Yo! Welcome to the next episode of The Reeder Newsletter.
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A CMO I advise asked me a simple question a few weeks ago:
Is sponsoring a newsletter like TLDR actually worth it?
He’s got a solid product, a clear POV, and good content offers.
But distribution is still catching up. They don’t have a large social or email audience yet, so he’s looking for ways to accelerate reach.
It's the right question. And it got me thinking.
I've been investing in paid distribution since my days at Gong, and then again at Clari. The playbook was simple: you build an owned audience organically, and you accelerate growth with paid distribution. Newsletter sponsorships were a core part of that.
I've spent $500,000+ buying newsletter and influencer placements across my career. I picked the placements, wrote the ads, and maniacally tracked what converted.
But when he asked if it was a good investment, I didn't just answer from memory. I pulled six months of ad data from The Reeder and looked at the copy and the performance metrics.
I had a strong hypothesis going in. The data confirmed some of it. And surprised me on the rest.
Here's what I found — and more importantly, here's how you can use it across all your advertising to get more clicks, more downloads, more people in your database — and a more confident strategy for getting there.
But first — a quick baseline so you know what we're working with.
The B2B newsletter ad benchmark for click-to-open rate sits between 2–4%. Top-performing programs hit 6–10%. (Source: verified.email B2B Email Marketing Benchmarks 2025)
Over the last six months, The Reeder averaged 10.9% CTOR. Top performing ads hit 21%.
I'm not flexing. It's important context. Because the insights below are what drove those numbers. And they're repeatable if you follow them.
Insight #1: Your offer matters more than your copy
We need pipeline, so we (understandably) want to promote our product in ads.
But in my data, ads promoting data reports and benchmark guides outperformed free trial CTAs by 3–5x.
Why?
Because newsletter readers are in learning mode — not buying mode.
They opted in to get smarter, not to be sold to.
So if you plan to lead with a product demo or trial CTA, consider starting with a benchmark or guide instead for the first 1–2 sends.
Let them get familiar with you, become problem-aware, and build trust before you ask them to buy.
Insight #2: Generic product descriptions are the kiss of death
Ads that opened with a product description averaged 2.4% CTOR. My average is 10.9%.
That's not a “bad writing day.” That's a broken format.
And yet it's the default for almost every brand brief that lands in a creator's inbox.
Cover the brand name and read just the first two sentences.
If they don't make someone want to keep reading — rewrite the opening before touching anything else. Your ad spend literally depends on it.
Insight #3: Hook format is the #1 performance driver
My CTOR (click-to-open-rate) swung wildly based on one variable: how the ad opened.
I saw an 8x difference in performance based on the first two sentences.
Never open a newsletter ad with what the product is or does. Open with a claim, a finding, or a story that makes the reader lean in and think "wait — keep going." That's the only job of line one.
One of my best examples was a contrarian claim backed by proprietary data:
"Cold outbound has a pipeline ceiling. Contact-level ABM breaks it." — Influ2, 20.4% CTOR
Don’t open with a product name. Open with a reframe that the reader can’t ignore.
Insight #4: The subject line is a targeting filter, not an open rate lever
This one surprised me.
I always believed a higher open rate meant more eyes on the ad. But that’s not the whole truth.
I ran the same Ahrefs ad copy three times in the same period. CTOR swung from 3.8% to 17.3% based on the subject line of the issue it ran in.
That’s the same ad, same audience, and same product. But a nearly 5x difference.
Ask the creator what the subject line is for the issue your ad runs in — it determines who opens, and who opens determines who clicks.
Insight #5: List quality beats list size every time.
The Reeder's CTOR went up even as my list size dipped. More proof that engagement beats volume every time.
Generally speaking, a tight community of 5,000 beats a bloated list of 50,000.
Even newsletters with a million subscribers rarely see more than 5,000–10,000 clicks on a sponsored link. (Source: beehiiv, How Much Do Newsletter Ads Cost, 2025)
So when picking a list to sponsor, ask for CTOR data, not subscriber count.
If they can't show you, you're buying blind.
Back to my CMO client.
Is TLDR worth it?
Depends. It's a large, engaged list. But large and engaged doesn't automatically mean right for his offer.
Here's how I think through it using everything above:
- Is his ICP actually reading TLDR? (Targeting filter — most important question)
- Does he have an offer that meets early-funnel readers where they are? (A guide, a report, a useful tool — not a free trial)
- Does he have a real story or a surprising data point to open with? (Hook format determines performance more than anything else)
- Does he know which issue his ad will run in and what the subject line is? (Subject line = targeting filter)
If the answers are yes, then it's worth testing.
If the answers are "we'll figure it out,” then he's not ready to spend the money yet.
The channel works. But only when the strategy, the offer, and the copy all work together.
Get that right, and newsletter sponsorships are one of the highest-ROI distribution plays in B2B.
I've seen it first-hand — at every company I've worked at, owned, and advised.
But get it wrong, and you'll spend a lot of money blaming the channel for a strategy problem.
-Devin
Pen by Devin Reed
Founder, The Reeder
Follow me on LinkedIn | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram
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