The Atlantic is doubling down on dwell journalism.
This week marks the primary time the writer has held its flagship occasion, The Atlantic Pageant, in New York. The 167-year-old journal is on tempo to ship its largest income haul since rebranding the flagship occasion in 2017, based on writer Alice McKown.
12 months-over-year pageant income grew 36% in comparison with 2024, with practically 2,000 in-person attendees and greater than 10,000 digital tickets claimed, though the writer declined to offer monetary specifics. Single day passes value $475, two-day passes are $800, and digital attendance is free.
Occasions now comprise 25% of The Atlantic’s business income, with 60% of that coming from the Atlantic Pageant. The occasion has grow to be a central pillar of the corporate’s progress technique heading into 2026 and 2027, based on McKown.
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The expansion displays the broader media trade’s embrace of dwell occasions, which have grow to be one of many few sturdy vibrant spots amid wider trade contractions.
“Stay occasions are so essential to branding,” McKown stated. “Having an in-person expertise within the greatest metropolis in America is essential for our model.”
Transferring the pageant to New York
This yr marks the primary time the Pageant might be held in New York Metropolis, a shift designed to faucet into town’s density of subscribers, sponsors, and media affect, McKown stated. It was beforehand held in Washington D.C.
In occasions occurring in venues throughout town, greater than 50 Atlantic journalists will seem on stage, throughout periods spanning politics, tradition, well being, and know-how, lots of which characteristic celebrities.
Some periods throughout the three-day pageant are explicitly sponsored, similar to Tastes of Tomorrow: What’s Subsequent in Meals and Beverage, produced by Diageo. Others are totally unbiased, similar to a panel on ladies’s sports activities that includes a mixture of Atlantic writers like Jemele Hill and luminaries within the house like Clara Wu Tsai.
“New York presents entry to a much bigger viewers,” stated Justin Eisenband, managing director at FTI Consulting. “Whereas possible barely costlier, it could possibly entice extra attendees, particularly present and potential subscribers, in addition to sponsorship {dollars}.”
The Atlantic Pageant additionally strikes an uncommon center floor in its construction. It nominally attracts a common curiosity viewers, precluding it from the business advantages of a business-to-business occasion.
However its larger worth level and model fame additionally maintain the variety of potential attendees smaller than many customary consumer-targeted occasions, which frequently make up for his or her lack of focused viewers with scale. A lot of its programming additionally happens throughout workdays, on Thursday and Friday.
Nonetheless, the focus of prosperous subscribers The Atlantic has in New York—together with the reasonably priced choices made accessible by means of its Out and About night occasions—have enabled it to take pleasure in the most effective of each methods.
In keeping with McKown, 29% of total in-person attendees have been C-suite executives, with administrators and vice presidents pushing the share of director-level or larger members to 56%. For premium go holders, that determine rose to 74%.
“Near 30% of our ticket consumers are C-suite,” McKown stated. “Persons are saying, ‘This morning session is important to my work’—that’s lots of our attendee base.”
Whereas tickets present one income stream, underwriting stays the biggest financial driver.
The gross sales group at The Atlantic pitches the occasion as an enticement to safe bigger offers, providing advertisers one other contact level to succeed in Atlantic audiences. In consequence, eight of The Atlantic’s prime 10 promoting companions are shopping for into occasions, based on McKown.
That positioning has helped push total business income practically 30% larger over the previous two years, though the corporate declined to supply monetary specifics or touch upon its profitability. In 2024, the writer introduced it had turned a revenue for the primary time in years, however it has been investing closely in its editorial operation this yr, hiring dozens of high-profile writers.
“Yearly, publishers must work somewhat more durable to draw direct advertisers,” stated eMarketer senior analyst Max Willens. “The Atlantic is wise to focus its gross sales efforts on a high-profile occasion like their pageant, as a result of occasions stay a extremely differentiated space the place manufacturers can connect with shoppers in novel methods”
Past the Atlantic Pageant, the writer produces about 25 occasions yearly, starting from vertical-specific summits to personal salons and roundtables.
The Atlantic plans to broaden that slate in 2026, significantly as synthetic intelligence continues to reshape digital engagement, based on McKown.
“Subsequent yr, we might be doubling down on occasions,” McKown stated.
