahead of the calendar month. For example, if today is May 27 and your ad deadline is the 15th of the month, you're currently selling for the July issue, not May.
Most numbers on this dashboard are anchored to the issue month, not the calendar month. That's why TCV, Monthly Sales, Renewals, and the Revenue Tracker can all show numbers that look "off" if you're comparing them to today's date — they're tracking the issue you're working on, not the one you're holding.
Rule of thumb: if a number on this dashboard surprises you, first ask "which issue is this tracking?" before assuming anything is wrong.