u/Secure-Temporary-749

I’ve been trying to understand how newsletter sponsorships actually get priced and evaluated, so I spent some time reading old Reddit threads from founders, newsletter operators, and marketers.

One thing I noticed is that a lot of sponsorship conversations still seem to start with subscriber count, when the more useful signals might be open rate, audience fit, CTR, and whether past sponsors actually got results (correct me if I'm wrong).

One example stuck with me: someone said a 1k list with a 40% open rate can be a better bet than a 10k list with a 15% open rate for a lot of advertisers.

Not because 1k magically beats 10k on reach. Obviously, the 10k list still gets more total opens.

But because the smaller list might be more niche, more trusted, cheaper to test, and closer to the exact buyer someone is trying to reach.

So I’m starting to think subscriber count isn’t useless, but it’s probably the wrong first filter.

If you run a newsletter, how do you convince sponsors your list is worth testing beyond just subscriber count? Do you show open rate, CTR, past results, audience details, or something else?

I’ve been trying to understand newsletter sponsorships while building an MVP around sponsorship research, so I spent some time reading old Reddit threads from founders, newsletter operators, and marketers.

One thing I noticed is that a lot of newsletter owners promote their subscriber count for sponsorship, when the more useful signals seem to be open rate, audience fit, CTR, and whether past sponsors actually got results.

One example stuck with me: someone said a 1k list with a 40% open rate can be a better bet than a 10k list with a 15% open rate for a lot of advertisers.

Not because 1k magically beats 10k on reach. Obviously, the 10k list still gets more total opens.

But because the smaller list might be more niche, more trusted, cheaper to test, and closer to the exact buyer you’re trying to reach.

So I’m starting to think subscriber count isn’t useless, but it’s probably the wrong first filter.

It’s reach before context.

The better questions might be:

• Who exactly reads this?
• Do they actually open and click?
• Have similar sponsors converted before?
• What would the CPC or CPA look like?
• And only then: how big is the list?

Maybe this is obvious to people who’ve done newsletter sponsorships before, but it feels like pricing is still anchored on the easiest number to brag about, not the number most tied to outcomes.

For those who’ve sponsored newsletters before: what do you ask for before paying? Open rate, CTR, past sponsor results, audience breakdown, something else?