media relations
Pitching During the Holidays: When Quiet Weeks Work in Your Favor
By Maya Patel · · 10 min read
Pitching during the holidays works when the story does not depend on the news cycle. Between mid-December and early January, desks are thinner and fewer companies announce anything, so a well-targeted evergreen story, data set, or trend piece faces less competition. Hard news, funding rounds, and anything that needs a market reaction should wait for January.
Most companies go silent from Thanksgiving to the second week of January. That is a reasonable default for announcements. It is a missed opportunity for everything else, because the reporters still working those weeks still have pages, newsletters, and segments to fill.
The question is not whether to pitch in December. It is which stories to pitch, to whom, and on what schedule.
Photo: Cuvii on Unsplash.
Do journalists actually read pitches over the holidays?
Yes, the ones who are working do, and they are often short of material. Newsrooms run skeleton rotations rather than closing, and the reporters on rotation still need stories for the days between Christmas and New Year.
What changes is the competition. Most PR calendars stop in mid-December, so the daily flood thins out. That matters because inboxes are crowded the rest of the year: Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2026 found 29% of journalists receive 6 to 10 PR pitches on a normal workday, up from 25% the year before, and 14% receive more than 20. The same survey found 54% seldom or never respond to pitches at all.
One caution: there is little hard data on December inboxes specifically. Propel, a PR software company, reported in January 2023 that journalist response rates on its platform fell 20.6% between Q3 and Q4 of 2022, and said holiday vacations were “likely not the reason,” since the prior year’s fourth quarter had been stronger. Treat the quiet-week advantage as a judgment about competition, not a measured lift in response rates. It is real, but it only helps a pitch that would have worked anyway.
Which stories work in the quiet weeks, and which should wait?
Stories that can run any day, without a live news peg, work best. Stories that need a reaction, a market, or a quick follow-up from the reporter should wait.
| Story type | Holiday weeks (Dec 15 to Jan 2) | Better in January |
|---|---|---|
| Original data or survey findings | Strong fit: reporters need ready-made stories | Also works, but competes with year-ahead reports |
| Trend analysis with named examples | Strong fit, especially for weekend and long reads | Works |
| Year-in-review or year-ahead commentary | Pitch by early December, not after Dec 20 | Too late for most outlets |
| Founder profile or behind-the-scenes access | Good for features with flexible run dates | Works |
| Funding round, acquisition, or earnings | Avoid: investors, customers, and analysts are away | Yes |
| Product launch needing reviews or demos | Avoid unless it is holiday-specific | Yes, after CES for consumer tech |
| Response to breaking news | Works only if you are fast and genuinely expert | Works |
The pattern: in the quiet weeks, the pitch should make the reporter’s job easier, not add a dependency. If the story needs three more sources, a demo, or a company that is closed until January 5, it will not run.
Holiday shopping and gifting stories are a separate track with a much earlier calendar. If you are a consumer brand trying to land seasonal coverage now, our guide to holiday PR for consumer brands covers what still works late in the season, and our guide to getting into gift guides covers the summer timelines most guides actually run on.
Who should you pitch in late December?
Pitch the reporters who own slow-week formats: weekend features, data stories, newsletters, and January planning pieces. Check who is actually on rotation before you write anything.
Some practical filters:
- Newsletter writers and editors. Daily newsletters still publish over the holidays and often need items. Morning Brew and Axios both run newsletter-first formats; check each profile in our media directory for how the outlet is structured before you look for the right writer.
- Wire and general news desks. The Associated Press runs holiday staffing and distributes widely to member outlets. A clean, data-backed story with photos can travel through a wire further in a slow week than in a busy one.
- Trade press. Trade editors plan January issues in December and are often more reachable than national desks.
- Reporters with an out-of-office that says “back January 5.” Do not pitch them now. Note the return date and pitch on that day, before noon.
Relevance still decides everything. Muck Rack’s 2026 survey found 88% of journalists immediately disregard pitches outside their coverage area, and Cision’s 2026 State of the Media found 72% of journalists say fewer than a quarter of the pitches they receive are relevant. A quiet inbox makes a mistargeted pitch more noticeable, not less.
How do you build a holiday pitching calendar?
Work backward from the first week of January, and front-load the work into November and early December so the quiet weeks are spent pitching, not writing.
- Early November: lock the story. Choose one angle that does not need a December news hook. Original data is the most reliable; our guide to data-driven PR covers how to build a study reporters trust.
- Mid November: build the list. Identify 15 to 25 reporters who cover the angle and who run slow-week formats. Note known holiday schedules.
- Early December: pitch long-lead and year-end pieces. Year-ahead and prediction stories are assigned now, not on December 28. Our guide to getting year-end predictions quoted covers that track.
- December 15 to 23: pitch the quiet weeks. Send short, one-to-one pitches with everything attached: the data, a chart, high-resolution images, and a named spokesperson with availability.
- December 24 to January 1: stay reachable. Keep one spokesperson on call and one PR lead monitoring email. A reporter who replies on December 29 and hears nothing until January 6 will move on.
- First week of January: convert. Follow up on held stories and pitch the January cycle as it restarts.
What should a holiday pitch include?
A holiday pitch should be complete enough that a reporter could write the story without a call. That means the finding, the evidence, the access, and the assets, in under 200 words.
Muck Rack’s 2026 survey is clear on format: 69% of journalists prefer pitches under 200 words, 62% prefer one-to-one email, and 78% want pitches before noon. Asked what a pitch should include, 70% cited clear relevance to their beat, 58% interview access, 40% original data or research, 37% high-resolution images, and 33% exclusive or embargoed content.
A template we use as a starting point:
Subject: [Finding in eight words or fewer]
Hi [Name], you covered [specific recent story] in [month]. Our analysis of [data source and size] found [single most surprising finding], which [why it matters to their readers].
Three supporting points: [one line each].
[Spokesperson name and title] is available [specific dates, including December 29 to 31]. The full data set, a chart, and photos are here: [link].
Happy to offer this to you first through [date].
Test the subject line before you send. Our free press release headline checker works on pitch subject lines too.
What do most teams get wrong about holiday pitching?
The most common mistake is treating the quiet weeks as a place to dump news nobody else wanted. A weak announcement does not become strong because the inbox is lighter.
| Mistake | Why it fails | Better approach |
|---|---|---|
| Announcing a funding round on December 22 | Investors, customers, and partners are offline; the story has no amplification | Hold for the second week of January or offer an embargoed exclusive |
| Pitching then disappearing until January | Reporters on rotation need fast answers | Name a spokesperson and a PR contact on call |
| Mass blast to “everyone who covers tech” | Mistargeting is more visible in a quiet inbox | 15 to 25 named reporters, each with a reason |
| Following up three times before New Year | Muck Rack found 46% disregard pitches sent repeatedly without response | One follow-up, three to seven days later |
| Ignoring CES | Consumer tech reporters are buried in show pitches from mid-December | Pitch before December 12 or after the show |
| No assets attached | A reporter working alone cannot chase photos | Data, chart, images, and bios in one link |
The CES point is worth stressing. CES 2027 runs January 6 to 9 in Las Vegas. Consumer tech desks at outlets such as The Verge, CNET, and Engadget cover the show heavily, and the pre-show pitch volume starts well before New Year. If you are not exhibiting, a consumer tech pitch in that window is competing with thousands of show announcements. If you are, our CES PR guide covers the show timeline.
A worked example: a data story in the dead week
Here is a hypothetical to make the timing concrete. A Series B workforce software company has anonymized data from its platform showing how hiring for a set of roles shifted across 2026.
- November 10: The team decides the finding (say, a sharp rise in demand for one job category) can run any time in the next six weeks. They validate the method and prepare a two-page summary with a chart.
- November 24: They build a list of 20 reporters: workplace and labor reporters at national outlets, two wire reporters, five trade editors, and three newsletter writers.
- December 3: Two trade editors get an early look for January issues.
- December 16: One-to-one pitches go to the national and newsletter reporters before 11 a.m. local time, each offering the CEO on December 29 or 30.
- December 22: One follow-up to non-responders, adding a regional cut of the data.
- December 29: One national reporter, working the holiday rotation, interviews the CEO. The story runs January 2, when readers return to work thinking about the year ahead.
Nothing in that sequence is clever. It works because the story was ready, the reporter did not need anything else, and the company answered the phone.
How do holiday pitches compound beyond the coverage?
A story that runs on January 2 is read in a week when people plan, and it stays indexed long after. Coverage in a credible outlet becomes a source AI engines and search use to describe your company, so a quiet-week data story can keep working all year.
Publish the underlying data on your own site, in your online newsroom, with a clear method, so reporters who find the story later can cite the original. Then use the January follow-up window to offer the data to outlets that did not run it the first time, with a fresh angle.
Where Digitize fits
We plan holiday pitching in November, not in December, and we run it for clients who have a story worth telling in a quiet week: original data, a founder with something to say, or a trend they can prove. Our media relations team builds the list, writes the pitches, and stays on call through New Year. If you are planning your first-quarter story calendar now, start a conversation.
Frequently asked questions
Is it a bad idea to pitch journalists between Christmas and New Year?
Not if the story is evergreen, relevant to the reporter’s beat, and ready to run. Reporters on holiday rotation still need material. It is a bad idea for hard news such as funding rounds or acquisitions, which need investors, customers, and analysts to be paying attention.
What day should I send a holiday pitch?
Avoid December 24, 25, and 31 and January 1. The days between December 15 and 23, and December 28 to 30, are the most practical windows. Muck Rack’s 2026 survey found 78% of journalists prefer pitches before noon, and half do not care which day.
Should I announce news in late December?
Usually not. Announcements need amplification from customers, investors, partners, and social channels, and most of those audiences are offline. The exception is news with a legal or regulatory date you cannot move, in which case announce it plainly and plan a January follow-up story.
How many times should I follow up over the holidays?
Once. Muck Rack’s 2026 survey found 50% of journalists say one follow-up is ideal and 51% say it should come three to seven days later. If a reporter is out until January, wait and pitch on their return date.
Do holiday pitches work for consumer brands?
For gift guides and holiday shopping, most of the work happens months earlier. In late December, consumer brands do better with January stories: resolutions, routines, new-year trends, and data on how customers behaved during the season. Pitch those in mid-December for early January runs.
