Partnerships

Advertise

Reach readers who came to understand something. Formats, rates, and the rules that protect both of us.

Second City Standard is an independent, evidence-driven science and intelligence publication. Our readers arrive with a question and stay for the explanation — which makes them attentive, sceptical and unusually willing to evaluate a serious product.

We sell attention. We do not sell coverage, conclusions, or the benefit of the doubt. Every rate below is indicative; multi-flight and non-profit pricing is available on request.

Who you are reaching

Evidence-first

Readers come for explanation, not outrage — sessions are long and intent is high.

Analyst-heavy

Coaches, sports scientists, analysts, engineers, educators, students and journalists.

Global reach

Written for a global reader; Chicago is one laboratory, never the ceiling.

Six pillars

Sports Science · Performance · Data & Intelligence · Applied Science · Discovery · Chicago.

Current traffic, subscriber counts and audience breakdowns are shared under NDA with any active enquiry, and summarised in our media kit.

Formats & rates

Newsletter primary placement

$450per send

Top-of-newsletter unit inside the weekly edition. One advertiser per send. Labelled Sponsored.

Specs — Headline (≤60 chars), body (≤300 chars), CTA (≤25 chars), 1200×628 image, destination URL.

Newsletter footer sponsorship

$200per send

Secondary unit below the editorial fold. Available on the same send as a primary placement.

Specs — Headline (≤60 chars), body (≤200 chars), CTA, optional 600×315 image.

Site display — leaderboard

$18 CPMper 1,000 impressions

Above-the-fold placement on article and pillar pages. No autoplay, no audio, no interstitials.

Specs — 728×90 and 970×250 desktop, 320×100 mobile. Static JPG/PNG/WebP or self-hosted HTML5 under 150KB.

Site display — in-article

$24 CPMper 1,000 impressions

Inserted between article sections at natural reading breaks — never mid-sentence or over content.

Specs — 300×250 and 300×600. Static creative only, under 150KB.

Investigation sponsorship

From $2,500per investigation

Underwrite a long-form investigation. Sponsors receive attribution; they receive no editorial input, no preview and no approval over conclusions.

Specs — Logo (SVG preferred), 120-character brand line, destination URL.

Podcast / video read

From $600per episode

Host-read pre-roll or mid-roll across the podcast feed and companion video edit.

Specs — 60-second script or talking points, brand pronunciation guide, tracking URL or promo code.

Data & tools partnership

Customcustom

Co-developed calculators, datasets or research briefs. Always labelled and always methodologically independent.

Specs — Scoped in writing before any work begins.

Submission guidelines

Everything is labelled

Paid placements carry a visible Sponsored or Presented by label. Sponsored content is never styled to read as an investigation.

No editorial influence

Advertisers do not see drafts, suggest angles, review conclusions, or request removals. Buying a placement buys attention, not coverage.

Creative standards

No autoplay audio or video, no pop-ups or interstitials, no countdown pressure tactics, no fake system dialogs, no imitation of our editorial typography or logo.

Substantiation required

Performance, health, supplement or financial claims must be supported by evidence we can read. We will ask for the study, not the press release.

Privacy-respecting

First-party and contextual targeting only. No third-party data brokers, no fingerprinting, and no trackers beyond what our Cookie Policy already discloses.

Categories we decline

Gambling aimed at minors, predatory lending, unregulated supplements, political advocacy, adult content, MLM recruitment, and anything making medical claims we cannot verify.

Creative is submitted as final files (no live-editable links), with the destination URL, flight dates and any tracking parameters in the same email. We do not accept third-party ad tags that inject additional trackers. Affiliate arrangements are separate from advertising and are governed by our Affiliate Disclosure.

How a booking works

01

Enquire

Email advertising@2ndcitystandard.com with your goals, target flight dates, budget range and preferred formats.

02

Proposal

We return a written plan with placements, projected delivery, rates and total cost within two business days.

03

Book & submit

Sign the insertion order, then submit creative at least five business days before the flight starts.

04

Review

We check creative against the standards above. Rejections come with a specific reason and a chance to resubmit.

05

Launch & report

Placement goes live. You receive an end-of-flight report with impressions, clicks and CTR, plus opens for newsletter units.

Get in touch

Advertising & sponsorshipadvertising@2ndcitystandard.com

Include goals, dates, budget range and formats. Replies within two business days.

Press & generalContact page

For interviews, partnerships outside advertising, or anything editorial.

Brand assets, logo usage and boilerplate live in the media kit. Our full commercial and editorial policies are indexed in the Transparency Center.