How to Get Featured on Business Insider: Press Release, Contributor or Paid Placement
Quick Answer
How to get featured on Business Insider depends on which kind of "featured" you mean: a BI journalist can choose to cover you, editors can accept a first-person essay or as-told-to story, BI Studios sells labeled branded content, or you can place a press release on Markets Insider's news pages. Only the first two are Business Insider journalism, and neither can be bought. A press release on markets.businessinsider.com is your own text in a section for syndicated and submitted content, not a Business Insider article and not an endorsement.
How to Get Featured on Business Insider: The Four Routes
Many guides blur these routes together, which is how founders end up paying for a "Business Insider feature" that turns out to be something else. The routes differ in who decides, how the page is labeled, what it costs and who controls the words.
| Route | What it is | How it is labeled | Cost | Time | Who controls the text |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earned coverage | A BI reporter or editor decides to write about you, quote you or use your data | A regular Business Insider article under a staff byline | Free; not for sale | Unpredictable; set by the news and the reporter | The journalist and BI editors |
| Freelance essay or as-told-to story | You pitch a first-person story; editors commission and edit it | A first-person piece on businessinsider.com, under your byline or told to a BI writer | Free to pitch; commissioned freelance writers are paid | Reported replies in about a week for shorter pitches, longer for features | BI editors have the final edit |
| BI Studios branded content | Advertiser-funded content made by Business Insider's branded content studio | Should be marked as sponsored or branded content | Priced as an advertising campaign; quotes on request | Set by the campaign | Shared between the brand and the studio |
| Press release on Markets Insider | Your own announcement on markets.businessinsider.com/news, fed in by a distribution service | Press release content on Markets Insider's news pages, not a BI article | Listed at $220 as of September 2026 through RedPress; other services set their own prices | A listed delivery window (5 days for the placement covered below) | You write and approve it; the distributor's editorial review applies |
Business Insider vs Markets Insider: Where Press Releases Appear
Business Insider's journalism lives on businessinsider.com: reported stories, essays and as-told-to pieces written or edited by its newsroom. Markets Insider, at markets.businessinsider.com, is a markets section on a Business Insider subdomain. According to published accounts, it launched in 2016 with finanzen.net.
Its news pages carry a large volume of syndicated market news and company press releases, such as earnings previews and corporate announcements, and those pages show up in Google search results. Press release distribution services feed releases into this section, and that is where a paid "Business Insider press release" appears.
A release there was written by the company, not by Business Insider journalists. It does not appear as editorial coverage on businessinsider.com's front pages, and it does not mean Business Insider reviewed or endorsed your announcement.
Is a Markets Insider placement good for SEO?
Judge it on credibility, not search value. When checked in September 2026, a sample press release page on markets.businessinsider.com/news carried a NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW robots tag, and press release pages on financial portals can carry tags like this. The realistic value is a credible, citable page on a recognized domain plus some referral traffic. The guide to dofollow vs nofollow press release links explains how link attributes work.
How to Get Featured on Business Insider for Free: Earned Coverage
Earned coverage means a Business Insider reporter or editor decides your story, data or expertise belongs in their reporting. It costs nothing, nobody can sell it to you, and you have no say over the angle, timing or final text. It is also the kind of coverage that carries real weight with investors, hires and customers.
Find the reporter who covers your beat
Business Insider reporters cover specific beats. Read a few months of a reporter's recent stories, and pitch only when your story fits what they already cover. A generic pitch sent to a whole newsroom rarely gets read.
Offer data, access or a verifiable story
Reporters respond to material they cannot get elsewhere: exclusive numbers, original data with a clear method, documents, or access to people inside a trend. "We launched a new dashboard" is an announcement; "our anonymized data shows [TREND] across [NUMBER] small businesses" is the start of a story. Have the source files ready, because everything has to survive fact-checking.
Be a source, not a subject
Expert sourcing is the most realistic earned route for most founders. When a reporter is chasing a trend in your field, a founder who speaks on the record, explains the numbers plainly and replies within hours is genuinely useful. Keep a short list of topics you can speak on with evidence.
Use the tips line for genuine tips
Business Insider publishes a general tips address, and its reporters list secure contact options for sensitive information. Those channels are for news the public should know about, not product announcements. For pitch structure, the collection of media pitch email examples has formats you can adapt to a single reporter.
Write for Business Insider: Freelance Essays and As-Told-To Stories
The second editorial route puts your own experience on businessinsider.com. It is still journalism: editors choose a story because readers will learn something from it, not because it helps your company.
Personal essays, trend pieces and features
Business Insider buys freelance pitches. A freelance market guide from the Association of Health Care Journalists (February 2025, focused on BI's health and lifestyle coverage) reported shorter pieces, such as personal essays and trend stories of up to about 1,000 words, at around $0.50 per word, and features of 2,000 to 2,500 words at about $0.75 to $1.00 per word.
The same guide said pitches should include clips, reported replies in about a week for trend pieces and one to two months for features, and warned against thinly veiled PR pitches. Business Insider has also published its own guide to writing for the site. Note that freelance pay goes to the writer, so nobody should be charging you for a byline.
As-told-to stories
Business Insider regularly publishes first-person "as-told-to" stories, where a writer interviews someone and shapes the account in that person's voice. The catch: the story is about an experience, such as leaving a stable job or surviving a failed launch, and your company is incidental. Pitching one as a vehicle for your product is the fastest way to be ignored.
Business Insider guest posts and contributor offers
Searches for a "Business Insider guest post" or "Business Insider contributor" account often surface sellers rather than the publication. The freelance route above is commissioned and edited by BI editors, and the writer gets paid. Treat any offer to sell you a guest post or contributor byline on businessinsider.com as a red flag.
An essay pitch template for founders
Keep the pitch short, lead with the story and let the company sit in the background.
Subject: Essay pitch: [FIRST-PERSON HEADLINE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU]
Hi [EDITOR FIRST NAME],
I'm [YOUR NAME], founder of [COMPANY], a [TEAM SIZE]-person [INDUSTRY] company in [CITY].
The story in one line: [WHAT HAPPENED, INCLUDING THE TURNING POINT].
Why readers care now: [THE TREND OR NEWS THIS CONNECTS TO].
What I can show: [SPECIFIC DETAILS, NUMBERS OR DOCUMENTS AN EDITOR CAN VERIFY].
What it is not: a company story. [COMPANY] appears only as context.
Format: about [WORD COUNT] words, or an as-told-to interview if that works better.
My previous writing or interviews: [LINK 1], [LINK 2].
Thanks, [YOUR NAME] | [PHONE] | [EMAIL]
For a fictional founder, Dana Okafor of Quillmere Freight, the headline might read: "I moved my freight startup to a four-day week. The first quarter nearly broke us." The essay is about the decision and what it cost; Quillmere is only the setting.
Business Insider Sponsored Content: BI Studios
The third route is paid and comes from the publisher itself. According to job listings, Business Insider's branded content studio is BI Studios, formerly Insider Studios. Pricing is not published: it is sold as an advertising campaign, with quotes on request.
Business Insider sponsored content should carry a sponsored or branded-content label so readers can tell it apart from newsroom reporting. It suits brands with a campaign budget, not a single funding round or product launch.
Business Insider Press Release Placement on Markets Insider
The fourth route is the one most "Business Insider press release" offers actually sell. You write a factual announcement, a distribution service puts it through editorial review, and it is published on Markets Insider's news pages. You control the text and the timing, and Business Insider journalists do not write or report it.
Which services sell this placement?
Which wires feed Markets Insider is not documented in one public place. According to its own site, ACCESS Newswire lists Business Insider among its distribution outlets. Other services worth asking include PR Newswire, GlobeNewswire and Business Wire, and RedPress sells placements on Markets Insider's news pages, arranged through an authorized distribution partner. Whichever you use, ask for a live sample URL and confirm the exact section before you pay.
What the placement includes
RedPress lists its Business Insider placement at $220 as of September 2026, with a 5-day delivery window, on the Business Insider press release placement page. Every order goes through editorial review, and the subject matter, how the published piece is labeled and link treatment are confirmed with you before you pay.
You approve the final text, and each campaign comes with a placement report listing the live links; the sample placement report shows the format. Describe the result accurately: "our announcement was published on Markets Insider," not "we were featured in Business Insider."
What Gets Rejected on Each Route
Many rejections come from sending the right material down the wrong route.
- Reporter pitches: product announcements with no wider story, claims with no data behind them, stories outside the reporter's beat, and "exclusives" offered to several outlets at once.
- Essay and as-told-to pitches: thinly veiled PR, broad topics with no personal angle, and pitches with no clips.
- Press release placements: advertising copy, unverifiable superlatives, investment solicitation and restricted subjects. Check the topics accepted for release placements before you write, because a restricted subject fails review however well it is written.
How Much Does It Cost to Get Featured on Business Insider?
The answer ranges from nothing to an advertising budget, and the price usually tells you which route you are really on.
| Route | What you pay | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Earned coverage | $0 | Your time and preparation; cannot be bought |
| Freelance essay, trend piece or feature | $0; the writer is paid | Reported rates of around $0.50 per word for shorter pieces and $0.75 to $1.00 per word for features (AHCJ, February 2025) |
| As-told-to story | $0 | Your time for the interview and fact-checking |
| BI Studios branded content | Advertising-campaign pricing | Not published; quotes on request |
| Press release on Markets Insider | Listed at $220 as of September 2026 for the placement covered above | Other distribution services quote their own prices; not BI journalism |
If your audience is investors, compare similar placements on other financial portals. A Yahoo Finance placement is listed from $360 and a MarketWatch placement from $550 as of September 2026. The Business Insider placement page sets out what the $220 option includes.
Which Route Fits Your Goal?
Start from what you need the result to do. Many companies combine two routes: a release for the record on announcement day, then a pitch to a reporter with a data angle that goes beyond it.
| Your goal | Best-fit route | What to expect | What not to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent credibility with investors or customers | Earned coverage | A BI article only if a reporter finds your story newsworthy | A date, control of the angle or approval of the text |
| A personal founder profile | Freelance essay or as-told-to story | A first-person story on businessinsider.com, edited by BI | A promotional piece about your company |
| Being quoted as an expert | Expert sourcing | Occasional quotes when your field is in the news | A steady schedule of mentions |
| A citable page for a launch or funding announcement on a set date | Press release on Markets Insider | Your approved text on markets.businessinsider.com within the listed window | Editorial coverage, endorsement or SEO value |
| Reaching BI's audience with a brand story | BI Studios branded content | Labeled branded content built with the studio | Newsroom reporting or small-budget pricing |
| Backlinks or search rankings | Not a reason to choose any of these routes | Credibility and referral value at most | Reliable link equity or ranking gains |
Red Flags When Buying Business Insider Coverage
- "Guaranteed Business Insider feature." Nobody can sell or guarantee editorial coverage.
- No sample URL. A seller who will not show a live example, or avoids saying it sits on markets.businessinsider.com, is hiding the key fact about the product.
- Backlink or ranking promises. Press release pages on financial portals can carry noindex or nofollow tags, so these promises are not credible.
- Bylines or contributor accounts for sale. Freelance pieces are commissioned by editors, who pay the writer.
- "We know an editor." An offer to pay a reporter or use an inside contact should end the conversation.
- Permanent URL promises. No reseller controls how long a publisher keeps a page live.
- "As seen in Business Insider" badges bundled with a release. A release placement is not coverage, and presenting it that way can mislead customers and investors.
- Vague labeling. A reputable seller tells you how the page will be labeled before you pay.
FAQ — How to Get Featured on Business Insider
Can you pay to be featured on Business Insider? You can pay for BI Studios branded content, which is labeled as sponsored, or for a press release placement on Markets Insider's news pages. You cannot pay for an article written by Business Insider journalists.
Is a press release on markets.businessinsider.com a Business Insider article? No. It is the company's own text on Markets Insider's news pages, not BI editorial coverage and not an endorsement.
How much does a Business Insider press release cost? It depends on the distribution service. One placement on Markets Insider's news pages is listed at $220 as of September 2026, and wire services quote their own prices.
Does Business Insider accept guest posts? It commissions freelance essays, trend pieces and features and pays the writers, according to a 2025 AHCJ freelance market guide. A guest post a brand pays to publish is different, and offers to sell one are a red flag.
How much does Business Insider pay freelance writers? The AHCJ guide from February 2025 reported around $0.50 per word for pieces of up to about 1,000 words and about $0.75 to $1.00 per word for features. Treat these as reported figures that can change.
What is an as-told-to story on Business Insider? A first-person account written by a BI writer from an interview with the person who lived it. It has to be about the experience, with any company involved kept incidental.
Is a Markets Insider placement good for SEO? That is not the reason to buy one. A sample press release page there carried a NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW robots tag in September 2026, so judge the placement on credibility and a citable page.
How do I send a news tip to Business Insider? Business Insider publishes a general tips address, and its reporters list secure contact options. Use them for genuine news, not product announcements.
How long does it take to get featured on Business Insider? Earned coverage has no set timeline. The AHCJ guide reported replies in about a week for trend pitches and one to two months for features, while release placements come with a listed delivery window.
Summary
Getting featured on Business Insider means choosing between routes that look similar from the outside but work very differently.
Key takeaways:
- Earned coverage, freelance essays and as-told-to stories are Business Insider journalism, and none of them is for sale.
- Markets Insider's news pages carry press releases and syndicated market news; a release there is not a BI article or an endorsement.
- BI Studios sells labeled branded content, priced as an advertising campaign.
- A release placement's value is credibility and a citable page, not SEO.
- Walk away from guaranteed features, bylines for sale and backlink promises.
Bottom line: If you want coverage from Business Insider's newsroom, earn it with data, access and a story that stands up without your brand name. If you need a dated, citable page for an announcement, a Markets Insider placement does that job, as long as you describe it for what it is.
Ready to publish your announcement on Markets Insider's news pages? See Business Insider placement options →
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