Nearly five years after its founding, City Cast is recalibrating its local-news formula.
The media startup, backed by Graham Holdings and known for its daily podcasts and newsletters, is shuttering its operations in Houston and Boise while launching in the Twin Cities and Seattle. At the same time, it’s introducing social video as a core pillar of its model—part of what founder David Plotz calls “City Cast 2.0.”
The moves follow a period of rapid expansion that saw the company grow to more than a dozen markets in three years. Now, City Cast has learned enough to refine which cities and formats make sense.
“We realized that we weren’t in the right mix of cities,” Plotz said. “Houston is just too big to feel like a single community, and Boise, while wonderful, is too small. We do best in places with an urban, left-leaning, engaged audience, and a lively local media scene.”
Finding the right markets
City Cast now operates in 13 cities with a staff of roughly 90. After launching in 2021 with two markets, Chicago and Denver, it expanded to 11 by January 2024, and opened operations in Nashville and Austin last April.
Each market runs a small local team—typically a host, writer, producer, and salesperson—supported by a central production and marketing hub. The company’s audience continues to grow: Newsletter subscribers have climbed to around 500,000 from 350,000 last year, according to Plotz, and its podcast listenership has risen to 240,000 monthly users from 175,000 a year ago.
City Cast is unprofitable, but its progress is notable. Revenue will nearly double in 2025 to between $4 million and $6 million, according to Plotz, driven by a mix of advertising and memberships. That’s a significant jump from the roughly $3 million in revenue it touted last spring, as ADWEEK first reported. The company has around 5,000 paying “Neighbors,” who contribute $10 per month or $100 per year for ad-free shows, exclusive newsletters, merchandise, and access to events.