Newsletter advertising gives a B2B company a way to reach a defined professional audience at a known price. The hard part is choosing where to advertise. Thousands of newsletters take sponsors, and they are written by journalists, founders, media companies, trade publishers, and individual creators.
The right newsletter depends on who you want to reach. A company trying to reach journalists and PR professionals needs a different newsletter than a SaaS company selling to founders. A consumer brand might look for a creator with a narrow, loyal audience.
This guide covers five types of newsletters businesses can sponsor, with examples that currently publish advertising or sponsorship information, and a closer look at newsletters that reach PR and communications professionals.
How to choose a newsletter to sponsor
Before looking at individual newsletters, define the audience you want to reach. Then check each candidate against these questions:
- Audience: Who reads it?
- Relevance: Does the audience match your ideal customer?
- Reach: How many subscribers or opens does the publisher report?
- Engagement: What does the publisher share about opens or clicks?
- Placement: Where does the ad appear in the email?
- Format: Is the ad text-only, image-based, native, or editorial?
- Price: Is the placement sold at a flat rate or by CPM, and are packages available?
- Buying process: Can you buy directly, or do you need to go through a sales team?
- Frequency: Is it a single send, or can you book several dates?
Audience fit should come before subscriber count. A smaller newsletter with a highly relevant professional audience is often a better first test for a B2B campaign than a much larger newsletter with a general audience.
1. Sponsor a journalist’s newsletter
Journalist-led newsletters suit brands that want readers who follow a particular industry or point of view. This category includes independent journalists and analysts, plus subject-matter publications built around one writer’s expertise.
Not every prominent journalist newsletter takes ads. Some of the best known, such as Stratechery, are funded entirely by paid subscriptions and do not sell sponsorships. Check for an advertising or sponsorship page before you pitch.
Examples with published advertising information:
- Platformer, Casey Newton’s newsletter on social media and technology, publishes an advertising policy and sells sponsorships.
- The Ankler, the entertainment industry publication led by Janice Min, sells advertising alongside its subscriptions.
Substack also runs a Native Sponsorships program, launched in 2024, that matches brands with writers who have at least 100 paid subscribers. Brands apply through Substack rather than contacting the writer directly.
When this type of newsletter makes sense
Consider a journalist-led newsletter when your product is closely tied to the subject the writer covers. A cybersecurity company has more reason to reach a technology publication’s readers than a general business audience.
2. Sponsor a business leader’s newsletter
Another option is a newsletter written by a founder, executive, operator, or business creator. These audiences tend to be built around entrepreneurship, management, sales, marketing, or investing.
One example is The Saturday Solopreneur from Justin Welsh. His sponsorship page describes an audience of more than 215,000 solopreneurs, and sponsorships are booked by email rather than through a self-serve form.
Newsletter marketplaces such as Paved list hundreds of creator-run business newsletters with audience sizes and rates, which makes them a practical place to build a shortlist in this category.
When this type of newsletter makes sense
Business-leader newsletters work well for companies selling to founders, entrepreneurs, marketers, creators, and small-business owners.
3. Sponsor a company or media newsletter
You do not have to work with an individual creator. Established media companies sell newsletter advertising directly, from broad business publications to specialized industry titles.
Examples include:
- Morning Brew, which sells sponsorships across its portfolio through a sales team and also sells some inventory through beehiiv’s ad network.
- The Hustle, HubSpot’s business and technology newsletter.
- Axios, which sells sponsorships across newsletters covering business, technology, politics, and specific professions.
- Industry Dive, which publishes sponsored newsletters for specific business industries.
The buying process at larger publishers is usually sales-led. You request a media kit and then negotiate dates and pricing with a sales rep. That differs from a self-serve model, where the advertiser can see available placements and prices and buy directly.
When this type of newsletter makes sense
Established media newsletters make sense when you need scale or a recognizable publication. The tradeoff is higher minimum spends and a longer sales process.
4. Sponsor a PR and marketing newsletter
If your goal is to reach PR professionals, publicists, marketers, agencies, or communications teams, look at newsletters written for those audiences. This is the right category for companies selling PR and marketing software, media databases, agency services, research, events, and training.
The table below compares newsletters that reach PR and communications professionals, based on what each publisher currently states on its own site.
| Newsletter | Audience | How advertising is sold | Rates published? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HARO (Help a Reporter Out) | PR professionals, publicists, marketers, founders, and subject matter experts. Three editions every weekday. More than 100 million emails sent in the past year. | Self-serve at helpareporter.com/advertise. Pick a placement and date on a calendar, write a text ad, pay by card. | Yes. Placements from $105. Thursday base rates run from $125 to $795. |
| PR Daily (Ragan Communications) | Communications, PR, HR, and marketing decision-makers. | Sales team. Media kit provided after a form request. | No |
| PRWeek | PR and communications professionals. Daily Breakfast Briefing email. | Sales team. Media kit on request. | No |
| O’Dwyer’s | PR firms and corporate communicators. Daily email with about 3,600 subscribers. | Contact the publisher. Text ads of up to 40 words and banner sponsorships. | Partly (directory listings) |
| Axios Communicators | Communications professionals. Weekly on Thursdays. | Axios advertising team. | No |
| Marketing Brew | Marketers and communications professionals. | Morning Brew sales team. | No |
| Stacked Marketer | More than 100,000 marketers. Daily. | Advertiser survey form. Three placement types. | No |
When this type of newsletter makes sense
This category fits when your customers include marketers, PR professionals, agencies, communications teams, founders, or anyone who works with the media regularly.
5. Sponsor a niche industry newsletter
You can also skip broad business audiences and advertise in a newsletter dedicated to one industry. A company selling financial software can look for a newsletter read by finance professionals. A healthcare technology company can look for healthcare industry newsletters.
The audience is smaller, but the readers are much closer to your target market.
How to find niche newsletters
Newsletter sponsorship marketplaces make this easier. Paved lists newsletters by category with audience data and pricing. beehiiv’s ad network, which absorbed the Swapstack marketplace in 2023, sells placements across newsletters hosted on beehiiv. MediaPact, launched in 2026, sells flat-fee placements across a curated set of publications.
You can also search for newsletters in your industry and look for pages labeled Advertise, Sponsorship, Media Kit, Partner With Us, or Advertising Opportunities. Some newsletters publish their rates publicly. Others require you to request a media kit or contact the publisher.
Self-serve or sales-led: which buying process fits?
Newsletter ads are sold two ways. Sales-led publishers ask you to request a media kit and agree on dates and pricing with a sales rep. That process suits larger budgets and custom packages. Self-serve publishers show available dates and prices on a calendar and let you buy in one session. That suits a first test or a small budget, and it lets you compare the cost of several dates before committing.
If a publisher offers self-serve booking, start there. You can learn what a placement does for you at a known price before you commit to a larger, negotiated flight.
How to compare newsletter ads
Once you have a shortlist, compare each opportunity on the same factors.
| Factor | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Audience | Who actually reads the newsletter? |
| Size | Subscribers or estimated reach |
| Engagement | Opens and clicks on recent sends |
| Placement | Top, middle, classified, native, or dedicated send |
| Creative | Text, image, video, or custom content |
| Price | Flat fee, CPM, package, or custom quote |
| Frequency | One-time placement or recurring sponsorship |
| Reporting | What campaign data will you receive? |
| Buying process | Self-serve or sales-assisted? |
Do not compare newsletters on subscriber count alone. Publishers report audience size differently, and pricing varies widely by niche and format. Ask for opens and clicks on recent sends, and ask what reporting you will receive after your ad runs.
Which newsletter should you sponsor?
No single newsletter fits every B2B advertiser. A PR software company should start with a PR or journalist-focused newsletter. A SaaS company selling to founders can look at business-leader newsletters. A larger enterprise brand may prefer an established media publication, while a specialized company may get more from a small industry newsletter with a highly relevant audience.
Start with the audience and test before you scale. Whether you buy through a sales team or through a self-serve syste, the principle is the same: the right newsletter is the one that puts your message in front of the people you want to reach.
