In the spring of 2023, Axios Local hit the brakes.
The network of local newsletters had spread to 30 markets in under three years, but it had missed its revenue goal, was unprofitable, and decided to stop expanding until it could prove the markets it already entered could make money.
Three years later, expansion has resumed. The program is now on track to be in 43 markets by the end of the year, nearly halfway to its eventual goal of 100 metro areas. The Local business is generating “tens of millions” in revenue with multiple profitable markets, and last week it quietly hit its first-half revenue goal, according to chief operating officer Allison Murphy.
Overall, Axios beat its first-half revenue target earlier this month, capping a fourth straight year of double-digit growth, although it declined to share further financial specifics. As a whole, the company is profitable.
The company, which launched in 2017 and was acquired by Cox Enterprises in August 2022 for $525 million, has reached these milestones by being an early adopter of a strategy that has since come to be widely emulated.
By targeting niche, professional audiences without adopting a widespread paywall, the publisher has been able to sell advertisers on a compelling blend of scale and influence, according to chief revenue officer Jacquelyn Cameron. Its embrace of newsletters, from which it has since expanded, also insulated the news brand from the traffic declines now upending publishers whose businesses were built on the open web.
“We have proven that there is more power and opportunity in 535 than 535,000,” Cameron said, referencing the number of members of Congress. “Premium or die.”
That philosophy is visible across the national business. Advertising still accounts for the vast majority of revenue, the bulk of which is sold directly to clients and increasingly anchored in thought leadership aimed at five distinct audience profiles. In May, CEO and founder Jim VandeHei launched an application-only newsletter for C-suite executives that has already grown past 4,000 readers and will exit beta in June with an underwriter attached.
