Media & Publishing Payment Practices Improve Slightly: 69.2 to 73.1 out of 100

The Comparison

• 2020: Assessed across 39 media and publishing companies, payment practices averaged a score of 69.2 out of a possible 100.
• 2025: A review of 36 companies in the sector five years later shows a modest increase to an average score of 73.1.

What This Means

While the sector demonstrates an overall improvement, the increase of 3.8 points signals only marginal progress in payment behaviour. Despite a slight narrowing of the scope (39 to 36 companies), the consistent methodology allows for a like-for-like comparison, suggesting external pressures or internal initiatives have resulted in incremental gains, but not a radical transformation of payment cultures.

One-line summary: Average payment practices in media and publishing improved slightly from 69.2 to 73.1 between 2020 and 2025. If you want to determine how much late payments cost, use our late payment calculator.