LiveIntent Blog
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
      Discover a new advertising channel for powering profitable growth.
    • Publisher solutions
      Maximize the revenue generated across email and web inventory
    • Identity data solutions
      Build stronger connections with addressable audiences everywhere.
  • Identity framework
  • Case studies
  • Company
    • Our story
      Learn more about us, our mission, vision, and the people behind it all.
    • Careers
      Grow and develop personally and professionally at LiveIntent.
    • Press
      Read up on how LiveIntent is innovating the digital ecosystem.
    • Events
      Check out our upcoming events and stay up-to-date with all things martech.
  • Resources
    • LiveIntent Library
      Learn how to harness the power of email with our eBooks, guides, and reports.
    • Blog
      Explore martech topics, strategies, and tactics with fun, insightful content.
    • Knowledge base
      Get answers to all your pressing product related questions.
    • Brand assets
      Everything you need to know about the LiveIntent brand all in one place.
Contact Us
LiveIntent Blog
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
      Discover a new advertising channel for powering profitable growth.
    • Publisher solutions
      Maximize the revenue generated across email and web inventory
    • Identity data solutions
      Build stronger connections with addressable audiences everywhere.
  • Identity framework
  • Case studies
  • Company
    • Our story
      Learn more about us, our mission, vision, and the people behind it all.
    • Careers
      Grow and develop personally and professionally at LiveIntent.
    • Press
      Read up on how LiveIntent is innovating the digital ecosystem.
    • Events
      Check out our upcoming events and stay up-to-date with all things martech.
  • Resources
    • LiveIntent Library
      Learn how to harness the power of email with our eBooks, guides, and reports.
    • Blog
      Explore martech topics, strategies, and tactics with fun, insightful content.
    • Knowledge base
      Get answers to all your pressing product related questions.
    • Brand assets
      Everything you need to know about the LiveIntent brand all in one place.
Log in Contact Us
  • Blog Homepage
  • Programmatic Advertising
  • Email Monetization
  • Identity Resolution
  • LiveIntent Culture
  • Real Time Banter
  • LiveIntentional
  • Subscribe

How email powerhouse Morning Brew adapted to COVID-19

    • Email Monetization
  • January 25, 2021
Mark Dunning
Art Director

For many media companies, the COVID-19 pandemic brought unforeseen obstacles and lost revenue. For Morning Brew, it brought a boost in subscribers and new opportunities to drive engagement.

Morning Brew grew to a $13 million company by hosting a suite of email newsletters for the modern business leader. Its core offering, “Daily Brew,” delivers business insights to the inboxes of over 2 million people each day.

Like many other publishers and brands, Morning Brew had to decrease its acquisition spend and change its monetization strategies in response to the pandemic. In a recent Real Time Banter webinar with Jason Schulweis, head of brand partnerships at Morning Brew, 84% of 31 respondents said they are also rethinking their monetization strategies during the global crisis.

But instead of faltering under the weight of these changes, Morning Brew saw success.

“Because of the strength of our content, we didn’t see any negative effect from the decrease in spend,” Jason Schulweis, head of brand partnerships at Morning Brew, told us in a recent Real Time Banter webinar. “It forced us to really double down on what got us to where we are in the first place. The content is doing better than it ever has. The total shares are doing better than they ever have. It’s been very cool to watch Morning Brew continue to thrive and grow in a tough environment.”

Here’s how they did it.

Provide utility

Early on, Schulweis recognized the need to not just provide information and entertainment to readers, but also utility.

“There was this new consumer need because everyone’s lives had changed. So, what now?” he says. “We took a more holistic view at what the business professional is and does. How do you work from home? How do you spend your time? How can you continue to learn and be the best version of yourself?”

In mid-March, Morning Brew created a “Work from Home” guide, which quickly took off. So they followed up with a new, pop-up email newsletter: “The Essentials,” a guide to staying happy and healthy while quarantined. That newsletter is now delivered three times a week to over 100,000 subscribers.

Be flexible with advertising partners

From the start, Morning Brew was eager to meet clients in the middle and work with partners to keep business running.

“I think we very intentionally and fortunately overreacted in a good way in terms of reducing our rates,” Schulweis says. “We were honest with our partners and said, ‘We’re going to do absolutely everything that we can to help because we know that your supply chain was disrupted, and we want to be sympathetic to that.'”

Still, as a bootstrapped media startup, these were difficult conversations to have internally and externally.

“There were late nights,” Schulweis says, “but I think we’re much stronger now – not just Morning Brew, but our partners and relationships as well.”

Consult the data

Morning Brew constantly monitors its data, like open rates and engagement, to better understand how to serve its readers and accommodate audience behaviors.

During the pandemic, Morning Brew saw desktop viewership – normally 30% of its total – rise, but not as much as they expected, given the number of people working from home and self-isolating. They also saw certain categories of advertisers, like meal delivery services, increase spend to account for new consumer needs.

“There was so much uncertainty in certain markets that a lot of our partners and advertisers would say, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity for us to provide value and we can help,'” says Schulweis. “But now we’re starting to see the Morning Brew client set look more like what it was pre-pandemic.”

Run referral programs

Even after decreasing spend on acquisition campaigns, Morning Brew increased its audience by encouraging current subscribers to bring new people into the fold.

“We started to give our subscribers more value and more incentive to help,” Schulweis says. “When we ran giveaways or referral program perks for just creating content that people wanted to share, we were able to drive a lot of new eyeballs and new subscribers into our ecosystem.”

For example, Morning Brew runs a private Facebook group of 15,000 people who’ve already referred three or more subscribers.

“Your most loyal readers and subscribers are the ones that are going to be the most valuable to you and help you drive the most other loyal and valuable subscribers,” Schulweis says. “It’s not just about finding new people no matter where they are, but rather homing in and understanding who that core audience is.”

0
Tweet 0
Mark Dunning
Art Director

Must-Read Content

3 publishing priorities
    • Email Monetization

3 publishing priorities for 2023

  • Mano Pillai
  • December 21, 2022
    • Email Monetization

Staking a claim in $61.15bn in digital ad spend

  • Chris Hartley
  • December 13, 2022
    • Email Monetization

Why email is crucial to local publisher monetization strategies

  • Victoria de Leon
  • July 14, 2022
Learn more about Email Monetization.
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Consumer behaviors, email newsletters, and subscription fatigue with Mark Stenberg

  • Mark Dunning
  • June 13, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Email list monetization: What is it and why is it important?

  • Victoria de Leon
  • May 18, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

4 ways to monetize your first-party data in 2022

  • Victoria de Leon
  • May 3, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

5 tips for email audience building in 2022

  • Mark Dunning
  • April 5, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Unlocking and supporting business opportunities with first-party data

  • Nick Bolt
  • March 30, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

CNET finds the sweet spot between direct-sold strategy and operational ease with Native Ad Blueprints

  • Jennie Conway
  • March 14, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP): What it means for direct-sold deals

  • Nick Bolt
  • February 22, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Building audiences in today’s digital world

  • Mark Dunning
  • February 16, 2022
LiveIntent Blog
Think outside the inbox and discover all the innovative ways email can help you grow your business.
© LiveIntent 2022
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
    • People-Based audiences
    • Publisher solutions
    • Identity data solutions
    • Identity framework
  • Company
    • Our Story
    • Careers
    • Employee Resource Groups
    • Press
    • Events
    • Contact us
  • Resources
    • Case studies
    • Blog
    • Knowledge base
    • Brand assets
  • Legal
    • Powered by
    • Content policy
    • Website privacy policy
    • Services privacy policy
    • Do not sell my info
    • Ad choices
© LiveIntent 2022
Popular topics
  • People-Based Marketing
  • Meet-a-LiveIntenter
  • Email Revenue
  • Identity Graph
  • Subscriber Acquisition
  • First-Party Data
  • Direct-to-Consumer
  • Cookie Apocalypse