How to sell to CTOs at Media & publishing companies
CTOs in media and publishing are primarily measured on system uptime and the speed of content delivery. They respond to outreach when it addresses their concerns about tech stack integration and scalability, especially with new content management systems. Demonstrating an understanding of their specific challenges, such as optimizing workflows in a newsroom environment, can open the door to meaningful conversations.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 563 media & publishing company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- system downtime during peak traffic
- integration issues with legacy systems
- delays in content delivery
- resource allocation for tech upgrades
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent tech upgrades
Start by filtering for media companies that have recently announced upgrades to their technology stack or content management systems. Use sources like press releases or industry blogs to find this information. This indicates they're likely evaluating new solutions to improve performance.
- 02
Connect on operational challenges
Craft your outreach to highlight common pain points faced by CTOs in media, such as slow content delivery or integration issues with legacy systems. Reference specific challenges that arise during high-traffic news events, which can resonate more with their daily operations.
- 03
Leverage industry events
Look for upcoming media and publishing conferences or webinars where CTOs are likely to attend. Mention these events in your outreach to demonstrate alignment with their interests. This can also serve as a potential follow-up topic for a call.
- 04
Acknowledge budget constraints
When discussing potential solutions, be upfront about budget considerations. Many media companies are cautious with spending, especially in uncertain economic times. Addressing how your solution can deliver ROI or cost savings can help alleviate objections.
- 05
Suggest a collaborative pilot
Propose a short-term pilot project that allows the CTO to evaluate your solution without a significant commitment. Frame it as a way to address their immediate needs while minimizing risk, which can be particularly appealing in the fast-paced media environment.
Can media & publishing companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 563 media & publishing companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 24.2% of 1–10-person companies against 82.9% of the largest — 59 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving content delivery speed
- Challenges with newsroom technology
- Streamlining your tech stack
Questions
- Why do CTOs in media overlook outreach from vendors?
- CTOs in media often prioritize immediate operational concerns over vendor outreach, especially if they are in the midst of critical projects. If the outreach does not directly address their current challenges or provide clear value, it may be easily ignored.
- What are common objections from media CTOs?
- Common objections include budget constraints, concerns about integration with existing systems, and skepticism about ROI. They may also be wary of new solutions that require significant training or changes to established workflows.
- How can I get a CTO's attention in the media industry?
- To capture a media CTO's attention, tailor your message to address their specific pain points, such as content delivery issues or system reliability. Highlighting recent industry trends or challenges can also demonstrate your understanding of their environment.
- What timing works best for outreach to media CTOs?
- The best timing for outreach is typically during quieter periods in the news cycle, when CTOs may have more bandwidth to consider new solutions. Avoid reaching out during major news events, as they will be focused on immediate operational demands.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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