TIME has driven media innovation for over a century.

From print to digital, they led nearly every major shift in media. And over the past few years, they’ve doubled down on one channel more than any other: email.

Each week, TIME reaches over 2 million readers through its editorial newsletters. But up until a year ago, sending those emails wasn’t easy. The tools TIME was using hadn’t evolved with the modern newsletter ecosystem. Workflows were fragmented, formatting was manual, and monetization was marginal. 

As subscriber expectations shifted and newsletters became a primary channel for both engagement and revenue, TIME needed infrastructure that could keep up. Not just another email tool, but a platform designed for how editorial teams operate today. 

So they made a massive change.

To strengthen their email strategy, they migrated over a dozen of their newsletters and their 2 million+ subscribers to beehiiv. 

Today, their newsletters aren’t just a distribution channel; they’re an engagement engine. Here’s how they did it.

“Our editors just work in beehiiv... They don’t need to fit a square peg into a round hole.” — Burhan Hamid, former CTO, TIME

Up until 2024, TIME was using a traditional ESP that wasn’t built for the speed and structure of a newsroom.

It was designed for marketing teams, not publishers.

As Burhan Hamid put it: "It wasn’t easy to work with. It was a marketing platform… not something editorial could use natively."

Since moving to beehiiv, TIME’s newsletters have seen significant boosts in subscriber engagement.

Open rates climbed sharply, with some newsletters–like "Inside Time"–seeing a 63.8% increase. 

Similarly, their "Health Matters" newsletter saw its open rate rise from 51.0% to 60.4%.

Click-through rates also surged, notably:

These improvements clearly illustrate beehiiv's impact. The publisher-first platform enabled TIME’s editorial team to better deliver content that their readers truly value–resulting in deeper, more meaningful engagement.

One of the most meaningful improvements for TIME’s team was operational efficiency. Previously, publishing required multiple steps across different tools, including manual formatting and coordination with developers for basic layout adjustments. This slowed down production and added unnecessary complexity.

With beehiiv, the editorial workflow became significantly more streamlined. The team gained access to a user-friendly editor, built-in segmentation, and native scheduling tools, all designed for non-technical users. This reduced friction in the publishing process and allowed editors to focus more on what they do best: content. 

New team members could be onboarded quickly, and additional newsletters could be launched without requiring developer involvement or custom templates.

The result: more editions published, in less time, with less frustration.

TIME’s old setup gave them some metrics but not the deeper data that they needed on how each newsletter was performing. That required jumping between tools, exporting spreadsheets, and relying on analysts to interpret data.

With beehiiv, those insights are built in.

beehiiv gives TIME the ability to track their most important metrics and better understand subscriber engagement and behavior, all in one place.

That clarity has helped TIME iterate faster, promote smarter, and ultimately build a more connected relationship with their readers.

beehiiv also makes it effortless for TIME to embed surveys directly within their newsletters, to gather more first party data from their readers.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages and have not been able to because our old platform was somewhat antiquated. We have to think through a strategy there before just diving into asking questions, but I love that beehiiv has that capability in its platform,” Hamid said.

Migrating a media empire’s email stack sounds intimidating, but not for TIME.

With beehiiv, TIME benefited from:

Talking about beehiiv's automated Smart Warming process for custom domains:

TIME isn’t alone in making this type of move. 

Across the industry, publishers are walking away from legacy ESPs that were never designed for the speed, complexity, or business models of modern media. 

Editors shouldn’t need developers just to update a layout. Ads shouldn’t require third-party workarounds. And publishing workflows shouldn’t feel like more work. What they want now is control over their content, their monetization, and their audience. 

That’s why: 

From independent creators to iconic media brands, there’s a new standard emerging, one that values editorial freedom, built-in revenue, and real ownership. And powering that shift is beehiiv.

TIME didn’t just switch platforms. They freed their team to focus on what makes TIME, well, TIME – sharing their award-winning editorial with millions of readers every day.

With better tools, deeper insights, and hands-on support, beehiiv has helped take TIME's newsletters to the next level.

If you’re a publisher still struggling with clunky marketing software, ask yourself:
What if your editors actually loved your ESP?

Join TIME and the growing wave of modern publishers using beehiiv.

🚀 Sign up for beehiiv today
📈 Own your email strategy. Grow your revenue. Empower your team.