He ran a network of 30 AI-powered local newsletters for 1 Year, and they all failed (Maybe)
While doing research on local newsletters with the most subscribers globally, I found a set of Local Newsletters that claimed to have subscribers in the range of 50,000 – 103,000.
Eager to discover their winning strategy, I found out it was more of a sham than a gold mine to learn from.
These newsletters are very similar, and that was how I was able to draw a quick connection.
I’ll be sharing what I’ve seen not to work from this case study and also be raising some important questions about Local Newsletters generally.
The Newsletters
The set of Newsletters I am referring to contains 24 Live Newsletters.
I discovered 20 myself
Later found the website of the Newsletter Operator
He claims he has 30 of them, but listed only 26 on his website
Out of the 26 he listed, only 24 of them are live. 2 of the domains are no longer resolving.
A common pattern for 24 Newsletters
Most of the domains (except one) follow either of these 2 patterns:
[location] + Newsletter
OR
Newsletter + [location]
They cover some 24 largely populated cities in the US.
Here is the list:
Newsletter
Claimed Subscriber Count
https://sanantonionewsletter.com/
50000
https://sanfrancisconewsletter.com/
50000
https://stlouisnewsletter.com/
50000
https://newsletterchicago.com/
50000
https://newsletteratlanta.com/
50000
https://newsletterdetroit.com/
50000
https://newsletterseattle.com/
50000
https://newsletterphiladelphia.com/
50000
https://orangecountynewsletter.com/
50000
https://newsletterphoenix.com/
50000
https://newsletterhouston.com/
50000
https://orlandonewsletter.com/
50000
https://pittsburghnewsletter.com/
50000
https://newsletterlasvegas.com/
50000
50000
https://washingtondcnewsletter.com/
50000
50000
https://tampabaynewsletter.com/
77000
https://edmontonnewsletter.com/
83000
https://calgarynewsletter.com/
103000
https://minneapolisnewsletter.com/
expired
https://sanjosenewsletter.com/
50000
50000
50000
50000
https://baltimorenewsletter.com
expired
All the logos are AI-generated
None of the newsletters has a unique logo, all of them are AI-generated. The logos have nothing to do with the city newsletter they are created for.
All the Newsletters are on Beehiiv
If the Subscriber count the Operator is claiming for all the newsletters is true, then they should be spending about $5,976 monthly on Beehiiv’s subscription for the 24 active newsletters.
The Beehiiv subscription plan that accommodates 50k subscribers is – Scale, which costs $249 monthly.
Is this realistic?
If it is, there has to be a lot of effort put into content creation and marketing in order to get back the money being spent and even make some profits. But that is not the case here.
In fact, most of the ‘sponsored’ slots in the newsletters are never filled.
The argument could be that none of the newsletters started at 50k subscribers, true, but each of them has run for at least one year. So, at least one month ago, the operator must have paid $ 5,976 because they all had this current number at that time.
I can only come to one logical conclusion – most or all of the subscriber counts are false.
I’ll come back to this later.
The Descriptions for all the Newsletters follow the same pattern
The [City Name] Newsletter is a weekly newsletter sent every single Monday going over upcoming events, local news and more. Join over [subscriber count between 50000 – 103000] readers for free.
I noticed the newsletters were actually sent on Mondays & Thursdays.
They all launched about the same time
Most of them sent their first edition on 18th December 2023, except a few that started earlier in October (Edmonton started October 2) or November.
All Images are AI-generated
It’s quite unrealistic to see a local newsletter that can’t even feature at least one real image, whether of a living thing or even a non-living thing in its content.
That bears no connection with communality, which is the very core purpose of a local newsletter.
All the Newsletters, like robotic construction, follow exactly the same structure
Here it goes –
Welcome to The [location] Newsletter!
In today’s edition:
Headline 1: One News Item
Headline 2: One other news item
Headline 3: A Deep Dive into the life of someone from the Newsletter location
And more…
Quote of the Week
Most likely AI-generated.
–
Sponsored (the slot was never filled)
–
Trvia
Most likely AI generated.
– Trivia about the Newsletter location
– Answer to the Previous Trivia
News
One for Business
One for Sports
One for Finance
All links to external websites, sometimes even Google Search.
No real story was written
Upcoming Events
Sports
2 Events
Music & Concerts
2 Events
Family Friendly
1 Events
Image of the Week
Every week, I have a habit of making some AI art about our city.
This week, I typed in “keyword about the newsletter location” and this is what I got.
Let me know what ideas you have for this. I really enjoy making these types of photos.
[the AI-generated Image]
He uses – https://imgbb.com/ to host the images and upload them to the email.
He ran out of the free quota.
[Location] Historical Events
Most Likely AI-Generated
Famous [demonym]
Image of the Famous Person
Content: mostly AI-generated
–
Connect With Me
–
This is my Point
1. This doesn’t work
The last edition of the newsletter was sent on December 19, 2024. So, 3 months into the year 2025, no newsletters have been sent.
The Newsletter Operator has likely given up on this adventure and moved on with other things.
From all indications, this was an unproductive system of creating newsletters.
A typical successful local newsletter will have:
A few mentions on Reddit in the community they are covering
Ads from businesses in areas they are covering
Comments or references from real residents of the focus community somewhere on the internet (at least)
This is why my assumption may be true
The rise of Local Newsletters coincided with the rise of AI and AI-generated content.
As AI content began to fill up every space and find its way into every aspect of human interactions, humans started yearning for real human connections.
Communities became more important, and finding authentic information became more relevant. Another factor contributing to the rise of local communities is the growth of big media firms that are tilted more or less towards an ideology getting deeper into the news industry and telling the news to local residents in the way they like.
This is the reason I don’t include some local newsletters in my database of newsletters. I am aware of many of them, but I prioritize newsletters run by individuals.
People prefer individuals who are not all for profit to tell the stories for their communities as first-hand witnesses.
This set of newsletters is the total opposite of what a local newsletter reader would love.
For 24 cities, the writer claims –
“I have a habit of making some AI art about our city.”
Really? Living in 24 cities at the same time.
Meanwhile, the so called image is generated with AI.
2. Quantity vs Quality
Going through the website of the writer of all these newsletters, he says:
“I have set up 75 local newsletters and actively manage 30, each for different cities.
I train and manage 3 virtual assistants.”
So he is managing 30 newsletters with 3 virtual assistants.
That’s insane.
With the fact that the newsletters are being sent twice a week, there is no way the content quality would have been good enough. These are cities with hundreds of events happening every day.
They were probably just running an experiment.
3. It’s Worrisome
Looking at the wild claim of subscriber count that this Operator has made, you’ll see already they are just attempts to deceive unsuspecting residents of each of these cities.
I have data of other newsletters covering these same areas, the only city that has a newsletter with similar numbers is Calgary.
https://calgarycitizen.com/ has 30,000 subscriber has compared to the https://calgarynewsletter.com/, which is claimed to have 103,000.
How are they able to have much success with practically 100% AI content, and other newsletters can’t even get up to 50% of their subscriber base?
The subscriber count can be disputed on different levels, but my question is, who takes the responsibility for this falsehood?
The Lessons
What makes Local Newsletters different from Fox News or CNN is the fact that they are local. Run by the residents for residents. The information is passed from the point of view of a ‘co-experiencer’ and not someone at the top.
Local Newsletters are personal and human, that element must be maintained.
AI has its place, but it cannot be used for all kinds of content.
Local Newsletters can be modernized, but they should be as close to nature as possible. It is the sincerity, realness, and localness that make them ‘Local Newsletters’.
Deception doesn’t work, in the end of the day, those who sincerely put in the work required to satisfy the desire of the audience they are serving would be the ultimate winners
Humans are humans, they are intelligent. We should recognize that and treat them with respect even while creating content for them because what we sow is what we reap.
For more Local Newsletters Insights, sign up for my newsletters here - https://localizednewsletters.com/insights/
