The New Role of Email in Modern Media

Executive Summary

Email is undergoing a quiet but significant transformation inside modern media organizations.

What was once primarily used as a distribution tool to drive readers back to websites is increasingly becoming a core audience product. As publishers face declining referral traffic from social platforms and growing volatility in search, newsletters are emerging as one of the most reliable ways to maintain direct relationships with audiences.

This survey of 70 media professionals shows a clear shift underway. Publishers are operating email programs at meaningful scale, investing in newsletter engagement, and expanding monetization models.

At the same time, many organizations are still in the early stages of treating email as a full-fledged product. While engagement remains strong, revenue models are still evolving, and operational constraints continue to limit how quickly programs can grow.

The result is an industry in transition: email is moving from a distribution channel to core audience infrastructure.

Key Trends

1. Email has become core audience infrastructure.

84% of respondents say email is mission-critical or very important to their audience strategy.

2. Newsletter audiences continue to grow – driven by owned channels.

81% say direct signups on owned properties are their primary growth driver.

3. Engagement is the metric publishers care about most.

80% say engagement metrics like opens and clicks are the primary measure of success.

4. Monetization is expanding but still evolving.

Advertising leads current revenue models, while subscriptions, events, and product revenue are gaining momentum.

5. Operational limitations are slowing progress.

More than half of respondents cite staffing and resource constraints as the biggest barriers to expanding email programs.

This report explores how publishers are evolving their email strategies – and what this shift reveals about the future of direct audience relationships in modern media.

Email Has Moved to the Center of Audience Strategy

If there was once a question about where email sits within the modern media stack, it is now fairly clear: email has moved to the center of audience strategy. “Email has become a lot more important to our overall strategy,” said one media professional.

Email now plays a critical role in how their organizations reach and engage audiences. 46% describe email as “mission-critical” to their audience strategy, while another 39% say it is “very important.” Only 16% characterize email as somewhat important or less, suggesting that for most publishers, email has become a foundational audience channel rather than a supporting tactic.

In other words, email is no longer simply a distribution layer sitting beneath other traffic sources. For many organizations, it has become the primary mechanism for maintaining direct relationships with audiences.

This shift has accelerated over the past two years. Nearly 70% of respondents say email is more important to their business today than it was two years ago, including 47% who say it is “much more important.” Only 6% say email has become less important during that time.

The findings point to a broader structural change in how publishers approach audience development. As algorithmic distribution becomes less reliable and first-party data becomes more valuable, email is increasingly functioning as the backbone of direct audience strategy.

The emphasis on engagement reflects the broader role newsletters play in maintaining ongoing relationships with audiences. As email programs scale, many publishers appear focused less on raw subscriber numbers and more on how actively those audiences interact with content.

That focus appears to be paying off. 43% of respondents say audience engagement has increased over the past year, compared with 10% who report declines, suggesting many organizations are finding ways to maintain or deepen reader relationships even as lists grow larger.

Newsletter Revenue Is Expanding — But Still Maturing

While engagement leads how publishers measure success, newsletters are increasingly contributing to revenue with one-in-three saying revenue is one of their primary measures of success.

Among respondents, 64% say email generates revenue through advertising or sponsorships, making it the most common monetization model. Other revenue streams are also emerging, including subscriptions (47%) and events or products (47%), while 11% generate affiliate revenue.

Email Is Becoming a Media Product — Not Just a Traffic Tool

While newsletters have traditionally served as a traffic driver for publisher websites, the data suggests email programs are becoming much more diverse in how they deliver value.

A large majority of respondents (77%) say they still send emails that drive traffic back to their sites, reinforcing email’s continued role as a distribution channel.

But many publishers are also developing email products designed to be consumed directly in the inbox. 59% say they publish editorial newsletters meant to be read primarily in email, and the same share (59%) report operating standalone newsletter franchises, such as daily or weekly editorial products.

Marketing and promotional emails also remain common, with 63% of respondents using email to support marketing initiatives.

More specialized formats are emerging as well. 29% say they operate subscriber-only or paid newsletters, while 27% send alerts, breaking news, or utility-style emails.

Email Is Emerging as Media’s Most Reliable Direct Channel

As distribution from platforms like social and search becomes less predictable, many publishers are increasingly relying on email as one of the most stable and controllable ways to reach audiences.

Across survey responses, email was frequently described as a channel publishers fully own — one that allows them to build direct relationships with readers without relying on external algorithms. For many organizations, newsletters now serve not only as a distribution tool but also as a critical source of audience insight, engagement, and revenue.

This shift reflects a broader change in how publishers approach audience development. Rather than focusing solely on growing subscriber counts, many teams are becoming more deliberate about how they manage and activate their email audiences.

Over the past 12 months, 30% of respondents say their email strategy has shifted toward deeper engagement within the inbox, while 19% report increased focus on monetization. By comparison, only 13% say their email programs have become more focused on driving traffic back to their sites.

While 31% report no major strategic shift yet, the broader direction of change suggests publishers are beginning to rethink how email delivers value beyond referral traffic.

That evolution becomes even clearer when respondents look ahead. When asked how they ideally want email to function within their business over the next year:

41% say email should be a primary product they actively invest in
44% say it should serve as one of several core growth channels
Only 11% say email should primarily function as a marketing or distribution tool

Email Infrastructure Is Struggling to Keep Up With Newsletter Evolution

While many publishers see email becoming increasingly central to their business, operational limitations continue to hold programs back.

The most common constraint cited by respondents is limited resources or staffing, with 54% saying this is one of the biggest barriers to growing their email programs. As newsletters become more sophisticated—requiring editorial strategy, audience development, and product thinking—many organizations appear to be struggling to allocate sufficient teams and resources.

Many legacy email platforms were originally built to market content, not deliver it as a standalone product. These systems often prioritize marketing automation, CRM workflows, and campaign management rather than editorial publishing, subscriber growth, and media monetization.

This shift reflects a broader tension across the industry: many publishers now want to publish content directly within the inbox, while the tools they rely on were originally built to promote content elsewhere.

As newsletters evolve into primary audience products, some publishers are finding that these tools do not fully support the workflows required for modern media businesses.

This may help explain why 41% of respondents say platform or technology limitations are holding their email programs back, while 37% cite gaps in analytics or measurement capabilities. These findings suggest that many publishers are still working with tools and data infrastructure that were originally designed for marketing emails rather than modern newsletter products.

Audience growth is another challenge. 39% say constraints around acquiring new subscribers are slowing progress, highlighting the difficulty of building email audiences at scale as traditional discovery channels become less reliable.

Other barriers include monetization challenges (23%) and internal alignment or buy-in (19%), suggesting that some organizations are still navigating how email fits into their broader business and revenue strategy.

Notably, only 3% of respondents say their email programs are executing without major obstacles, reinforcing that even as newsletters grow in importance, most publishers are still refining how to operate them effectively.

A newer generation of newsletter-focused platforms is attempting to address these gaps by building tools specifically for publishing, audience growth, and creator-led media models.

The transition between these two approaches is still underway, leaving many organizations navigating the limitations of systems originally designed for a different purpose.

Among survey respondents, Sailthru is the most commonly used platform (17%), followed by Mailchimp (11%), Salesforce Marketing Cloud (9%), and HubSpot (9%). Several other platforms—including Klaviyo, Omeda, Campaign Monitor, beehiiv, Substack, and Braze—are used by growing segments of the industry.

Notably, 27% of respondents selected “Other,” suggesting that many organizations rely on niche tools, proprietary systems, or customized platform stacks. This fragmentation highlights the lack of a single dominant infrastructure provider for media-focused email operations. It also reflects a broader transition in the industry, as publishers move from legacy email marketing platforms toward newer tools designed specifically for newsletter publishing and audience-led media businesses.

Despite widespread adoption of email platforms, satisfaction levels are relatively moderate.

Just 9% of respondents say they are very satisfied with their current platform, while 32% report being somewhat satisfied. An equally large share (32%) describe their satisfaction as neutral, while 27% say they are dissatisfied to some degree.

These findings suggest that while email technology is widely used, many media organizations still see room for improvement in their platforms—particularly as newsletters evolve from marketing tools into fully developed media products requiring stronger analytics, segmentation, and monetization capabilities. This may also help explain why technology limitations emerged as one of the most commonly cited barriers in the survey.

As newsletters become more central to media businesses, many publishers are likely to reassess their email infrastructure, prioritizing platforms that support audience growth, monetization, and content publishing rather than traditional campaign management alone.

AI Adoption Is Rising — Creator Collaboration Remains Limited

As email programs evolve, publishers are also exploring new ways to expand their capabilities through artificial intelligence and creator collaboration. However, the survey suggests these efforts are still largely in the early stages.

More than three-quarters of respondents report that their organizations are already engaging with AI in some capacity. 27% say AI or large language models are actively implemented within their organization, while a majority—51%—say they are currently exploring or experimenting with these technologies. Another 17% say they are interested but have not yet implemented a strategy, leaving only 4% who report having no plans to adopt AI.

This suggests that while widespread adoption is still developing, AI is rapidly becoming an area of focus for many media organizations.

By contrast, collaboration with creators appears to be far less common within email programs. 64% of respondents say their organizations do not currently work with creators at all.

Among those that do, the most common approach is working with guest contributors or editors (33%), while 14% involve community contributors and 10% report revenue-sharing partnerships with creators.

Many Media Leaders Are Still Thinking About Email the Wrong Way

Despite email’s growing role as a core audience channel, many respondents believe media leaders still misunderstand its importance.

One theme appeared repeatedly: the biggest misconception about email is that it is declining or less relevant than newer platforms. One media professional wrote, “People still think email is outdated or dying.”

Several respondents pointed to the persistent belief that email is a legacy medium. Comments referenced perceptions that email is “old-fashioned,” “dying,” or only used by older audiences. Others noted that many executives still assume social platforms or search are more important drivers of audience growth.

Another common perception is that email’s role is simply to drive traffic back to websites. “The biggest misconception is that email simply drives traffic,” said one media professional. “It’s actually one of the most powerful ways to build a direct relationship with audiences.”

While newsletters do remain an important distribution tool, many respondents emphasized that email now functions as a primary content and engagement platform in its own right.

Part of this misunderstanding may stem from how email technology has historically been positioned. Many legacy email platforms were designed primarily for marketing automation — helping companies promote content and drive traffic to websites.

But a newer generation of platforms — including tools like beehiiv, Kit, Ghost, and Substack — reflects a shift toward newsletters as standalone publishing and audience platforms. These tools are designed not simply to market content, but to deliver it directly within the inbox while supporting audience growth and monetization.

Some media professionals also highlighted the belief that email is easy to manage or requires minimal strategy. In reality, modern email programs often require significant investment in segmentation, personalization, deliverability management, and audience data strategy.

Taken together, the responses suggest a disconnect between how email is sometimes perceived by leadership and how it is actually used by teams responsible for audience growth and engagement.

While email is increasingly central to audience strategy, its strategic value is still not fully recognized across many media organizations.

Conclusion: The Newsletter Is Becoming a Core Media Product

These findings point to a clear shift in how publishers view email.

Newsletters are no longer simply tools for distributing links. They are becoming a central layer of modern media strategy — connecting audience growth, engagement, and monetization.

In a media environment where platform-driven distribution is increasingly unpredictable, email offers something uniquely valuable: a direct and owned relationship with audiences.

As publishers continue prioritizing first-party audience strategies, newsletters are likely to become even more central to how media organizations build sustainable businesses.

As this shift continues, newsletters are increasingly becoming the foundation for direct audience relationships across the media industry. The publishers that succeed will be those that move beyond treating email as a marketing channel — and instead treat it as a core media product and audience platform.

The New Role of Email in Modern Media

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The New Role of Email in Modern Media