Axios' Growth Strategy Hinges on Reader Engagement, Not Clicks
*By Christian Smith*
Axios is taking a different approach to success than many of its traditional media rivals. In a click-bait media universe, the digital media start-up is prioritizing engagement over page views.
"We need engaged users, not just users," co-founder Roy Schwartz told Cheddar.
Since its launch just two years ago, Axios now boasts 10 million unique monthly users. But according to Schwartz, the metric that matters is not unique visits ー it's daily retention.
"What we really focus on is the number of people that are coming on a daily basis ー and is that growing," he said.
"Our business model was based on engagement."
That business model also relies on dynamic, subject-based newsletters that Axios produces ー some daily, some weekly, on topics including science, politics and autonomous vehicles.
"We have a robust newsletter business, and with newsletters we really hire deep subject-matter experts ー and they come with a following. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers. They come, they bring their fans with them," Schwartz said.
And then come the scoops.
Axios' exclusive interview with President Trump in which he threatened to end America's birthright citizenship policy has already drawn thousands of new subscribers to the site, Schwartz said. That interview will appear on "Axios," a four-part series the media company is co-producing with HBO Documentary films that debuts Sunday on the premium channel.
In the [clip from the series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0d21nQBY8o) released Tuesday, President Trump said he plans to issue an executive order putting an end to the American policy of granting citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.
Schwartz said the scoop prompted several thousand new subscribers to sign up for their newsletters.
"There were tens of thousands of people on the site just this morning at one moment in time."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/axios-is-innovating-digital-media-with-newsletters).
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