The New Rules of Monetisation: How Revenue Models Are Redefining Margin in 2025 and Beyond

The pursuit of profitable growth is shifting shape. Margin, long treated as the outcome of volume, cost control, or pricing tactics is increasingly determined upstream, in the structure of the revenue model itself.

Today, the logic behind how an organisation earns revenue is often more important than what it sells. Monetisation models have become strategic assets. And in a market where capital is expensive, customers are more selective, and technology is harder to price, your revenue model is now your margin model.

Why Traditional Levers Are Losing Power

Mid-market organisations have long focused on three common levers to improve profitability:

• Grow volume (sell more units)

• Lower costs (improve operational efficiency)

• Raise prices (increase per-unit revenue)

But each of these levers is now under pressure from a corresponding erosion factor:

• Volume: Slower demand, niche saturation, longer sales cycles

• Cost: Diminishing returns from legacy efficiency programs

• Price: Buyer resistance, commoditised offers, subscription fatigue

How Revenue Models Are Now Driving Margin

The structure of your revenue model sets the ceiling on both profitability and strategic flexibility. 

Here’s how, with each model feature and its corresponding margin impact:

• Bundled value (not unit pricing): Higher perceived value, better ARPU, lower churn

• Hybrid monetisation (e.g. fixed + usage): Margin scales with engagement, not volume

• Performance-linked fees: Aligns cost with value, protects margins

• Access vs. ownership: Lower delivery cost, recurring revenue, higher LTV

Firms like Adobe, ServiceNow, and OpenAI don’t just have pricing power, they have margin power built into their revenue architecture.

Two recent examples illustrate this shift clearly:

OpenAI has diversified its revenue streams far beyond a single pricing model. As of mid-2025, the company has reached an annualised revenue run rate of US$10 billion, nearly doubling its December 2024 figure of $5.5 billion. This growth has been fuelled by surging global adoption of its AI tools. OpenAI’s monetisation strategy spans consumer subscriptions, over 3 million business and education clients, and API licensing, with advertising now being explored as a new revenue lever.

ServiceNow, meanwhile, has implemented a hybrid monetisation model, combining traditional seat-based licenses with usage-based pricing for AI modules. This design allows its margin to scale in line with customer engagement, rather than headcount, and reflects the increasing demand for flexibility in enterprise software consumption. The approach helps balance predictable recurring revenue with customer-aligned value delivery.

These aren’t just billing tactics. They’re strategic examples of monetisation architecture working to defend and expand margin.

The Strategic Role of Revenue Model Design

A well-designed monetisation model gives firms options. It allows you to:

• Shift how you charge (e.g. subscription vs. usage vs. milestone)

• Reframe what you charge for (e.g. outcomes vs. services)

• Influence buying behaviour (via bundling, tiers, access-based structures)

• Unlock new segments (with modular or “starter” models)

In contrast, rigid or legacy models limit growth, drain margin, and create customer friction.

Yet most mid-sized businesses still treat the revenue model as a side-effect of operations, not a strategic design choice.

What Leading CEOs Are Now Asking

Forward-looking CEOs are now asking questions like:

• Are we pricing based on our inputs or on the value we deliver?

• Is our model built for predictability, scalability, or flexibility and is that still the right fit?

• Could a different monetisation logic give us a margin advantage without changing the product?

These aren’t pricing questions. They’re model architecture questions. And the organisations that ask them early are increasingly the ones pulling away, not because they work harder, but because they’ve built a smarter way to earn.

Final Thought

As the old growth levers lose their power, revenue model strategy is stepping into the centre of competitive advantage. For mid-market organisations, this isn’t a matter of theory, it’s a matter of financial resilience.

Margin now lives in the model. The question is whether yours is working for you or against you.

At bdxp, we help CEOs and Boards re-architect their revenue models to unlock profit, scalability, and commercial clarity. If this perspective resonates, let's have a conversation or explore our Revenue Model Strategy services.