• by Sara Guaglione , December 18, 2020

Free for readers, the publisher is supported by advertising and a membership program, according to The New York Times, which first reported the news. 

The Charlotte Agenda has 1,700 supporters, and 55,000 newsletter subscribers, with a 40% average open rate. Its website gets 650,000 readers a month.

Founder Ted Williams will continue to run the site and become general manager of Axios’ local news effort.

The site will be renamed Axios Charlotte.

Last year, the Charlotte Agenda brought in $2.2 million in revenue, according to the Times.

Axios announced in September its plans to expand locally, starting with four cities: Tampa/St. Petersburg, Denver, Minneapolis/St.Paul and Des Moines. The digital news start-up, based in Arlington, VA, and known for its short-form reporting style, plans to have two people in each city working on a daily newsletter.

Jim VandeHei, Axios’ cofounder-CEO, told The Wall Street Journal in September the newsletters will not focus on politics, but on local business, technology and education.

Separately, Vice became the first media publisher to launch on OnlyFans, a subscription site known for hosting risque, user-generated content that fans pay for.

Vice’s food vertical Munchies is launching a verified channel on the platform. For $4.99 a month, fans will get access to exclusive weekly videos of food, literal “food porn."