Puck, Channeling Magazines Past, Nears 200,000 Subscribers

Since launching last September, the news and entertainment publisher Puck has built a nascent advertising operation whose revenues have already surpassed those generated by its fast-growing subscription business. The publisher, which consists of 10 personality-driven newsletters, aims to tell the inside story behind the news in Washington, D.C., Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and its cadre of 11 star reporters has gained it a toehold in the competitive landscape of digital subscriptions. In its first year, the 25-person company has accrued nearly 200,000 email subscribers, roughly 20,000 of whom pay $12.99 per month or $100 per year for unfettered access to its reporting, according to an individual familiar with its finances. Its paid subscriptions grow, on average, 20% per month, and the majority of subscribers choose the annual tier. But while subscriptions have driven immediate revenue, Puck has used the runway afforded by its paid product to build an advertising business whose design and strategy stem from the magazine arts of the analog era, said co-founder and chief operating officer Liz Gough. Business Newsletter Industry Dive Is on Pace to Break $100 Million in Revenue The strategy, combined with the executive readership its coverage attracts, has proven popular: Puck has worked with approximately 40 ad partners to date, including Hulu, Walmart, Meta, Goldman Sachs, Northern Trust Wealth Management and HBO. Its open rates among paid subscribers hover around 72%, and its advertising revenue has risen 500% year over year, though the publisher only operated for three months in 2021, according to the individual. The publisher declined to share financial specifics. “Puck, as a company, has a philosophy that journalists are influencers in the marketplace,” said co-founder and editor in chief Jon Kelly. “When I began my career, the biggest advertisers wanted to be adjacent to specific reporters. The closest we have come to seeing a replication of that relationship is in private newsletters.” The Puck advertising strategy Channeling the ethos of luxury print magazines, ads in Puck newsletters aim to be fewer in number but larger and more polished. Similar to competitors like AirMail, as well as business peers Morning Brew, Semafor and Axios, Puck newsletters feature a small number of integrated, direct-sold native ads. Typical ad products include full-length horizontal images, feature custom copy and are accompanied by a sponsorship logo at the top of the email. Puck also promises clients 100% share of voice, a premium touch that requires more cooperation and planning between the two parties, said David Clinch, the head of partnerships at consulting firm Mather Economics. The Information Launches Newsletters to ‘Super-Serve’ Readers and Deeply Report on Niche Areas Its use of direct-sold-only ads has meant that, on occasion, Puck newsletters will lack any advertising at all. But the publisher plans to improve its process as it matures, and it has hired Ali Hattamer, who previously worked at Spotify and The Washington Post, to serve as a senior director on its commercial team, Adweek can exclusively report. Hattamer begins the role Nov. 14. Treating journalists as profit centers The Puck advertising strategy, like its other sources of revenue, all run downstream from its journalists, whose high-wattage reporting serves as the basis of the business. Like the worker-owned Defector Media, Puck reporters all hold equity in the company. In addition to a standard salary, its reporters receive financial rewards for generating new subscribers, participating in podcasts and hosting events, according to a source familiar with the model, reflecting the expertise of the journalists who power these experiences. “If you think about our business and our influencer-journalists, everything starts with them,” she said. “We really think about them as revenue generators, not cost centers.” The 2023 road map The publisher already hosts two podcasts, but it has inked a deal with podcast studio Cadence13 to develop two audio documentaries, one from reporter Julia Ioffe on the childhood of Vladamir Putin and the other from Dylan Byers on CNN. Puck also plans to move further into the experiential business. In August, it hosted a private dinner with 16 guests and two representatives of the sponsor company, Roku, as well as a private screening of The Dropout and a Q&A with its star, Amanda Seyfried, sponsored by Hulu. Both were hosted by Puck journalist Matthew Belloni. The events, which featured minimal corporate branding but traded on the exclusivity and pedigree of the attendees, offer a framework for how Puck might move deeper into the space. In 2023, the publisher plans to host approximately 10 such events, with potential plans for a slightly larger, consumer-facing tentpole product. With the addition of Hattamer, the publisher also hopes to expand the number of ad products it can offer, including custom content in the thought leadership space and video advertising on its website, Gough said. “In the first year, we spent most of our efforts building out the talent,” she said. “But as we look to capitalize on our momentum, you’ll see a lot more from us in these other spaces.”

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Puck, Channeling the Charm of Magazines Past, Nears 200,000 Subscribers

The newsletter publisher aims to bring premium ads to the inbox

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