As the COVID-19 pandemic gained momentum, Morning Brew looked to offer its readers content they could use most. The team started with a guide, released about a month ago, that told readers how to maintain effective workflow while stationed at home. The package counted more than 250,000 views.

Gauging the numbers and reader feedback, Morning Brew realized there was a demand for regularly delivered similar content right now.

Enter pop-up newsletter The Essentials.

“The Essentials” is a newsletter with tips on how to be active, healthy and happy during quarantine. Since its launch, the newsletter has included a story about alternate fitness activities, recipes, joyful distractions, online courses and job resources. It arrives in inboxes Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Morning Brew told its current subscribers about The Essentials the day of its launch, April 6, and promoted it across Twitter, seeing significant engagement on social media with thousands of subscribers signing up.

Neal Freyman, managing editor at Morning Brew, and Jamie Wilde, editorial coordinator, produce The Essentials, which attracted 75,000 subscribers in three days and boasts a 75% unique open rate.

“What really amazed us is the thousands of new subscribers that came from outside the Morning Brew network, solely from word of mouth,” CEO Alex Lieberman told Publishers Daily. “This tells us there is a need for this type of content — not only within the Morning Brew ecosystem but beyond our current audience.”

This week, Morning Brew began monetizing “The Essentials” by signing newsletter sponsor Wandering Bear, a cold-brew coffee company. Jason Schulweis, head of brand partnerships for Morning Brew, noted the company will “continue to source weekly sponsors that align well with the content and resonate with our audience.”

The Essentials joins Morning Brew’s six media properties, five newsletters and its Business Casual podcast. The team is currently at work on the upcoming “Marketing Brew” newsletter.

“Not only are we giving readers an opportunity to engage with Morning Brew in more ways, but we're also attracting new audiences and diversifying revenue within the advertising bucket,” Lieberman said. “The B2B advertiser is very different from the B2C advertiser, so we’re beginning to work more closely with the former as we launch [new products].”

Lieberman reports that the shift in advertising has been a double-digit driver of Morning Brew’s revenue this year and allows for greater diversification of ad revenue as subscriptions continue to climb.

Morning Brew’s daily newsletter recently hit the 2 million subscriber mark, and Lieberman sees The Essentials as “another example of our mission and how we’re being a resource to readers, providing them with the content they need in every facet of their life, from professional to personal.”

Lieberman said, “[The launch of The Essentials] also demonstrates our nimbleness as a media brand to adapt our content operations and content coverage to our readers,” noting that “Emerging Tech,” “Retail Brew” and the “Business Casual” podcast were all developed as a result of reader feedback.

He continued: "The Essentials gives us a new opportunity to deliver content to those, including ourselves, who are currently cooped up in their homes.”