How Snopes Grew the Debunker Newsletter to 100,000 Readers With beehiiv

Situation:

Snopes has been fighting misinformation online since 1994. As social media algorithms and search traffic became less predictable, the team faced a familiar publisher challenge: how to maintain a direct, reliable connection with readers in an increasingly volatile digital landscape.

While Snopes’ website remained a trusted destination, distribution via platforms they didn’t control limited consistency and visibility. The team needed a channel that could cut through algorithmic noise and keep their audience regularly engaged with verified, fact-checked reporting.

That channel became Debunker, Snopes’ flagship newsletter.

Challenge:

Snopes faced several constraints as it scaled Debunker:

• Algorithm dependency: Social and search traffic fluctuated unpredictably.
• Platform limitations: Previous email tools lacked strong analytics and growth support.
• Content overload risk: Publishing too much could dilute impact and engagement.
• Monetization uncertainty: The newsletter was not originally built as a revenue product.

To grow sustainably, Snopes needed a newsletter platform that supported data-driven decisions, audience growth, and future monetization without adding operational complexity.

Solution:

Snopes partnered with beehiiv to power Debunker as a core engagement and growth channel.

With beehiiv, the team implemented a focused newsletter strategy:

• Strategic curation: Each issue features five carefully selected stories from roughly 11 weekly fact-checks, balancing performance data with editorial judgment.
• Consistent formats: Wednesday and Saturday sends follow standardized templates for clarity and reliability.
• Analytics-first decisions: beehiiv’s built-in analytics gave both editorial and business teams clear insight into opens, clicks, and subscriber behavior.
• Audience growth tooling: Improved signup flows and newsletter promotion accelerated list growth.
• Monetization readiness: beehiiv enabled newsletter-specific advertising and experimentation with CPM ads and future premium plans.

The platform gave Snopes control over distribution while keeping the workflow simple for a newsroom environment.

Results:

Since launching Debunker on beehiiv, Snopes has:

• Grown the newsletter to 100,000+ subscribers
• Achieved strong open and click-through rates
• Added tens of thousands of subscribers after switching platforms
• Run A/B tests to optimize newsletter formats and drive site traffic
• Introduced newsletter-specific advertising partnerships
• Turned Debunker from a pure engagement tool into a revenue-generating channel

With a clearer understanding of audience behavior, the team now sees email as a central pillar of its growth strategy.

Takeaway

Debunker shows how newsletters can anchor trust and scale engagement for established media brands.

By focusing on clarity, consistency, and data-backed curation, Snopes turned email into a direct line with readers—independent of algorithms—and a foundation for future monetization. beehiiv provided the infrastructure to support that shift, making analytics, growth, and revenue accessible in one place.

Start using beehiiv if you want to grow an owned audience, strengthen engagement, and turn newsletters into a scalable business channel.