Changelog
Showing the latest 10 of 48 total updates. The last update was made on December 8th, 2024.
Revenue updated for Tangle
Revenue updated for Newcomer
Slow Boring had its URL changed
Revenue updated for Slow Boring
Slow Boring was added to Newsletters
The Baltimore Banner was removed from Newsletters
Revenue updated for Tangle
Revenue updated for Hell Gate
Revenue updated for LetterHead
Revenue updated for Charter
In this report we're tracking $2.5M in monthly recurring revenue and $9.4M in funding.
A little over a decade ago I wrote a blog post titled, “How to Build a Six-Figure Blog Without Anyone Knowing”.
For a very short period of time, it was the 14th most popular page on the entire internet.
To be honest, Alexa was very skewed in favor of marketing and tech blogs at the time so I was probably nowhere near that popular. Just don’t tell my Ego.
In that blog post I introduced the phrase “Email Blogging”.
This wasn’t an attempt to coin a new term, but instead an attempt to make people feel differently about a term they already knew: Email marketing.
More specifically, I wanted people to think differently about newsletters.
Back then, newsletters were primarily thought of as an ‘add-on’ to your existing site, rather than its main focus.
I called these new sites one-page blogs rather than newsletters, in the hope they’d be taken a bit more seriously.
I also argued that in the future, there would be more one page “blogs” making a lot of money.
Admittedly that wasn’t a very impressive prediction since there would be a lot more of any kind of website in the future.
That said, at least for profitable newsletters, the data supports my theory.
Unimpressive predictions aside, one thing is clear: Running a newsletter as a primary business focus has become a profitable strategy for a lot of people.
I originally wrote “Without anyone knowing” in the headline because most newsletter owners keep their ‘funnels’ private, so it’s not easy for anyone to figure out how you segment subscribers, your most lucrative revenue streams or approximate reach.
With a more public medium like a blog, data is approximated by many tools – and highly accurately – and your product or service offerings are wide open.
I hope that with the following research, you’ll not only be inspired by the potential of this business model, but see an opportunity for something you can build in your preferred industry.
#1
Cultured North East: $125K+ in Funding
Weekly subscription newsletter featuring region specific articles
Cultured North East - formerly The QT - is a digital media platform with a focus on the North East of England which was launched by Brian Aitken in 2024.
Brian, who was previously the editor of another North-East publication, The Journal, created The QT as a weekly newsletter which covers in-depth regional stories, rather than breaking news.
The online-only publisher - which has a team of four full-time staff and 20+ contributors - operates without any advertising. Instead revenue is generated from paying readers.
Customers can subscribe for free to receive a weekly newsletter with highlights of that edition’s stories. To receive the full content and the ability to post comments users can pay £7.99 (~$10) per month or £79.99 (~$100) per year.
Whilst there have been no early financial figures disclosed, we do know the business was launched with a six-figure investment.
We’ll follow their journey closely, especially as the publisher may expand into other areas of the UK if the North East edition proves successful.
#2
Hell Gate: $42K in Monthly Recurring Revenue
New York City Focused Newsletter
Hell Gate was soft-launched as a news outlet covering New York City in May 2022 before a full-launch in July of the same year.
The subscriber-funded newsletter is owned by its workforce of seven individuals who have full control over the direction and editorial content of the publication.
Hell Gate has a growing following and is now read by over 20,000 people, whilst the 20+ accompanying podcast episodes have also been downloaded more than 20,000 times.
Whilst receiving the twice-weekly newsletter is free, subscribers can pay $6.99 per month for full access to the newsletter and site content. Or $9.99 for the ability to contribute comments on the site.
The business was founded with $28,000 of finance from the founding workers, and Hell Gate is now growing by 10% each month.
They’ve surpassed 5,300 paying subscribers and generate over $42,000 in monthly recurring revenue. This income is currently made up of paid subscriptions and donations, though there are plans to ramp up advertising revenue going forward.
#3
Stacked Marketer: $715K in Annual Revenue
Newsletter Containing Marketing and Tech news and analysis
Stacked Marketer is a curated daily newsletter sharing digital marketing news and actionable advicewas founded in 2018 by Emanuel Cinca.
The free newsletter aims to provide quality and transparent coverage of the marketing and tech industry in an easily digestible format. It's targeted at those who runs paid social or search campaigns, conducts email marketing, SEOs and online business owners.
The business also features a paid monthly newsletter, Stacked Marketer Pro, which is created through hundreds of hours worth of analysis. The subscription costs $99 per month and includes growth strategies, inspiration and marketing insights from successful individuals and companies.
In 2022 the business reported revenue of $685,000. This increased to $715,000 in annual revenue for 2023. To date Stacked Marketer has generated more than $2.5 million in total income from over 100,000 subscribers.
#4
Slow Boring: $1.4M in Annual Revenue
A newsletter on politics and policy
A November 13th, 2020 newsletter update greeted readers with the headline "Welcome to Slow Boring".
The posts author, Matthew Yglesias, noted it was also his last day as a senior correspondent at Vox.com — where he was one of the sites co-founders.
Hosted on Substack, Slow Boring currently boasts over 150,000 free subscribers and covers the topics of politics and public policy.
In his most recent yearly update, Matthew revealed the site generated $1.4M from mid-2023 to mid-2024.
A post on Meta-owned Threads also revealed that Slow Boring has over 18,000 paying subscribers.
While it's not the kind of content I would personally find myself reading, it's great to see another success story we can add to this list.
#5
Newcomer: $1.6M in Annual Revenue
Newsletter covering startups and venture capital
Newcomer is a technology and venture capital newsletter which was founded in 2020 by Eric Newcomer, who had previously covered the technology industry for Bloomberg for six years.
The business Eric created, which is now ran by a team of three, is an independent newsletter which focuses its deep coverage on the world of startups.
The newsletter featuring the latest trends and interviews has continued to grow in popularity and now boasts 101,000 subscribers, more than 2,000 of which are paying customers.
There is a free subscription option which sends users sporadic public posts. As well as the paid subscription costing $19 per month or $199 per year, which enables customers to receive exclusive weekly posts, as well as access to the full archive of newsletters.
Newcomer has continued to grow since its creation, and reached $1.6 million in annual revenue for 2023.
#6
Tangle: $1M+ in Annual Revenue
Daily Political newsletter
Tangle is an unbiased political newsletter summarising views from all sides which was founded by Isaac Saul in 2019.
After gaining 22,000 subscribers to the platform within the first two years, Isaac began to focus on Tangle full-time in 2021 and has since grown the publication's readership to more than 120,000 people.
There are six newsletter releases each week, four (Mon-Thurs) free, with the Friday and Sunday additions available to paid members only. Each edition covers political stories from both the left and right viewpoints, with Isaac’s personal take also included.
There are currently more than 16,000 paying subscribers, who are charged $59 per year for ad-free access to all newsletters and the back catalogue of posts. In addition, there is a $159 per year option that includes personal updates and access to information on the quarterly newsletter.
Tangle achieved $624,000 in annual revenue last year and surpassed $1 million in subscriber-only income this year thanks to several factors, including growing readership and a lower than 1% unsubscribe rate.
The business has also increased advertising revenue to up to $9,000 per month and ventured into other avenues, such as a podcast and a growing YouTube audience.
#7
Charter: $4M in Funding
Workplace and management newsletter
Charter is a business newsletter that was founded in 2020 by Erin Grau, Jay Lauf and Kevin Delaney.
The free news platform covers insights on workplace trends and management tips, as well as research, ideas and analysis of life in the modern workplace.
There are currently over 100,000 subscribers to the newsletter, including employees from the likes of PayPal, Spotify and Upwork.
Charter also features a Pro subscription - costing $29 per month or $299 per year - for three premium newsletters per week containing additional analysis and research on the future of working, including topics such as wellness, remote roles and AI.
Paying customers also receive invites to workshops and live events, which allow for networking opportunities.
Whilst we have been unable to source any reliable revenue figures for the business, Charter has recently generated $1 million in investment, which is on top of the $3 million seed funding raised in 2022.
#8
LetterHead: $5.3M in Funding
platform for automating the creation and management of email newsletters
LetterHead is a platform for businesses to manage their newsletters. was launched in 2020 by Rebekah Monson, Bruce Pinchbeck and Christopher Sopher.
They had initially built their own newsletter framework which they used for WhereBy.Us, which served 80,000 daily readers and over $1 million in advertising revenue. The now public software allows customers to create, send and monetise automated newsletters at scale, using a single dashboard.
Letterhead, which now has a team of 30 people, gathers content from podcasts, social media posts and customers’ CMS to automatically generate over 1,800 newsletters for customers. The service is used by media publishers, marketers, universities and businesses.
Pricing starts at $97 per month for the Essential subscription enabling one newsletter with up to 2,500 subscribers. This jumps to $247 for the Advanced tier allowing up to five newsletters and 25,000 subscribers. There is also a Premium level costing $597 per month which incorporates ten newsletters and up to 100,000 subscribers.
In order to support their growth the business raised $5.3 million in seed funding in December 2023.
#9
6AM City: $8M in Annual Revenue
Daily Newsletter provider for many local communities
6AM City is a niche local newsletter provider that was founded in 2016.
The media company focuses on hyper-local news impacting communities and areas through their daily emails.
These newsletters aim is to educate local people on what is occurring where they live and encourage engagement through a conversational style of journalism.
6AM currently has 1.3 million subscribers across their range of local newsletters, resulting in over 300 million emails being read by people in the cities that they serve.
The business has recently raised more than $10 million in series A funding as it looks to build on it’s growth and become profitable this year. This takes the total amount of investment in the company to $18.8 million.
It has been revealed that 6AM City generated around $8 million in revenue for 2023. Whilst this was down on the projected $9 million for the year, it was a large increase on the $6.3 million reached the previous year.
#10
1440: $15M+ in Annual Revenue
Daily newsletter featuring snippets of curated news stories
1440 is a human-curated news platform which was founded in 2018 by Tim Huelskamp, Andrew Steigerwald, and the late Pierre Lipton.
The daily newsletter shares summaries of factual and noteworthy stories on various topics, including business, culture, science, sport, and politics; with a link to the sources of these articles.
Currently, 4 million subscribers receive the free email - growing by around 250,000 per month - and the business earns money by showing adverts and sponsorship to these readers. With an average open rate of 60%, each customer earns the publication around 70 cents per month.
Due to this increase in audience numbers, the business, with a team of 15 staff, has grown revenue to over $15 million per year.
As the number of 1440 readers continues to grow, it makes sense that revenue will follow suit and we’ll be certain to provide updates when relevant.
