- Capital Soup is one of Florida’s most widely-read unfiltered public policy digital news sites.
- The platform is now available to site sponsors and advertisers as a core component of The Capitolist’s advertising, influence and content delivery options.
In a strategic move poised to enhance its influence and audience reach within Florida’s political landscape, The Capitolist announced the acquisition of the Capital Soup news platform from Sachs Media. Brian Burgess, owner and publisher of The Capitolist, said the company plans to make only minor changes to Capital Soup, but those changes will deliver even greater audience reach and messaging value for the Capitolist’s sponsors and advertisers.
“Audience metrics show that Capital Soup is an established policy news distribution platform in wide use by Florida’s state agencies and is read by the decision-makers who work there, which is why it makes such a great addition to the Capitolist’s content mix,” said Burgess. “Our current and future advertisers and site sponsors gain yet another influential platform that will complement the Capitolist’s primary political news website and our 80,000-subscriber ReCap morning email. For any company, campaign, or organization that needs to get key messaging in front of Florida’s top decision-makers, there’s no better bang for the buck than The Capitolist.”
Capital Soup, established in 2010 by Sachs Media, has earned a reputation for delivering unfiltered news straight from the source. It serves a wide audience with content that includes press releases and policy announcements from state agencies, political campaigns, and statewide associations, offering comprehensive coverage of government activities, policy updates, personnel moves and significant initiatives affecting Floridians.
Burgess launched The Capitolist in 2016 as the center-right answer to Florida’s long-established legacy media outlets and progressive digital political news sites. The news organization grew rapidly over the ensuing years, adding reporters to its newsroom as the company expanded its focus to include business and public policy alongside campaign and political news and commentary. Those changes brought with it an exploding email subscriber base that is now over 80,000 readers strong. Today, the site’s newsroom is managed by editor Caden DeLisa, who oversees day-to-day newsgathering and content publishing operations.
Burgess said that Capital Soup will get a logo refresh and reciprocal links between the two websites, but Capital Soup will continue publishing straight-from-the-source policy news, while The Capitolist will maintain its focus on breaking Florida business, political and policy news and analysis. Sponsors and advertisers will now get messaging placement across all three platforms: The Capitolist, the ReCap email, and Capital Soup, in a single package.
For Sachs Media, the sale marks a transition as they continue to focus on their core strengths in public relations and strategic communications.
“For more than a decade, Capital Soup has been an important outlet for news where readers can get information ‘straight from the source,’ said Drew Piers, partner and managing director at Sachs Media. “We’re looking forward to seeing how this platform continues to expand and grow through this transition.”
As part of the acquisition deal, The Capitolist affirmed its commitment to maintaining Capital Soup’s business model and content mix, allowing state agencies to push content directly to the platform without a filter.
“If you want policy news straight from the horse’s mouth, read Capital Soup. If you want to know how those policy changes are going to play out politically, Caden and our team at The Capitolist have you covered,” Burgess said.