The Advertising Membership Model at Fishing Tackle Retailer

One of the latest models to consider for selling newsletter advertising is the membership approach, which delivers recurring revenue year after year.

Fishing Tackle Retailer  provides an excellent example of how to execute this strategy. They operate a daily curated newsletter powered by an AI agent, built on a membership model where advertisers—called corporate members—can place unlimited content in the newsletter throughout the year.

Once the initial sale is made, the sales rep’s only job is upselling to other digital products like product guides, mobile apps, video shows, and print publications.

Evolution of the Model

When Angie Thompson purchased the print magazine Fishing Tackle Retailer in 2023, its newsletters already boasted a list of 24,000 subscribers and provided a steady revenue stream.

The Weekly B2B Newsletter

The Fishing Tackle Weekly newsletter targets retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. It offers five advertising slots that consistently sell out.

Because the newsletter publishes weekly, the company can also sell dedicated email blasts. They send approximately 120 per year to the same list at a  target rate card price of $2,000 each, without negatively impacting unsubscribe rates.

The Daily Newsletter with a Membership Model

The new, second newsletter, The Fishing Wire, features a short, skimmable format sent daily to 12,000 subscribers—both passionate anglers and industry professionals.

Users can sign up for either newsletter, and/or the print magazine, from a single landing page.

This allows passionate users to select the daily option while avoiding burnout among subscribers who don’t want daily content.

“You have to be an avid fisherman to want to get a daily newsletter on fishing,” Thompson explained.

To source 10 to 15 brief, skimmable items daily, the editor curates content from nonprofits, government agencies like state game and fish commissions, fishing tournaments, and various website sources.

Today, an AI agent gathers “new” articles from a curated list of sites,  and the editor also receives press releases from corporate members.

 Corporate members who pay $1,000 annually can distribute unlimited content alongside the news in the newsletter. Currently, 200 companies have chosen this option.

 AI Innovation

A key technological breakthrough for Fishing Tackle Retailer was using AI to extract articles from their website list—a task the editor previously handled manually.

The editor no longer needs to check dozens of websites daily for new content. Here’s how the IT manager created the workflow using ChatGPT, Make.com, and Zapier:

1. The automation software launches every morning at 6 AM before editors start their day
2. It calls ChatGPT through API with a prompt to scan their curated website list for new content and stories
3. It sends results to Discord and emails them to editors

Once the workflow completes, it emails the editor: “Hello Bobby, here’s all the content posted about freshwater fishing since yesterday.” Below that is a list of each story with title, featured image, excerpt, and source link. 

Here’s a diagram of the workflow:

Video Content Expansion

With time freed up from manual content gathering, the editor now edits a video version of top stories called “Newsbreak from the Fishing Wire.” This newscast-style show runs on Outdoor America (a streaming network for outdoor programming) and Fishing Tackle Retailer’s own platforms.

Advertisers can place product announcements on the show as well as in the newsletter.

The Jobs Board Gets Noticed

Classifieds  – especially job boards – are becoming more  important  to niche media. Fishing Tackle Retailer’s jobs board generates both content and revenue, with posts selling for $300 each today.

Recently, the American Sportfishing Association—the trade association for fishing manufacturers in an industry challenged by tariffs—approached Thompson about sponsoring the jobs board. They agreed to a barter arrangement.

The association promotes the jobs board to their membership and “makes a big deal out of it.” In return, Fishing Tackle Retailer offers association members a $50 discount per post without affecting rates for other advertisers who are also association members.

This alliance enhances brand credibility for both organizations. “If you put someone else’s name with your name, it enhances it,” Thompson noted.

Lessons Learned

The membership model for advertisers is just emerging as a niche media concept, and Thompson has carved out a unique position in the sports fishing market.

While advertisers pay $1,000 annually, they receive substantial value through unlimited content marketing placements in the newsletter. The five weekly sponsors automatically receive memberships, making the sponsorship option an even more attractive value proposition.

Interestingly, The Fishing Wire faces an unusual challenge—content placement in the newsletter is so popular that finding 10 to 15 articles daily to wrap around commercial posts became difficult. This problem was solved by deploying an AI agent built on ChatGPT to help the editor identify fresh content from their website sources.

Expect to see more AI applications facilitating newsletter revenue generation in the coming year.