MEDIA INTERCEPT INSIGHTS
Conversations with Media Intercept Co-founder Jeffrey Eisenberg on newsletter sponsorships, publisher monetization, campaign measurement, and the future of newsletter advertising.
Explore interviews and podcast conversations covering how brands can reach engaged newsletter audiences, how publishers can create stronger sponsorship opportunities, and why the newsletter ad market needs better standards around buying, measurement, and audience quality.
INTERVIEWS & EPISODE RECAPS
SALES AND MEDIA BUYING
How Sales has Changed: A Conversation with Jeffrey Eisenberg
Jeffrey discusses how sales, outreach, and buyer relationships have changed in a digital-first media landscape. The conversation explores why relevance, empathy, timing, and trust still matter even as sales technology evolves. Episode Recap Sales has changed a lot since the early days of digital media. Jeffrey Eisenberg and Sean start the conversation by looking back at how different prospecting used to be. Sellers once relied much more heavily on phone calls, in-person meetings, handwritten notes, and local market visits. Today, most outreach happens through email, LinkedIn, conference apps, and sales technology. That shift has made it easier to identify prospects, but it has also made it easier for everyone else to do the same thing. Buyers now receive more outreach than ever, which means sellers have to work harder to stand out. Jeffrey explains that the biggest change is not just the toolset. It is the way people build relationships. In the past, sellers often had more face time with clients. They traveled to markets, met buyers in person, and built deeper relationships over time. Today, remote work and digital communication have made many relationships feel more transactional. A major theme in the conversation is that time can be a bigger obstacle than budget. Many large advertisers can afford a campaign, but they may not have the time or internal resources to manage every opportunity themselves. This is where Media Intercept can be valuable. Rather than asking advertisers to manage individual relationships with hundreds or thousands of newsletters, Media Intercept gives brands a more efficient way to access publisher opportunities. The company helps advertisers evaluate options, manage campaigns, and simplify the buying process. Jeffrey also talks about sales team training, discovery, and the importance of asking better questions before pitching. Sellers need to understand the buyer’s goals, challenges, motivations, and constraints before presenting a solution. The conversation also covers the limits of sales automation. Technology can make outreach more efficient, but if automation is used without thought, it becomes spam. Every message should include something specific and relevant to the prospect. The biggest takeaway is that technology has changed how people sell, but it has not changed why people buy. Buyers still respond to relevance, trust, timing, and empathy. Key Takeaways Buyers are busier and harder to reach, so relevance matters more than ever. Understanding the buyer’s goals is more important than pitching too quickly. Personalization and empathy outperform generic outreach. Time is often the biggest barrier to running more newsletter campaigns. Who Should Watch Media buyers, sales leaders, newsletter publishers, growth marketers, and anyone trying to understand how brands evaluate media opportunities today.
NEWSLETTER SPONSORSHIPS
What’s Next for Newsletter Sponsorships?
Jeffrey joins the Letterland podcast to discuss the future of newsletter sponsorships, publisher monetization, native placements, dedicated sends, and why standardization is coming. Episode Recap In this Letterland podcast episode, Jeffrey Eisenberg discusses the future of newsletter sponsorships, publisher monetization, ad networks, dedicated sends, native placements, and why the newsletter advertising space is moving toward greater standardization. Jeffrey explains that Media Intercept sits between advertisers and newsletters. For advertisers, the company helps brands navigate the space, figure out what to buy, evaluate pricing, and reach high-quality newsletter audiences more efficiently. For publishers, Media Intercept acts as a backfill revenue solution, helping them monetize available inventory while still allowing them to prioritize direct sales. A major theme in the conversation is fragmentation. A media buyer may know there are hundreds of strong newsletters they should consider, but they may not know which ones are worth buying, who to contact, what pricing should look like, or how to compare performance across publishers. Jeffrey explains that list size and open rate are not enough. Open rates have become harder to trust because of privacy changes, and list size does not prove engagement. A large list is not always a valuable list. The episode also covers native newsletter placements versus ad-served units. Jeffrey argues that newsletter ads work best when they feel like they belong inside the newsletter. A strong native placement should match the tone, format, and editorial environment of the publication. Readers are trained to ignore anything that looks like a generic ad. Strong newsletter creative should give readers context, explain the offer clearly, and fit naturally into the surrounding content. The conversation also compares inline placements and dedicated sends. Dedicated emails can be very effective because the advertiser gets full share of voice and more room to tell a story. However, publishers should use them carefully. Too many dedicated emails can create audience fatigue, increase unsubscribes, and damage reader trust. Inline placements can also perform well when they are written in the same tone and format as the rest of the newsletter. The key is not choosing one format over the other. It is using the right format for the campaign goal and audience. The episode closes with Jeffrey’s view on where the newsletter space is heading. As the industry matures, questionable practices will be punished and stronger standards will become more important. Advertisers will have less tolerance for inflated audience claims, unclear measurement, poor traffic quality, and inconsistent delivery. For newsletter advertising to grow, the industry needs standardization, transparency, and easier ways for brands to buy high-quality inventory at scale. Key Takeaways The newsletter ad market is valuable but still fragmented. Advertisers need clearer standards around audience quality, measurement, and performance. Native placements work best when they match the voice and format of the newsletter. Dedicated emails can perform well, but publishers need to protect audience trust. The industry is moving toward more transparency, standardization, and aggregation. Who Should Watch Newsletter publishers, media buyers, brand marketers, ad sales teams, and operators trying to better understand newsletter sponsorships and monetization.
MONETIZATION & MEASUREMENT
Newsletter Monetization, CPC, CPM, CPA & the Future of Newsletter Advertising
Jeffrey breaks down newsletter monetization models, pricing structures, traffic quality, and why CPC can create a more balanced model for advertisers and publishers. Episode Recap In this Audience Bridge Insights episode, Jeffrey Eisenberg discusses newsletter monetization, advertising models, publisher quality, traffic validation, dedicated sends, native placements, and the future of newsletter ad networks. Jeffrey begins by sharing how his background in radio, digital video, branded content, commerce, and media sales shaped the creation of Media Intercept. After seeing how scalable and underserved newsletter advertising had become, Media Intercept launched in early 2023 to help brands and publishers operate more effectively in the space. A major theme in the episode is that newsletter advertising needs more maturity. There are thousands of publishers, many different platforms, inconsistent metrics, and no universal standard for how to measure opens, clicks, impressions, list size, or conversions. The conversation then moves into newsletter monetization models. Historically, many newsletter ads were sold on a CPM or flat-rate basis, often tied to list size or open rate. But those metrics can be unreliable. List size does not prove engagement, and open rates have become harder to interpret because of privacy changes and platform differences. CPA, or cost per acquisition, creates a different problem. It can put too much risk on the publisher because many conversion factors happen after the click. A publisher may generate interest and send a qualified reader, but if the advertiser has a weak offer, poor landing page, complicated checkout process, or last-click attribution model, the publisher may not receive credit. Jeffrey describes CPC as a more balanced model. With CPC, the advertiser pays when a reader clicks, which ties spend to engagement. The publisher is not responsible for every downstream conversion, and the advertiser is not paying only for exposure. It is not perfect, but for action-oriented campaigns, it can create a more balanced relationship between advertiser and publisher. He also explains that CPM and flat-rate buys still have a place. They can make sense for awareness campaigns, premium audiences, B2B publishers, and situations where the audience is highly valuable but may not generate massive click volume. The episode also covers publisher quality. Jeffrey explains that certain newsletters perform well because they have real content, strong writing, clear voice, and engaged readers. Newsletters that are mostly RSS feeds or link roundups may drive clicks, but they do not always convert as well because readers may not have the same level of trust or engagement. Native placements and dedicated emails are another important part of the conversation. Native placements work well when they are written in the voice and format of the newsletter. Dedicated sends can drive more clicks and give advertisers more room to tell a story, but publishers have to be careful not to overuse them or promote brands that do not fit their audience. Jeffrey also discusses bot traffic, VPNs, and invalid click filtering. Not all invalid traffic is fraud. Some clicks come from antivirus software or security systems that scan links before a human opens the email. Those clicks may not be malicious, but they are also not real reader engagement and should not be billed to advertisers. Media Intercept reviews traffic after campaigns run and removes questionable activity. The company looks at duplicate clicks, suspicious click bursts, unusual geographies, nonhuman patterns, and downstream performance. For new publishers, Jeffrey recommends focusing first on quality content and audience trust. A small but highly engaged audience can be valuable, especially in B2B or high-value niches. But publishers need proof points. Affiliate links, early tests, or small campaigns can help create data that shows advertisers the audience is real and responsive. The episode also covers ad frequency. Audience fatigue is real in newsletters because the same subscribers receive repeated sends. Running the same advertiser too often can reduce performance and damage the reader experience. Jeffrey suggests that once a month is often ideal for regular placements, with dedicated emails used even more carefully. Toward the end, the conversation turns to Beehiiv, Kit, Substack, and platform ad networks. Platform ad networks can help smaller publishers start monetizing, but larger advertisers still need access to quality inventory across many different newsletter ecosystems. The final takeaway is that newsletter advertising has significant potential, but the industry needs to mature. Better standards, cleaner traffic, clearer measurement, stronger creative, and more transparent buying models will help more advertiser dollars move into the channel. Key Takeaways CPC can create a more balanced model between advertisers and publishers. List size and open rate are not enough to prove audience value. Publisher quality, reader trust, and content format matter. Invalid clicks should be filtered so advertisers pay for real engagement. Dedicated emails can perform well, but only when used carefully. The future of newsletter advertising depends on better standards and aggregation. Who Should Watch Newsletter publishers, advertisers, media buyers, email marketers, growth teams, and anyone evaluating CPC, CPM, CPA, flat-rate sponsorships, or dedicated email campaigns.
NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING FOR BRANDS
Are Email Newsletter Sponsorships Effective?
Jeffrey joins Jay Schwedelson to discuss how brands can test email newsletter sponsorships, what ad formats work best, and why newsletters are becoming a serious paid marketing channel. In this episode of Do This, Not That, Media Intercept Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Jeffrey Eisenberg joins Jay Schwedelson to discuss how brands can use email newsletter sponsorships as a paid marketing channel. The conversation covers how advertisers can test newsletter sponsorships, what types of newsletter ad formats perform best, how to set expectations around performance, and why newsletters are becoming a more serious channel for both B2B and B2C marketers. Summary Jeffrey Eisenberg explains why newsletter sponsorships are no longer just a throw-in line item inside a larger media buy. While some large publishers still treat newsletters as an add-on, newsletter-first companies and creator-led publications have turned email newsletters into a standalone advertising channel. The episode breaks down how brands should approach newsletter sponsorships, why native text-plus-image placements tend to work well, and how advertisers should think about goals, audience fit, pricing models, and performance expectations before launching a campaign. Jeffrey also shares advice for publishers wondering when their own newsletter is large enough to monetize, explaining that audience quality and content focus often matter more than raw list size. Topics Covered How brands can start testing newsletter sponsorships Why newsletters are a real marketing channel, not just an add-on CPC newsletter sponsorships as a shared-risk model How B2B and B2C brands should think about newsletter audiences Why contextual alignment matters in newsletter advertising What ad formats work best inside newsletters Text-plus-image native placements Why the whole image should not be clickable Personal-brand newsletters vs publisher-brand newsletters How to set realistic performance expectations Why list size and open rate can be misleading When a publisher can start monetizing a newsletter Why small, high-value audiences can still attract advertisers How brands are becoming publishers Why Media Intercept helps advertisers save time in the newsletter space Edited Episode Recap In this episode, Jeffrey Eisenberg joins Jay Schwedelson to talk about newsletter sponsorships as a paid marketing channel. Jeffrey starts by explaining how he entered the newsletter space after a career in media ad sales, radio, digital video, branded content, commerce, and consulting. That background eventually led to the launch of Media Intercept. Jeffrey and his co-founder saw a gap in the newsletter advertising market: there were more newsletters than ever, but the space was still fragmented and difficult for advertisers to navigate. Jeffrey explains that newsletters are still early as a major go-to marketing channel. There are many strong publishers and creators, but the industry is still figuring out how to value audiences, measure performance, and help marketers buy newsletter sponsorships in a scalable way. The conversation then turns to how a brand can test newsletter sponsorships. Jeffrey describes newsletters as a mid-funnel channel. They can drive awareness and storytelling, but they also have a performance component. That makes them easier for many marketers to test because the risk can be lower than buying a flat-fee sponsorship with no performance signal. Media Intercept often works on a CPC basis, which Jeffrey describes as a shared-risk model. The advertiser pays for clicks, while the publisher is compensated for generating engagement. Other models exist, including CPA and flat-fee sponsorships, but CPC can be a practical way for brands to start testing the channel. Jeffrey explains that the first step for advertisers is understanding their objective. A B2B company selling a specific SaaS product to a narrow audience should approach newsletter sponsorships differently than a large consumer brand trying to build awareness for a mass-market product. Audience, objective, pricing model, and creative format all matter. He also notes that newsletter advertising is moving away from programmatic-style thinking and toward a more contextual model. Instead of simply trying to target a user across the web, brands should identify newsletters and creators whose content, audience, and tone align with the advertiser’s goals. Jay asks whether newsletter sponsorships are still treated as an add-on to a larger media buy. Jeffrey explains that the answer depends on the publisher. Some large media companies still use newsletters as audience retention tools or as value-add inventory inside larger packages. But newsletter-first companies like The Skimm, Morning Brew, and The Hustle have proven that newsletters can be standalone media products. For advertisers, the value is not just the email send. It is the relationship between the publisher and the reader. Newsletter audiences have actively subscribed, opened, and engaged with the content. That makes the environment different from traditional display advertising. The conversation then moves into ad creative. Jeffrey says the best-performing format is usually a combination of text and image, written directly into the newsletter as HTML content. The placement should blend with the rest of the newsletter while still being clearly sponsored. He cautions against making the entire image clickable because that can create accidental clicks. Instead, the links should be intentional and tied to clear calls to action. The goal is to create real reader engagement, not inflated click numbers. Jeffrey also explains why storytelling matters. A newsletter sponsorship gives the advertiser more room than a banner ad to explain the value proposition. Whether the copy is 40, 75, or 100 words, it can provide context and make the offer more relevant to the reader. Jay asks whether personal-brand newsletters perform better than publisher-brand newsletters. Jeffrey explains that both can work. A respected individual voice can add credibility when the product is relevant to the audience. For example, a wellness product endorsed inside a trusted wellness newsletter may carry more weight because the audience trusts the creator. At the same time, larger publisher-brand newsletters can be powerful for awareness. A brand may want to appear in front of a specific demographic audience, such as professional women or parents, through a publisher that already has credibility with that readership. The right choice depends on the advertiser’s goals. Personal-brand newsletters can be strong for credibility and endorsement-style messaging, while larger publisher brands can help with broader awareness and scale. The episode also covers performance expectations. Jeffrey explains that advertisers and publishers should align upfront on goals, measurement, and benchmarks. List size and open rate can be misleading, especially because of email privacy changes and automated link scanning. Instead of relying only on vanity metrics, advertisers should ask how the publisher measures engagement, what realistic open rates look like, what kind of click-through rate might be expected, and how the campaign will be judged. Jeffrey also discusses when a publisher can start monetizing a newsletter. There is no single subscriber threshold. A newsletter with 12,000 highly valuable B2B readers may be attractive to an advertiser if those readers are decision-makers for an expensive software product. A general sports or lifestyle newsletter may need more scale to attract the same level of advertiser interest. The key is audience quality. A smaller newsletter can be monetized if the audience is specific, engaged, and valuable to the right advertiser. A larger general-interest newsletter may need more volume because the audience is broader and less specialized. Jeffrey also notes that more brands are becoming publishers. Companies like financial services brands, retailers, and large consumer businesses are building content and newsletter audiences of their own. That creates new opportunities for brands to use email not only as a retention channel, but also as a media asset. The episode closes with Jeffrey explaining that Media Intercept helps advertisers save time and invest in newsletter sponsorships in a way that can have meaningful business impact. The company works with both B2B and B2C brands, as well as publishers and newsletters looking to monetize their audiences. The main takeaway is that newsletter sponsorships can be effective when brands choose the right audiences, use the right creative format, set realistic expectations, and treat newsletters as a real marketing channel rather than a throwaway add-on. Key Takeaways Newsletter sponsorships are becoming a standalone marketing channel. CPC can be a useful shared-risk model for advertisers and publishers. The best newsletter ads usually combine native text with a relevant image. Audience fit matters more than list size alone. Personal-brand newsletters can add credibility when the offer is relevant. Publisher-brand newsletters can help with scale and awareness. Advertisers should align on goals and measurement before launching. Smaller newsletters can monetize if they reach a valuable, engaged audience. Who Should Watch B2B marketers B2C marketers Newsletter publishers Media buyers Growth marketers Brand marketers Creator-led newsletter operators
EXPLORE MORE NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING TOPICS
Time can be a bigger barrier than budget.
The newsletter space needs standardization around how we buy, measure, and evaluate audiences.
CPC creates a more balanced model between advertisers and publishers.