How 1440 Scaled to & Monetized 4.5 Million Subscribers

Cameron Smith

Cameron Smith is the Head of Growth at Letterhead, where he helps newsletter creators—from solo operators to enterprise publishers—grow their audiences and revenue through smarter marketing and monetization tactics. Before joining Letterhead, he scaled multiple SaaS companies and led editorial teams at a major digital media network. His work blends technical know-how with audience empathy, drawing on 12+ years of experience across email, content, and performance marketing. He frequently writes about newsletter growth, media business models, and the future of creator monetization. When he's not diving into metrics, Cameron enjoys writing fiction and discovering new coffee roasters.

How 1440 Scaled to & Monetized 4.5 Million Subscribers

The 1440 Newsletter has emerged as one of the fastest-growing independent news publications in the country, landing in 4.5 million inboxes every morning (per their daily email).

The founders, Tim Huelskamp and Andrew Steigerwald, built it without big media backing or heavy VC money. Instead, they focused on one thing: trusted news in five minutes. Today, it’s one of the biggest and most profitable newsletters in the world.

What is the 1440 Newsletter?

Founded in 2017 by Tim Huelskamp and Andrew Steigerwald, 1440 aims to be a purely unbiased source of daily news stories. With most news sources catering to a political bias, 1440 makes an effort to include only “verified facts and impactful action.”

This stance is seen in their advertising as well, with Meta ads pushing their “without motives” mission:

How 1440 Started + Growth Timeline

Steigerwald used to spend 90 minutes each morning clicking around to various news sites to get a full picture of the biggest stories. He and Huelskamp bonded over this “fragmented” way of getting the news, and 1440 was born. The name comes from both the year the printing press was invented and the number of minutes in a day.

However, their launch didn’t seem like the blast-off point for a media giant, as their first newsletter send went out to just 78 friends and family.

They experienced word-of-mouth growth in the early days, but their main goal was to dial in their product to perfectly suit their readers. Huelskamp has said that their news coverage is “an inch deep and a mile wide,” unlike today’s niche-fueled publications.

It worked, achieving around 65% open rates (an astonishing number for any newsletter, let alone a daily one).

At that point, they were confident enough in their model to start using paid growth to accelerate, which is how they quickly grew to 500k subscribers.

In 2024, they crossed 4 million subscribers, establishing their presence as one of the largest newsletters in the world. In 2025, they’ve reached 4.5 million.
Date Subscribe Count
2017 (launch) 78 friends & family
May 2021 750,000
October 2022 2,000,000
November 2023 3,200,000
September 2024 4,000,000
October 2025 4,500,000

How Does 1440 Make Money?

Of course, that growth only happens if there’s serious revenue driving increased advertising spend and hiring new employees.

Newsletter Ad Placements

Each of their newsletters typically has a main sponsor found just below the email header:

Website Ad Placements

1440’s newsletter is their primary method of communication, but their website also has articles on a variety of topics.

YouTube Ads

While not as popular as their newsletter, 1440 has a YouTube channel with over 100k subscribers. These are high-quality videos, designed to educate visitors about topics without the spin.

How Much Money Does 1440 Make?

Tim Huelskamp has publicly stated that 1440 earns over $20 million per year. Here’s how that breaks down, according to Huelskamp on a recent interview:

CPM vs CPC Ad Model

1440 chooses to charge their sponsors on a CPM basis rather than CPC. This means they charge per ad view in their newsletter, rather than per click.

How is 1440 Scaling?

For a long while, 1440 focused on their primary newsletter offering as the driver for everything they do. Recently, they’ve begun expanding their media reach.

Topics Database

They have over 200 articles in the following categories:

Niche Newsletters

Each of the main categories of topics from their general knowledge explainers on the site also has its own opt-in for newsletter content.

YouTube Channel

As of the time of this writing, 1440’s YouTube channel has only 10 long-form videos, with seven published in the last four weeks.

Podcast

Their podcast, 1440 Explores, launched in October 2025.