How Stacker distributes sponsored content to thousands of publishers

The startup devised a unique business model for its newswire service.

In the traditional media ecosystem, content distribution has long followed a predictable structure. Newsrooms produce journalism, wire services like the Associated Press and Reuters syndicate it, and publishers pay for access. Meanwhile, brands sit largely outside that system, relying on PR firms, press releases, or paid placements to get their message in front of audiences.

Stacker is attempting to collapse those boundaries.

Founded in 2017, the company has built what it calls an “earned syndication platform” for brand content—a system that distributes data-driven journalism created by both media organizations and brands to thousands of publishers for free. Instead of charging publishers, Stacker charges brands to produce and distribute content that looks and behaves like editorial.

The result is a hybrid model that blends elements of a newsroom, a wire service, and a branded content studio—while deliberately avoiding the economics of all three.

“We really see our responsibility as optimizing the impact of all of this content that is being created,” said co-founder Noah Greenberg. “Most people are not going to the blogs of these organizations… so helping it find more reach and readership is where we come in.”

At a time when local newsrooms are understaffed and brands are investing heavily in content, Stacker is positioning itself as the connective tissue between supply and demand.

In a recent interview, co-founder Greenberg explained how Stacker works with publishers, its process for creating sponsored content, and why he has no interest in driving an audience to Stacker’s owned and operated website.

Let’s jump into it…

A Newswire Built for the Content Surplus Era

The founding insight behind Stacker was relatively simple: there was already an enormous amount of high-quality content being created outside traditional newsrooms, but no efficient way to distribute it at scale.

Brands were increasingly hiring journalists and publishing research-driven stories. Nonprofits and institutions were producing credible reporting. And yet, most of that work lived on owned blogs or corporate websites that attracted limited readership.

At the same time, newsrooms—especially local ones—were dealing with shrinking resources and a growing appetite for supplemental content.