Hell Gate saw a 69% increase in subscribers in its third year of covering New York City

"We're incredibly heartened by the ongoing subscriber growth,"

"Somewhere out there is the ceiling for how many people want to read Hell Gate's particular flavor of local New York City news. We keep waiting to bump our heads on it, and maybe one day, we will. But to our ongoing joy and astonishment, we haven't hit it yet."

"A possible lesson here is that maybe a discount can be so steep that it brings in people who don't actually value our journalism,"

Hell Gate NYC is a three-year-old, worker-owned news outlet whose pop-up newsletter Mayoral Spew has more than 40,000 free subscribers and covered the recent mayoral primary. Year-over-year monthly subscription revenue increased 66% and subscriber count rose 69%, producing roughly $70,000 per month from about 9,000 paying subscribers, up from $42,000 in September 2024. Subscriptions account for two-thirds of total revenue, with the remainder coming mostly from philanthropy and some local newsletter ads. A July promotion offering $0.99 for the first month and a free hat led to churn after the discount ended, suggesting steep discounts may attract lower-value subscribers. The outlet projects $1 million in annual subscription revenue by mid-2026 if growth continues.

Read at Nieman Lab