As an important part of the digital economy, digital publishing relies on the data-driven digital industry chain to promote the high-quality development of related industries. Based on the data of Shanghai’s digital publishing industry in 2022, this study empirically explores the penetration effect and influence of digital publishing on the digital economy by using input-output analysis. The results show that the penetration of digital publishing in many digital economy industries continues to increase, especially in promoting household consumption and driving related technologies and services. The added value of the digital publishing industry is higher than the average level of the whole society, which plays an important role in promoting the development of Shanghai’s digital economy.