MORNING BREW HITS ONE MILLION SUBSCRIBERS
Morning Brew, a free daily newsletter designed for young business professionals that takes five minutes or less to read, officially announced this week that its subscriber base has hit one million people.
The company was founded in 2015 by former college classmates Alex Lieberman and Austin Rief. They’re now rapidly expanded, gaining more than 125,000 subscribers each month.
The conversational, easy-to-read newsletter is directed at young business professionals who are increasingly turning to nontraditional forms of media to consume news. With limited time – and, quite frankly, limited desire – to thoroughly read traditional forms of media each day, young professionals want a quicker, more engaging way to remain up-to-date on current events. In response, Morning Brew has stepped in to transform the way young professionals interact with business news, providing a brief, witty newsletter, comprised of carefully curated content, attracting readers from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.
“Morning Brew is all about providing future business leaders with the tools they need to succeed. Our subscribers are ambitious professionals who aspire to be decision-makers and leaders within the business community,” said Morning Brew CEO Alex Lieberman. “As young professionals, many of our readers are at vital points in their lives, about to make major decisions like buying a ring, homeownership and parenthood. We established Morning Brew to be a trustworthy news source, putting us in a prime position to build relationships with our readers that will result in long-term loyalty.”
With an ad-based revenue model, content from Morning Brew is delivered through a native, in-house editorial method directly to consumers, specifically targeting the modern business leader and HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet), while providing a holistic view of business news in five minutes or less. Morning Brew also operates with one of the highest unique open rates among daily newsletters, averaging 400,000 unique daily opens.
“The industry average for unique open rate is only 15 percent – Morning Brew’s is 44 percent, indicating significantly higher-than-average levels of engagement from our readers,” said Morning Brew COO Austin Rief. “By providing important business news in a casual tone, Morning Brew is able to continuously gain new subscribers while retaining loyal readers – something our advertisers are excited about, particularly when they see substantial return on their investment.”
The company has a variety of ad partners spanning Fortune 500 companies including Chase, Discover and Microsoft, and direct-to-consumer brands including Allbirds, Quip and Brooklinen. Additionally, it has brand partners in the fintech space, including Fundrise, Betterment, Commonbond and Better Mortgage. Morning Brew receives approximately $200,000 per week in ad revenue, and its ad inventory is 90 percent sold out through the first quarter of 2019.
The initial idea for a business-focused newsletter struck Alex and Austin after they founded a successful email service that provided their fellow University of Michigan students with valuable interview prep. Morning Brew expects to hit 6 million subscribers by the end of 2020.
