Think back to what you were doing in 1992. Jim Aley was writing features for Fortune. Eight years later he was editing them for Business 2.0. In 2024 he edits them still, serving as deputy editor for the recently relaunched Bloomberg Businessweek.
Axios and Fortune continue to be star performers in the world of Tier 1 edit, according to the latest data from Similarweb.
From June 2023 through June 2024, Axios increased its readership by 47.5 percent, from 22.5M monthly visitors to 31.1M on a trailing 12-month basis. How does Axios do it? Smart management, smart verticals, smart brevity.
It’s been true for years: Tier 1 loves to craft “can they do it?” stories. Some PR pros avoid pitching “can they do it” stories because “what if they can’t?” Why encourage a reporter to think that the company might come up short?
Why would tech PR pros care which tier 1 titles have the most loyal readers? Why does loyalty — or the lack thereof — matter? Pitching requires deep knowledge of targets and beats, and that’s about it, right? Here’s why you might care.
What exactly is Tier 1 publishing on TikTok, and is it pitchable? So few PR pros know because when they do find themselves on TikTok, they are probably not visiting, say, The Economist.
OK, so maybe the guest speaker would be of interest to our subscribers…. in any case, host Peter Jacobs took us to a lot of
Publications do have positions in the marketplace, but they often stray from them, pleasing readers in the process.
You need to be logged in to view this content. Please Log In. Not a Member? Join Us
This is the third installment of the SWMS-Semrush Top 15 Index. This month we list and analyze the top 15 most popular articles in Axios, TechCrunch, The Verge, VentureBeat and Wired during January 2023.
You need to be logged in to view this content. Please Log In. Not a Member? Join Us
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
New EIC Jamie Heller has asked her reporters to start going on camera — for the BI TikTok channel — to explain the big, deep-divey story they just published. Other publications do this — especially archival Fortune. BI is now on that too. Game on.
At this time last year, Eric Newcomer and his two podcast co-hosts — Max Child and James Wilsterman — each formed an “AI startup fantasy team” and picked five AI startups to seed their rosters. We’re now in year 2 and it’s time to draft again. The podcasters wonder… which startups do they dump? Which do they add? The player whose startups accumulate the most total value by Nov. 1, 2028 is the winner, so there’s plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s a link to the AI fantasy team podcast — you may need a password. Not sure.
This timeless explainer — a powerful blend of visuals and text — will explain the psychology of how we read, as in, how does the mind actually work? Hats off to Message Labs, the producer.
Ars Technica recently filed this revealing piece on how the NYT uses gen AI to analyze gargantuan transcripts, ones that would overwhelm mere mortals. The results still need to be reviewed by humans, but the grunt analysis is done by the LLM. Investigative reporting becomes easier. Journalism is served.
It was announced long ago, but on Nov, 26 we learn whether TechTarget stockholders want to join forces with Informa and its legion of IT media brands, not least of which is Industry Dive. It will be hard to imagine a rival of equal power, with IDG/Foundry now a shadow of its former self. IDG/Foundry’s lack of investment and focus on cost-cutting will look unwise if TechTarget and Informa do merge.
404 Media may not be on your radar, but it currently ranks 8th of 50 leading publications recognized by Techmeme. The edit startup took a step forward this week, announcing a deal with Wired, which will run two 404 Media stories a month — and the pair might collaborate on stories beginning in 2025.
