Email newsletters have been around for years, with some companies like Agora (who own multiple newsletters) making over $1 Billion in revenue per year. So in this article, we’re going to be breaking down the economics of email newsletters.
Serious entrepreneurs know that relying on a platform that you don’t control to reach your customers isn’t smart and that email is still the best way to communicate with your customers.
We’ve found 3 newsletter companies that are doing millions in revenue per year and are going to breakdown their strategies of making money. Through this article, we hope you see just how lucrative an email newsletter can be and even if you don’t start one, you should still be collecting the email addresses in the business you are currently in.
How TheSkimm Makes Money
TheSkimm was started in 2012 by two women who left their jobs as news producers. In a relatively short amount of time the daily newsletter grew to over a million subscribers and continues to grow today.
There are several different ways in which this email newsletter generates money. Firstly, TheSkimm generates cash through targeted and directed advertisements, which they run on top of the email newsletter. In addition to that, the newsletter gets some money from paid subscription services that they offer via a mobile app. Generally, email newsletters like TheSkimm generate advertising revenue based on open rates and subscribers.
TheSkimm’s advertising enterprise
- The company has its blog, which it uses to generate money through advertising revenues. They also sell premium ad space in the newsletter, which pays according to the average open rate and amount of subscribers.
Dedicated email marketing
- These emails can fetch some pretty good CPM rates. The way that TheSkimm usually does dedicated email marketing is by letting the advertiser write a skimm.
TheSkimm’s subscription services
- TheSkimm has a product called Skimm Ahead, which is a paid subscription ($2.99 per month) that is only available through the app stores. It gives its users advance notice of stories and events through a calendar.
How does The Hustle Make Money?
The Hustle is an email newsletter tailored for savvy forward thinkers with interests in business and tech news. Its revenue comes from advertising within the daily newsletter as well as their paid subscription service, Trends. The newsletter utilizes unique storytelling to catch the attention of subscribers.
Advertising
- Advertising is a significant revenue generator for The Hustle because they have a large subscriber base (over 1 million).
Subscriptions
- The Hustle also has a paid subscription service, Trends, which is $299 per year, and gives users business trends that they can capitalize on.
How Morning Brew Makes Money
Morning Brew is a daily email newsletter delivering the news in 5 minutes and has over 3 million subscribers.
Selling Ad Space
- Morning Brew makes a majority of their revenue from their daily newsletter by offering advertising space to companies. Being a daily newsletter, they can charge more expensive rates based on their open rates and clickthrough rates.
Multiple Newsletters
- Morning Brew now has Retail Brew and Emerging Tech Brew, more newsletters that cater to different audiences creating a wider net and more revenue opportunities.
Referral Program
- Morning Brew’s referral program grew the number of subscribers significantly, which increases their income. Some rewards users get based on the amount of referrals include more exclusive content, access to a private FB Group, and swag.
Conclusion
The email newsletter industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that many businesses are profiting handsomely from.
All this non-sense from people talking about “email is dead” is ridiculous, take the information with a grain of salt.
Remember this, many social networks have came and left over the last 20 years, email is still here. Think about it. Thanks for reading the economics of email newsletters.
If you’re interested in this business idea and other business ideas you can start, download our free guide, 25 Six Figure Businesses You Can Start Today.
