Taking advantage of Twitter’s downfall, Punchbowl News will launch a breaking news service for its paid subscribers. As stated by the company’s founders, the media start-up plans to provide real-time updates in text form that could further seize consumers’ attention from Twitter.
Quick Facts
- Through a platform called Subtext, Punchbowl will send real-time alerts to its subscribers.
- Subtext has been serving multiple media companies and creators since its inception in 2013
- Premium subscribers to Punchbowl can access the text-based feature without any extra costs.
- The service is expected to roll out in mid-January 2023
New organizations are seeking novelty in their approach to gain more traction among readers. Punchbowl hopes to make a breakthrough with its latest feature without expanding its service.
With its dusty policies, Twitter has spooked advertisers and even journalists, who have been treated poorly by the microblogging site. CEO Elon Musk recently called for the ban of prominent voices in the news and media department that, outraging the world.
The decline of the social media giant could elevate Punchbowl’s business as more and more users are losing trust in intermediary services like Twitter.
What is Punchbowl’s New Texts Alert Feature?
Although newsletters are viewed as a dated commodity in a world governed by social media, they are still trusted by many readers who have outgrown the unreliability and dramatization of these platforms.
With his hope, more newsletters are gaining momentum, and Punchbowl is thriving. The startup is excited to add a new alerts feature that will keep readers informed about real-time news outside newsletter updates.
It will be text-based, and Subtext will ensure direct engagement with subscribers without the “chaos of social media and clutter of email.”
Using Subtext, the newsletter wants to encourage an undeterred influx of content between journalists and their audiences, a privilege no longer enjoyed by Twitter users.
The news startup currently releases three newsletters daily, five times a week. Like other publications, Punchbowl wants to reduce its dependence on third-party news distributors and its efforts are bearing fruit.
News companies are trying harder to connect proactive digital audiences directly with their writers. The Verge changed its home page to make room for a Twitter-like section of content in September 2022.
The Information introduced a Reddit-like news feed in July 2022. Even Discord’s interface is gaining more precedence over Twitter. In December 2022, media company Platformer Casey Newton revealed his preference for Discord for posting news instead of Twitter.
An Introduction to Congress-based startup Punchbowl
Punchbowl kicked off its business with four staff members in January 2021. The company’s co-founders – Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, and John Bresnahan – share an elaborate history of working as star Capitol Hill reporters at the German-owned political newspaper, Politico.
Within a year, it raked in over $10 million and substantially impacted Washington’s hyper-engaged political news hoggers. Around 10% of Punchbowl’s first-year revenue depended on subscription fees, as reported by Axios.
Then, it began to expand its domain to include financial services. The company assigned the coverage of all financial services in Washington to Brendan Pedersen, a reporter for American Banker.
Their expansion has morphed into a deep dive into enterprise subscription sales and opportunities beyond Washington, where it was founded. Initially, Punchbowl was focused on covering developments and setbacks in Congress and congressional leadership.
As of 2023, the company accommodates 14 employees in total, including Pedersen. Its revenue depended on selling newsletter sponsorships to advertisers, but the website was redesigned to allow Punchbowl to sell sponsorships online.
In August 2022, the company hired a full-time business executive from Bloomberg to look after Punchbowl’s enterprise subscription sales.
