SPINPRIZEQUEST

By Sean Tinney March 6, 2024

Less than three seconds.

That’s the average amount of time you have to capture a subscriber’s attention in his or her crowded inbox. Talk about a short window.

So what’s an easy way to make an impact and stand out? Include an email preheader in each message you send. 

When viewing a message in your inbox, an email preheader — also known as the Johnson Box or preview text — is a snippet of text shown next to or underneath the subject line.

The email preheader length will vary by device and which Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Gmail or Yahoo! subscribers use. However they are typically between 50 to 100 characters or about 6 to 11 words. 

Below, you can see an email preheader example on a desktop inbox, and another on a mobile inbox. 

When written well, an email preheader is a powerful tool to improve your open rate. 

Unfortunately, many email marketers don’t take advantage of the preheader. They spend lots of time crafting the perfect subject line, but barely think twice about this very important piece of text. So they leave it blank, or fill it out with some generic information.

In fact, here are a handful of common email preheaders examples I found in my inbox.

“Click here if you are having trouble viewing this message”

“You are part of an email list, you can unsubscribe here”

“This message contains images, please enable images”

“View in a web browser”

You may be wondering why these messages are pulled into the preheader field. ISPs will automatically populate this field with the first line of coded text in your email. If you don’t customize your preheader, you’re leaving it up to the ISP to determine your second most important line of text.

And looking at the examples above, do you think any of these messages make your subscribers super eager to open the message? No. So what kind of preheader will make your subscriber click open? And how do you set it up properly?

Below are five ways to write an email preheader that will skyrocket your open rates. 

#1: Sum up the content inside

Add more context to your subject line with your preheader text. In it, give a short summary of what the reader can expect to find inside the message. This may further entice your subscriber to click on the message so they can read the full content.

Example: Google Home

Subject line: Lauren, welcome to your Google Home Mini

Email preheader: 3 ways to get the most out of your new Mini

#2: Make your subject line and preheader text compliment each other

Paul McCartney & John Lennon, Laverne & Shirley, Han Solo & Chewbacca, Bert & Ernie — what do these great duos have in common?

They complement each other. Alone they are good, together they are amazing.

Subject lines and preheaders are the same. To get the highest open rate and engagement for your email campaign, these two critical email marketing elements should play off each other. Use your preheader to build on an amazing subject line.

Example: Netflix

Subject line: Coming Monday, December 14th…Tiny Pretty Things

Email preheader: Get a first look today

#3: Request an action

Use the email preheader to make your readers take action. Tell them what you want them to do!

Do you want them to open the message? Do you want them to click on a link? Fill out your survey? Let them know what you want them to do and why you want them to do it.

Example: Ulta Beauty

Subject Line: Take a look at your ultimate rewards statement, Lauren!

Email preheader: Check out these beautiful offers, too. Open to see all the ways beauty loves you back!

#4: Use FOMO

The “fear of missing out” or FOMO is a powerful psychological trigger. If you want a subscriber to take advantage of a special offer or deal — such as free shipping or a discount code — tell them about it in the preheader. They’ll be tempted to open right away if they know the offer is exclusive or a limited-time.

And you want them to open right away! Chances are, if they don’t open when they see the message for the first time, they won’t come back the next day or next week to do it. 

Example: Michaels Craft Store

Subject line: Last Day: Summer Cyber Sale! An Online Bonus Coupon and Free Shipping, no minimum

Email preheader: Drop-What-You’re-Doing Doorbusters and Deals. Don’t miss out!

#5: Get creative

Your subscribers want to do business with people they know, like, and trust — as opposed to a faceless corporation. Humanize your preheader text to increase connection and engagement with your subscriber. Use the small block of text to show your company is likeable and relatable, and your subscribers will be more likely to open the message.

Example: PECO

Subject line: PECO can help you keep cool for less this summer

Email preheader: Rising temperatures make it harder to stay cool and comfortable inside. But don’t sweat it!

How do different email platforms handle preheader text?

Different email services, like Gmail or Outlook, can show preheader text differently. Some might display a preview of the email content, while others might only show the first few words of the preheader. 

It’s a good idea to check how your preheader looks on different email platforms to make sure it’s effective for everyone who reads your emails.

How to use preheader text for different types of emails?

For different types of emails, like newsletters or promotions, you can use preheader text creatively. 

For a newsletter, you might tease the main story to encourage readers to open. 

If it’s a promotion, mentioning a limited-time offer can entice people to click. 

For event emails, a sneak peek of what’s in store could build excitement.

How can A/B testing be used to optimize preheader text?

A/B testing with preheader text means trying out different versions to see which gets more people to open your emails. 

You could test different lengths, tones, or offers. Once you send both versions to a small group, you can see which one gets more opens. This helps you learn what works best for your audience, so you can use it in future emails to get even more people interested.

There are three ways text can be inserted into your email’s preheader.

#1: Automatically

This is where the ISP your email is being sent, takes the top text in your email. If you have an image as the first element in your email, then the ISP will take the alt text you give your image.

So if your email service provider doesn’t provide you a dedicated section for a preheader, then you need to make sure that the very first text you put in your email has the text you want to appear.

You understand the value of a preheader but you don’t want this copy to be the first thing your subscribers see when they open your email. If you’re comfortable with coding your email you can put the below code as the very first element in the HTML portion of your email.

Adding an email preheader to your message in AWeber is super easy. All it takes is just the click of a single button.

Simply create a message using the drag & drop email builder.

From within the message editor directly under “message,” you can add the text you wish to display with your subject line when the message is sent. It’s that easy.

If you want to personalize your email preheader for your subscriber to include their name, email address, or any other of their subscriber information, you can do so as well! You can accomplish this using personalization snippets within the ‘message preheader’ text box directly.

Ready to write fantastic email preheaders that grab a subscriber’s attention in less than three seconds? Then create your FREE AWeber account today. 

As is typically the case when one company jumps ahead of the others, analysts like me get asked what makes Nvidia so much more successful than its peers. While my peers may have different answers, I think there is one predominant cause for this success: Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang.

Huang has had three clear advantages that most other CEOs lack. First, Huang’s technical proficiency allows him to set and execute a vision. Second, Huang is a founder, which typically grants unusual loyalty and power over the company. Finally, he is the longest-serving tech CEO in recent history.

I say “recent history” because Nvidia is around 30 years old, and IBM’s first CEO and founder, Thomas Watson, served for 42 years during a time when IBM pretty much was the tech industry and was even more successful than Nvidia is now.

Thomas Watson had the same three advantages as Huang. When Watson’s son, Thomas Watson, Jr., took over, he inherited those same advantages and took IBM to even greater levels by being additive. Huang has a son, Spencer, who works at Nvidia, but his true heir is AI, suggesting it could be either his or Spencer’s successor. Let’s talk about that this week.

We’ll close with my Product of the Week, my new favorite smartphone, the Google Pixel Fold.

Why the CEO Job Is Broken: The Overcompensation Problem

CEOs are overcompensated, and this creates significant financial and operational problems in both public and private companies. CEOs weren’t always the highest-paid positions.

When I first entered the tech field, one of my jobs was managing compensation, and some of our sales reps made significantly more than the founding CEO. Granted, founders had founder stock, which eventually raised the CEO’s compensation when that stock was sold. But unlike today, CEO compensation wasn’t massively higher than that of other executives. Today’s CEOs are overcompensated, and that leads to three big problems:

The disparity creates friction among employees who feel they are doing the work while the CEO gets all the rewards. This situation is particularly problematic when a CEO institutes a layoff or salary reduction plan, and the employees feel they are being treated unfairly, given the CEO, even with salary cuts, is making crazy money. This reduces loyalty to the CEO, making the company less efficient and key employees less likely to remain with the company.
The CEO is motivated to acquire things that, in turn, need to be managed, detracting from doing the job they are paid to do. Some CEOs have multiple mansions, yachts, and rare car collections that are all enviable, but these things have to be managed and take away time from the CEO’s ability to do the job they were hired for. This additionally exacerbates the feeling in the rank and file that the CEO is taking advantage of them, particularly when cutbacks occur.
This overcompensation can convey a feeling that the CEO can do whatever they want. They are so used to having crazy money and extreme authority that they get the idea that rules don’t apply to them and discover the hard way that some rules do. CEOs getting fired for misogyny, mishandling of company assets, and other types of misbehavior are common and very disruptive to the company.

The Advantage Enjoyed by Founders

Successful founders tend to prioritize the company and often aren’t known for excessive spending. This doesn’t mean they don’t sometimes spend excessively (Bill Gates did build a hotel of a house and then regretted it), but their possessions don’t significantly degrade their focus on their company and people.

So, while I do think excessive compensation degrades their performance, it doesn’t seem to do so in a material way because their job and hobby are both the company and their true passion, and thus, they are able to outperform their more compensation-based peers.

Founders also know the company more intimately because they directed its construction. They know better than anyone what the company is capable of and can better set an achievable vision for the firm’s future. Hired CEOs may never truly understand what a firm is capable of and avoid “the vision thing” altogether because they don’t want to be seen as failures.

The Succession Problem With Founders

When a founder leaves, a company seems to lose its way. I was one of the folks who studied IBM’s decline and near collapse, and it was clear that when Thomas Watson Jr. left, IBM started to die. Interestingly, it didn’t start to die when Thomas Watson Sr. left because Jr. effectively took his father’s advantages and enhanced them, as he’d been groomed to do that.

Still, even though I’d argue IBM has the best internal CEO training program and deepest bench of potential CEOs than any other company, it had to go outside that structure once, reset, and then rebuild because this “founder” capability was lost in transition.

Corporations are supposed to be eternal, though Founder CEOs don’t always want them to be because they don’t want to be overshadowed by their successor. Watson Sr. was one of the exceptions since he, as most fathers should, seemed to want his son to be even more successful than he was.

Succession just doesn’t seem to be a priority in most firms. Most CEOs seem more worried that their successor will be selected prematurely — and for good reason, because that often happens, which conflicts with a good succession process.

Digital Human Advantages

Nvidia has created the concept of “digital humans.” Today, they are built mainly for sales and customer support, but they could evolve into replacements for almost any job. For instance, Cognition Lab just launched the first AI software engineer called Devin, which can autonomously write apps. It can complete real-time jobs posted on Upwork and has autonomously resolved 14% of the GitHub issues found in real-world open-source projects.

This is just the beginning of the emergence of digital humans.

When it comes to succession, digital humans have several clear advantages over non-digital humans. One is that the digital human would be created to fully emulate the founder, so it wouldn’t reflect badly on them. Even when it out-achieved the founder it replaced, its hard connection to the founder would ensure the founder got the credit, so the prior CEO is less likely to sabotage the effort.

A digital human doesn’t have a compensation problem as it wouldn’t need compensation, and it wouldn’t be distracted by personal possessions or family as it wouldn’t have those either. It also wouldn’t have the drives that often cause CEOs to misbehave, though you’d want to ensure the information stream the digital human was receiving was uncompromised, and you’d need to ensure that the digital human was surrounded by sufficient security so it couldn’t be hacked.

In other words, given how quickly a digital human could act, assuring they continue to perform in the best interests of the firm, its employees, and investors would be even more critical to ensure a human CEO didn’t go off the rails.

Wrapping Up: Why Nvidia Will Have the First Digital Human CEO

The reason I think Nvidia will be first is that it has the greatest need to preserve the advantages it gets from its founder, Jensen Huang. In addition, Huang is an AI advocate, which means that Nvidia not only leads in AI solutions but also uses AI internally. So, Huang has been a significant driver in both the creation and use of digital humans.

Nvidia has the greatest need, the strongest foundation to create one, and by creating one it would have the best showcase for how a digital human could outperform a human at certain jobs. If a digital human could do the CEO’s job successfully, the question flips from “what could it do” to “what couldn’t it do,” with the latter list becoming ever shorter.

Jensen Huang has at least a decade of service ahead of him, so I doubt this will happen quickly. Still, I could see him spinning up and training his digital twin long before he left the company to increase his reach, and he might not just create only one. I can imagine a future where “digital Jensen Huangs” are sold to firms as advanced CEO digital assistants and eventually as CEOs even before the real Jensen Huang steps down.

The Google Pixel Fold

(Image Credit: Google/YouTube)

My favorite smartphone was the Microsoft Duo 2, but with Panos Panay’s departure from Microsoft, I doubt Duo and Surface are long for this world.

There is a rumor that a foldable Duo 3 is coming, but my Duo 2’s battery has degraded to the point that it won’t even stay up for 5 hours, let alone an entire day. I read books on my phone, so that’s a problem. So, I bit the bullet and went looking for a replacement. The dual-screen Google Pixel Fold comes the closest to both what the Duo 2 was and the Duo 3 might be (if it ever launches; I have my doubts).

I’ve been using this phone for about a week now, and so far, it is as good a reader as the Duo 2 and has far better battery life, even though it has both a foldable screen in the middle and an additional screen on the cover.

One downside, however, is that Pixel Fold uses the Google Tensor G2 processor and not the Qualcomm Snapdragon solution, so it lacks several features. The one I miss the most is the ability to use a head-mounted display for movies. For me, the best advantage with Snapdragon is that everything just seems to work, and alternatives simply don’t provide that same level of capability.

The phone isn’t a cheap date at $1,799. If I could have waited, I would have waited for the coming Pixel Fold 2, which is due out in a few months. But I couldn’t wait that long because my Duo had degraded to the point that it wasn’t usable, and I needed my phone to work.

Since the Pixel Fold helped me solve my dying Microsoft Duo 2 phone problems, the Google Pixel Fold is my Product of the Week — and I really do enjoy using it.

Apple and Google are huddling over a potential deal to bring the search king’s Gemini generative AI offerings to the iPhone.

The negotiations, first reported by Bloomberg on Monday, aim to let Apple license Gemini’s set of AI models to drive some new features for the iPhone later this year.

While a deal would give Gemini a key edge with billions of potential users, Bloomberg noted, it also may be a sign that Apple isn’t as far along with its AI efforts as some might have hoped.

“Apple appears to be behind its competitors in addressing generative AI, and this is partly because the pace of innovation has been so high that the timings of its yearly developer conference in summer and product release in autumn have created a mismatch at the current pace in the AI race,” said Paul Schell, an industry analyst with global technology intelligence firm ABI Research.

That’s not to say Apple hasn’t been busy developing its AI chops. “Behind the scenes, Apple has been busy developing its on-device generative AI capabilities and acquiring companies that will help it advance that technology — most recently with the acquisition of DarwinAI,” Schell told TechNewsWorld.

“Apple also has a Machine Learning Research division devoted to advancing its capabilities in the area, and Tim Cook has talked up generative AI in anticipation of iOS 18,” he added.

Part of Overall AI Strategy

“Apple is way behind on AI,” declared Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore.

“That’s kind of amazing,” he told TechNewsWorld, “since Siri was one of the first digital assistants in the market, but once they launched it, they seemed to lose interest, which is why they are so far behind.”

A deal with Google could mesh with Apple’s overall AI strategy, noted William Kerwin, an equity analyst with Morningstar Research Services in Chicago.

“Apple has taken a slow approach to any announcements around generative AI, which we see as its normal strategy,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Apple has always been a premium follower to markets, never focusing on being first but focusing on putting out superior products.”

“We haven’t expected Apple to develop a proprietary generative AI model to license out, but focus on how to integrate generative AI into its products,” he said. “This could be small Apple-built models living on edge, or larger cloud-based models.”

“A potential licensing agreement with Google Gemini would align with this — outsourcing the model itself but focusing on integrating it into products like Siri.”

Beneficial to Apple and Google

Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, Calif., pointed out that Apple has been using AI in products since they introduced the Knowledge Navigator in 1987. AI is key to both Siri and Maps, he added, and Apple has home-grown technology to deliver AI-based apps and solutions.

“However, to deliver in-depth generative AI architecture on their own is expensive, and those base AI architectures are already built and can be licensed,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“Even if Apple had its own Gemini-level model, it probably would not have the infrastructure to serve its massive base of customers,” he explained. “It is highly plausible that Apple could license a base generative AI architecture from another company and build even deeper and more Apple-specific products on that AI engine.”

A Gemini licensing deal could be beneficial to both Apple and Google.

“Licensing Gemini would enable Apple to make up considerable lost time in its own lagging AI development efforts,” said Charles King, the principal analyst at Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm in Hayward, Calif.

In addition, he told TechNewsWorld, “By using a vetted third-party technology to train its AI systems, Apple will be able to preserve its well-deserved rep for honoring customers’ privacy.”

Rise of On-Device AI

“A lot of the AI models out there now require cloud access, so there’s a lot of concerns about divulging private information,” added Ross Rubin, the principal analyst at Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.

“Google has a flavor of Gemini — Gemini Nano — that may appeal to Apple because it can run locally,” he told TechNewsWorld. “That’s one way to preserve privacy and have the benefits of generative AI.”

ABI’s Schell pointed out that Google is ahead of the pack with its Gemini family of models, which have already been deployed to run entirely on some of its Pixel phones, as well as on certain Samsung Galaxy devices. “By partnering with Google, Apple would be able to offer a relatively mature generative AI model to its customers on some or all of its devices,” he said.

“All major chipset vendors and OEMs are pivoting towards on-device generative AI as its productivity-enhancing data privacy value proposition is very convincing, and this is particularly relevant given Apple’s legacy in data privacy leadership,” he added.

“As such,” he continued, “I expect a host of significant announcements around on-device generative AI at this year’s WWDC applying to Apple’s PC, tablet, and smartphone offerings.” Apple’s WWDC — World Wide Developers Conference — usually occurs in June.

Boon to Apple Users

Apple users could benefit from a Gemini licensing deal because it integrates Google’s advanced search algorithms into their ecosystem, thereby enriching search functionality, maintained Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.

“It promotes interoperability, enabling seamless integration between Apple’s ecosystem and Google services and fostering convenience for users,” he told TechNewsWorld, “and it could potentially reduce development costs and time-to-market for Apple, as it could utilize Google’s proven technology instead of building a similar capability from scratch.”

“It would obviously provide Apple with a host of capabilities it doesn’t seem to currently own, and Google would get revenue and a marquee licensing partner,” Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a news, commentary and analysis website, told TechNewsWorld.

How much revenue Google — which pays Apple billions a year to be the Safari web browser’s default search engine — would get from a licensing deal is an intriguing question.

“There may not be any licensing money,” Rubin suggested. “Google pays Apple for the privilege of running search on Apple’s platforms. The payment that Google gets is access to anonymized data for iPhone users, which gives them a holistic view of what people are doing on mobile. Maybe Google would be willing to offer their technology for free for the benefit of continuing to update their AI engine.”

Apple and Google did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Nvidia is pumping up the power in its line of artificial intelligence chips with the announcement Monday of its Blackwell GPU architecture at its first in-person GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in five years.

According to Nvidia, the chip, designed for use in large data centers — the kind that power the likes of AWS, Azure, and Google — offers 20 PetaFLOPS of AI performance which is 4x faster on AI-training workloads, 30x faster on AI-inferencing workloads and up to 25x more power efficient than its predecessor.

Compared to its predecessor, the H100 “Hopper,” the B200 Blackwell is both more powerful and energy efficient, Nvidia maintained. To train an AI model the size of GPT-4, for example, would take 8,000 H100 chips and 15 megawatts of power. That same task would take only 2,000 B200 chips and four megawatts of power.

“This is the company’s first big advance in chip design since the debut of the Hopper architecture two years ago,” Bob O’Donnell, founder and chief analyst of Technalysis Research, wrote in his weekly LinkedIn newsletter.

Repackaging Exercise

However, Sebastien Jean, CTO of Phison Electronics, a Taiwanese electronics company, called the chip “a repackaging exercise.”

“It’s good, but it’s not groundbreaking,” he told TechNewsWorld. “It will run faster, use less power, and allow more compute into a smaller area, but from a technologist perspective, they just squished it smaller without really changing anything fundamental.”

“That means that their results are easily replicated by their competitors,” he said. “Though there is value in being first because while your competition catches up, you move on to the next thing.”

“When you force your competition into a permanent catch-up game, unless they have very strong leadership, they will fall into a ‘fast follower’ mentality without realizing it,” he said.

“By being aggressive and being first,” he continued, “Nvidia can cement the idea that they are the only true innovators, which drives further demand for their products.”

Although Blackwell may be a repackaging exercise, he added, it has a real net benefit. “In practical terms, people using Blackwell will be able to do more compute faster for the same power and space budget,” he noted. “That will allow solutions based on Blackwell to outpace and outperform their competition.”

Plug-Compatible With Past

O’Donnell asserted that the Blackwell architecture’s second-generation transformer engine is a significant advancement because it reduces AI floating point calculations to four bits from eight bits. “Practically speaking, by reducing these calculations down from 8-bit on previous generations, they can double the compute performance and model sizes they can support on Blackwell with this single change,” he said.

The new chips are also compatible with their predecessors. “If you already have Nvidia’s systems with the H100, Blackwell is plug-compatible,” observed Jack E. Gold, founder and principal analyst with J.Gold Associates, an IT advisory company in Northborough, Mass.

“In theory, you could just unplug the H100s and plug the Blackwells in,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Although you can do that theoretically, you might not be able to do that financially.” For example, Nvidia’s H100 chip costs $30,000 to $40,000 each. Although Nvidia didn’t reveal the price of its new AI chip line, pricing will probably be along those lines.

Gold added that the Blackwell chips could help developers produce better AI applications. “The more data points you can analyze, the better the AI gets,” he explained. “What Nvidia is talking about with Blackwell is instead of being able to analyze billions of data points, you can analyze trillions.”

Also announced at the GTC were Nvidia Inference Microservices (NIM). “NIM tools are built on top of Nvidia’s CUDA platform and will enable businesses to bring custom applications and pretrained AI models into production environments, which should aid these firms in bringing new AI products to market,” Brian Colello, an equity strategist with Morningstar Research Services, in Chicago, wrote in an analyst’s note Tuesday.

Helping Deploy AI

“Big companies with data centers can adopt new technologies quickly and deploy them faster, but most human beings are in small and medium businesses that don’t have the resources to buy, customize, and deploy new technologies. Anything like NIM that can help them adopt new technology and deploy it more easily will be a benefit to them,” explained Shane Rau, a semiconductor analyst with IDC, a global market research company.

“With NIM, you’ll find models specific to what you want to do,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Not everyone wants to do AI in general. They want to do AI that’s specifically relevant to their company or enterprise.”

While NIM is not as exciting as the latest hardware designs, O’Donnell noted that it is significantly more important in the long run for several reasons.

“First,” he wrote, “it’s supposed to make it faster and more efficient for companies to move from GenAI experiments and POCs (proof of concepts) into real-world production. There simply aren’t enough data scientists and GenAI programming experts to go around, so many companies who’ve been eager to deploy GenAI have been limited by technical challenges. As a result, it’s great to see Nvidia helping ease this process.”

“Second,” he continued, “these new microservices allow for the creation of an entire new revenue stream and business strategy for Nvidia because they can be licensed on a per GPU/per hour basis (as well as other variations). This could prove to be an important, long-lasting, and more diversified means of generating income for Nvidia, so even though it’s early days, this is going to be important to watch.”

Entrenched Leader

Rau predicted that Nvidia will remain entrenched as the AI processing platform of choice for the foreseeable future. “But competitors like AMD and Intel will be able to take modest portions of the GPU market,” he said. And because there are different chips you can use for AI — microprocessors, FPGAs, and ASICs — those competing technologies will be competing for market share and growing.”

“There are very few threats to Nvidia’s dominance in this market,” added Abdullah Anwer Ahmed, founder of Serene Data Ops, a data management company in San Francisco.

“On top of their superior hardware, their software solution CUDA has been the foundation of the underlying AI segments for over a decade,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“The main threat is that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft/OpenAI are working on building their own chips optimized around these models,” he continued. “Google already has their ‘TPU’ chip in production. Amazon and OpenAI have hinted at similar projects.”

“In any case, building one’s own GPUs is an option only available to the absolute largest companies,” he added. “Most of the LLM industry will continue to buy Nvidia GPUs.”

In Q1 2024, MrBeast has retained his top spot as the most-subscribed YouTube individual on the social media platform.

After MrBeast overtook PewDiePie in late 2022 to shake up the top most-subscribed on YouTube leaderboard, there has been even more movement in the last 12 months.

At the beginning of YouTube, it was a long journey for individuals to reach 100 million subscribers – but now MrBeast is the first individual YouTuber to crack 200 million subscribers.

On YouTube, way back in 2006, Judson Laipply was the first recorded individual to have the most subscribers, with mere thousands.

In the same year, Brookers was the first channel and individual to reach 10,000 subscribers – and that was a big deal.

Although MrBeast is the most-subscribed individual, just above him is T-Series – an Indian record label and film studio that remains the number one most-subscribed channel on YouTube.

T-Series was the first channel to reach 100 million subscribers in 2019 and the first to 200 million in 2021.

While T-Series held twice as many subscribers as the top individual YouTuber last year, the distance is now closing between the most popular content creators.

Being an influencer is big business.

Who Is The No. 1 Most Subscribed YouTuber?

As of February 2024, MrBeast is the most-subscribed YouTuber, with 240 million subscribers.

Kid-friendly content channel Like Nastya is now the second most-subscribed YouTube individual with 113 million subscribers.

PewDiePie has continued his decline to drop down again to third place with 110 million.

When reaching the 200-million subscriber milestone in October 2023, MrBeast took to X (Twitter) to say how stunned his 13-year-old self would be and that he planned to continue making content for decades.

In his usual philanthropic-style, he also gave away a private island for his 100-million subscriber milestone – which is probably part of the reason he originally took the top position from PewDiePie in December 2022.

The Top 50 Most-Subscribed YouTubers, February 2024

*Data Sources (SocialBlade, YouTube), February 2024

Please note this is a list of the most subscribed individuals — not the most subscribed channels. It excludes “brand” channels that don’t focus on an individual personality, artist, or influencer.

Who Are The Top 12 Most-Subscribed YouTubers?

The list of the top 30 most-subscribed individuals features many successful music artists but has a majority of native YouTube influencers.

With the channel becoming an integral part of marketing and distribution for music artists, it’s no surprise that top artists feature highly.

Justin Bieber (the top individual artist) leveraged YouTube from an early age to gain mainstream attention on his terms.

MrBeast has over 167 million more subscribers than Bieber, which highlights just how much attention the channel can achieve – and that, today, being a YouTube influencer is the same as being a traditional celebrity.

To get a better understanding of who all the influencers are, we’ve included a summary of the top 12 most-subscribed YouTuber influencers below.

1. MrBeast

U.S.-based Jimmy Donaldson started MrBeast as MrBeast6000 in 2012 when he was only 13.

He also holds five other channels, including Beast Reacts, MrBeast 2, Beast Philanthropy, and MrBeast 3 (inactive). MrBeast Gaming also sits in the top 100, with just under 42 million subscribers.

MrBeast’s early videos include counting to 10,000 non-stop (a 44-hour stunt), which quickly went viral but is now best known for videos that involve elaborate stunts, charity donations, or cash giveaways.

In one video, he gave away $1 million and has done several big philanthropic stunts, such as “I Built 100 Wells in Africa” and “I Rescued 100 Abandoned Dogs.”

Jimmy Donaldson’s channel brings in between $600-700 million a year, but his mother is the person who looks after his bank accounts.

He still lives in his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina, and employs many local people when producing his videos.

2. Like Nastya

Anastasia Sergeyevna Radzinskaya is the only individual child YouTuber on the list. She was born in January 2014 and is the youngest influencer with the most followers – now overtaking PewDiePie by 2 million to take the No. 2 spot.

It’s worth noting that another channel, Vlad and Niki, is very popular with 112 million subscribers – but as a duo rather than an individual, they aren’t included in this list. Despite being featured in last year’s rankings, Ryan’s World has now fallen out of the rankings.

Although Radzinskaya was born in Russia, she has since moved to the U.S., and her videos are produced in English. The channel is for children and covers educational entertainment and vlogging.

Some of her success is down to the channel being dubbed in several languages, enabling her to reach a wide audience.

Radzinskaya’s parents help her manage the Like Nastya channel, but she is the face and star of the show.

3. PewDiePie

PewDiePie, otherwise known as Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, held the most-subscribed position on YouTube for nearly 10 years until 2022. He was the original YouTube influencer who crossed over from online to be famous offline.

Swedish Kjellberg registered PewDiePie in 2010, and started out with play-by-plays of video games – a genre known as “Let’s Play.” It only took three years for him to be the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, and he was the highest-earning YouTuber in 2016.

Alongside “Let’s Play” content, PewDiePie has also experimented with comedy, commentary, music, and shows.

Following the rising success of his channel, Kjellberg also released his own game and published a book.

In 2022, his content shifted more towards lifestyle content after moving to Japan, with another shift in 2023 as he became a father. These changes to the types of videos PewDiePie produces could be the reason for his slightly waning subscriber count.

4. Justin Bieber

Canadian Justin Bieber is the musical artist with the most followers on YouTube. He joined YouTube in 2007 and, after coming second in a local singing competition, began posting himself performing song covers.

After his channel started to grow, he got the attention of his now manager and his record label. In 2008, he signed a recording contract.

Bieber continued to focus on his YouTube channel and growing his followers – known as “Beliebers.”

This most likely contributed to his early and continued success. He continues to post videos on YouTube alongside his music videos and promotional content, although his last upload was now over a year ago.

5. EminemMusic

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known as Eminem, is an American rapper who first gained success in 1996.

With a career spanning almost three decades and an impressive discography, he is one of the most successful music artists of all time.

Mathers joined YouTube in 2007 to leverage the platform and mostly posts music and promotional content.

His channel has continued to grow, and he has swapped places with Marshmello to become the fifth most-subscribed YouTube individual.

Eminem demonstrates that despite no longer being in the mainstream media spotlight, it’s still possible to maintain popularity with a dedicated audience.

6. Marshmello

American music artist and DJ Christopher Comstock, also known as Marshmello, joined YouTube in 2015.

For several years, he kept his identity hidden under a marshmallow-type helmet. In 2017, when his identity was revealed, he said on X (Twitter):

“I don’t take my helmet off because I don’t want or need fame. I’m genuinely trying to create something positive for people to connect with.”

The most popular videos on Comstock’s channel are music and lyric videos. He also posts cooking videos, how-tos, vlogs, and films.

Although he’s dropped down a position compared to 12 months ago, he’s still gained followers and released his new album “Sugar Papi.”

7. Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift is an American music artist. She pursued musical training from an early age, including acting and vocal training. She learned to play the guitar at age 12.

After moving to Nashville at age 14, Swift signed a recording contract at age 15 and quickly went on to achieve international fame. She is currently on a huge worldwide tour, which is showcasing her popularity around the globe.

She is now considered the reigning queen of pop, having recently won her fourth Grammy for Best Album, and even has her own academic conference called Swiftposium.

Swift is known for having dedicated fans, which was demonstrated when online trolls targeted her using improper use of AI technology, and her followers rushed to her defense online.

Swift uses her YouTube channel for music, but has also posted a series of videos showing her personal life backstage.

Her growing worldwide following has meant she’s now passed both Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande by millions of subscribers.

8. Ed Sheeran

Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE is a music artist from the UK. He first joined YouTube in 2006.

Sheeran began singing at age four and playing the guitar at 11. In 2004, he independently recorded and released his music. When he moved to London in 2008, he would busk on the streets.

In 2011, he began to gain traction until he became the successful and widely known artist he is today.

On YouTube, his channel started to take off in 2017 when he reached 10 million subscribers. Since then, his channel has escalated in popularity.

Sheeran’s channel is mostly music.

9. Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande-Butera is an American music artist and actress who began her dream of a music career at age 8.

Grande joined YouTube in 2007 and uploaded her first YouTube video, “Ain’t No Other Man.”

In 2008, Grande began performing professionally in a Broadway musical at the age of 15, and her fame grew as a TV actress.

In 2011, her cover songs on YouTube gained the attention of her record label and resulted in her being signed as a music artist.

Grande has become a highly successful music artist and mostly posts music on YouTube.

10. A4

Belarusian content creator Vladislav Andreyevich Bumaga, known online as Vlad A4 or simply A4, holds the position of one of the most popular Russian-speaking YouTubers.

He created his channel back in 2014, with A4 being a play on his last name, Bumaga, meaning “paper.”

In 2016, he released a video called “24 Hours in a Trampoline Centre,” which took his subscriber count from 200,000 to his first 1 million.

Now, with just over 51 million subscribers, he continues to upload a wide variety of challenges and vlog content featuring his friends, as well as promoting his branded products.

11. JuegaGerman

Chilean Germán Alejandro Garmendia Aranis, also known as JuegaGerman, produces comedy videos about everyday life and Let’s Play videos in Spanish.

Garmendia peaked in 2015-2017 when he had the second most-subscribed channel behind PewDiePie.

Garmendia has three channels on YouTube:

HolaSoyGerman, which he started first in 2011 and focused on comedy videos about everyday life.
HolaSoyGerman2.
JuegaGerman, which he started in 2013 as a Let’s Play video gaming channel.

12. Billie Eilish

American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell started her music career at age 14.

She wrote songs with her brother Finneas O’Connell for fun and uploaded them to SoundCloud.

Finneas wrote the song “Ocean Eyes” for his band but thought it would suit Billie’s voice better.

It drew the attention of music industry professionals, and within a year, she was signed to her record label.

The “Ocean Eyes” music video was posted to her YouTube channel in 2016 and started to grow her subscribers.

She has gone on to win a number of awards, including the Song of the Year at the 2024 Grammy Awards for “What Was I Made For?” which was written for the Barbie movie.

Despite not featuring in the top 30 most-subscribed YouTube individuals list, her aesthetic and lyrics have resonated with Gen Z – potentially helping to fuel her meteoric rise in popularity both online and offline.

Why YouTubers Are Significantly Influential For Online Marketers

Achieving a most-subscribed status on YouTube cements you as an influencer and enables you to make serious income.

Not only can YouTubers earn from ads on the videos, but they are also in demand as brand ambassadors for product placements, product reviews, and product collaborations.

Mere mentions of products and brands by an influencer can drive traffic and sales for brands.

Smart influencers use the exposure to diversify into many mainstream areas of collaboration and business to supplement their income and ensure longevity.

Much like top-level sports stars have always been in demand as brand ambassadors, influencers can be used for brand alignment.

This doesn’t just apply to YouTube, either. TikTok has risen in terms of popularity, with 65% of users relying on content creators to inform their purchasing decisions.

Influencers who can dominate one or even both of the platforms will be the ones to watch in the coming years.

Billie Eilish cracked the top 12 YouTube individuals in the last year, but her TikTok account is also featured in the top 30 most followed TikTok accounts, making her dominant across both platforms.

Influencer marketing is useful for online marketers to spread a message and reach a target audience. Influencers can be leveraged as part of specific campaigns, or to create hype around a product or brand.

Influencer marketing doesn’t have to be just for the big brands; influencers with only a few thousand engaged followers can help spread messages.

And for smaller brands, elevated exposure on social media can be a major benefit.

More resources:

Featured Image: Arsenii Palivoda/Shutterstock

By Chris Vasquez March 15, 2024

You use AWeber to get the right message to the right person at the right time, and we’re obsessed with making that happen.

We recently released several improvements to help you get in compliance with recent Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements to make sure your mail keeps getting where it’s supposed to go – plus some other helpful updates to help you build your list, and ultimately earn more.

🖱️ Set up your DKIM and DMARC records with just a few clicks

✅ Have confidence in your email authentication with the DKIM/DMARC checkers

💰 Easily accept donations with a donation landing page

👋 Onboard new subscribers more effectively with a 3-message welcome campaign

🧲 Grow your list using these new lead magnet templates

Set up DKIM / DMARC records with just a few clicks.

We’ve been working hard to make the process of getting DKIM and DMARC records set up for authentication faster and easier.

Now, if your domain name is managed through any of these providers you’ll be able to set up your DNS records automatically, without needing to manually create records.

Just click the “Fix Issue” link next to any domain you’d like to authenticate and if it’s supported, a wizard will kick off right inside of AWeber.

Have confidence in your email authentication.

If you do need to manually update your DNS records for DKIM and DMARC, we’ve been listening to feedback from people like you to make that process easier.

Validate your DMARC record – We’ll show you whether your DMARC is set up correctly, and show you what to fix if there are issues.

Get specific instructions for your domain host – If you need or choose to manually set up DNS records for your domain, we now give you a link to the specific instructions for your domain host.

Improvements to validation – Validation of DKIM and DMARC records have been dramatically improved based on feedback and testing to catch and give you feedback on fixing all sorts of issues that may arise with your records.

Easily accept donations with a donation landing page.

One of my teammates at AWeber also runs a non-profit that provides bicycles to people in need. He created a landing page to accept donations that was so successful that we just had to turn it into a template for you.

All you have to do is:

Create a new landing page.

Choose the “Donations via QR Code” template.

Replace the placeholder content with information about your organization.

Replace the placeholder QR codes with QR codes for your PayPal, Venmo, and/or Cash app accounts.

Publish your landing page!

Onboard subscribers more effectively with a 3-message welcome campaign.

In a recent newsletter I shared an interesting approach to a simple welcome series that was working for a friend of mine who owns her own business.

The response to that email was so positive that we created a campaign template for you to easily create a version of this campaign strategy for yourself.

To use this campaign, just:

Import the campaign into your account using the campaign code: d70b5a76-1844-49e9-9613-bfc364c5cc10

Customize the content in each message to speak about your specific offering and area of expertise.

Grow your list using these new lead magnet templates.

Lead magnets are incentives for people to sign up for your list. Something that offers enough value that they feel like it’s a good deal to give their email address for access.

It can be really easy to feel overwhelmed by the process of creating a lead magnet. But never fear! I created a few templates that you can just copy and modify to share with your own audience.

Just make a copy of one of the templates below by clicking the link, then go to File > Make a Copy in Google Docs.

By Sean Tinney March 21, 2024

Spring is a time for new beginnings, fresh starts, and warmer weather. And what better way to welcome the season than with some fun and colorful spring GIFs? 

GIFs have become a popular way to add some animation and personality to email campaigns. 

To help you enhance your email, and even your landing pages, our designers have created an amazing collection of spring GIFs. Plus GIFs for holidays and events that take place in the spring. Just scroll down to check them out for yourself.

So go ahead, find your favorite spring GIF and use it in your next email or landing page.

Download your spring GIFs

Downloading your GIFs are really easy:

Step 1: Find the animated spring GIF below that you want to use in your email.

Step 2: Save it by either right clicking the GIF and selecting “Save Image,” or by dragging the GIF to your desktop.

Step 3: Upload the GIF into your email platform. That’s it!

Related: Your guide to using GIFs in marketing emails

Add your favorite spring GIF to your AWeber account, and pull them into your email using the drag-and-drop message editor.

Not an AWeber customer yet? No problem, you can create a FREE account in no time. 

Spring GIFs

Easter GIFs

Mother’s day GIFs

Father’s day GIFs

Memorial day GIFs

Wedding GIFs

Start using your new GIFs today

Spring is only four short months, so start delighting your audience with these fun GIFs.

Do you have some ideas for our next spring GIFs? Just let us know in the comments below. I look forward to seeing the amazing concepts you come up with.

In a recent Yext Summit, 27-year search marketing expert Duane Forrester shared advice on how to become a better SEO and develop the skills to better anticipate where search marketing is headed.

Who Is Duane Forrester And Why His Advice Matters

Duane Forrester is one of the rare search marketers who has experience on both sides of the search box. He has 27 years of experience in the search industry with almost ten of those years spent as a Product Manager at Microsoft. He helped build and launch Bing Webmaster Tools, wrote the original Bing Webmaster Guidelines and worked with the Core Search and Spam Teams, as well as the teams who built and maintained Schema.org, Robotstxt.org and Sitemaps.org.

Five Steps To Become A Better SEO & Predict Future Trends

Duane said that in 2022 nobody was talking about AI. Now it’s been just over a year and it’s all that everyone is talking about. He said that’s an example of how SEO is one of the fastest changing industries and said that this has always been the normal pace.

What’s going on in AI is just another change in a history of changes, not all of it visible to the search community.  Machine learning, neural networks, and AI have been a part of Search behind the scenes for many years, largely unseen and not always well understood, which underlines the importance of learning.

Duane said:

“…this industry requires a dedication to continual learning. All the time, there’s always something new. …Big steps, small steps, but it is constant.”

He suggested the following activities for attaining a strong SEO footing and maintaining it.

Research 60 minutes per day
Follow known experts
Use official sources for SEO guidance
The value of developer resources
Anticipate consumer trends

1. Research 60 Minutes Per Day

Duane recommended setting aside time for research.

He explained:

“…dedicate at least 60 minutes a day, an hour, to reading new sources and the official blogs, heck even the unofficial blogs, get in and read those things.”

For some it might sound like a lot of time to dedicate to researching something that they already know, SEO. But Duane is right and I’ll tell you why.

In 2005 I was caught by surprise when a Google engineer revealed that Google was using statistical analysis to identify unnatural links. It was a mind blowing moment that made it clear I had to start reading research papers to stay on top of the search engines were doing.

I contacted Duane about it and he said that now more than ever it’s important to research everything because SEO is changing so fast that at some point it might be inadequate to call it SEO anymore.

This is what he told me:

“Man, if things keep going the way they are, we will ALL need to learn a new profession. It simply won’t be called SEO if it’s on the front edge of what’s coming.

Bottom line, if you’re not investing in the work now, there is not going to be a tomorrow. Sorry, this train is stopping. A new train will be departing the station shortly – I suggest you get on it.”

2. Follow Known Experts

Duane asserts that it’s important to keep an open mind and absorb what others have to say. It’s consider that this is a person with 27 years experience who is saying how important it is for him to read what others are saying. So if it’s important for him it should be important for everyone else.

Duane recommends:

“Follow known experts on Twitter and LinkedIn threads, Bluesky, TikTok, wherever they have an account, go find it. If it’s on medium, sign up. If it’s on Substack sign up.

Make sure you’re getting direct access. You don’t want to rely on what someone said they read. Go read these things yourself. It makes a big difference in your understanding. Listen to the podcasts, watch the webinars, follow their YouTube channels and acknowledge you will be drinking from a fire hose.”

3. Use Official Sources For SEO Guidance

Duane emphasized the importance of getting as much information direct from the search engines. For the normal sources of official information (Search Central, Developer blog, Webmaster Tools) he said to keep those bookmarked and ready to be checked every day. But he also advised to expand your sources of information to sources most people don’t go to.

This is what he said about alternative sources:

“So for SEOs, you wanna be looking for Microsoft, Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Baidu, and Naver. And before you say, but why Yahoo? It’s because they’re doing a lot over the last year with search and they are poised to do even more in the next 18 months. So pay attention to what they’re doing. They’re not investing in this because they don’t think there’s a reason to do so. They very much believe there is room for them in this market, and I bet consumers will agree with them.”

4. The Value Of Developer Resources

This part of his keynote is interesting because it’s about looking at where the industry is going to be 18 months in the future. Part of engaging with developer resources is understanding the technology but he also sees it as an opportunity to get ahead of everyone else by seeing where the consumers are going (because the money will follow them).

Duane recommended developer-focused resources at Meta, Amazon, Apple, TikTok, OpenAI because those are the companies that are developing the customer experiences that impact consumer behavior. He has a point. Shein revolutionized how clothing is marketed by sidestepping search altogether by targeting consumers on social media in ways that appealed to them.

Duane said:

“I also urge you take a look at what’s going on for developers, and there’s a very important reason for this. META, Amazon, Apple, TikTok, OpenAI, they all have dedicated locations for developers to come in and engage with our latest products and services…

The reason it’s important to pay attention to this is because these are the companies that are developing the customer experiences and understand how those customer experiences impact customer action and behavior. These are the official sources where those experiences are rolled out, talked about, and developers can engage with them.”

5. Anticipate Consumer Trends

One of the things that I found interesting was how he kept returning to how technology affects the customer experience and their behavior. When he talks about Apple or Meta it’s in the context of how they’re influencing customer behavior he also ties that to how money follows the consumers.

For example, in our conversation he mentioned the prospect of an ad-free AI search and said that we have to think about where that advertising money is going to go.

“This is leaning towards “staying on top of your game” and we have to talk about how “search” is being expanded across new platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.).

So knowing how they’re thinking about business models and such becomes a very important part of the game. If ChatGPT launches an ad-free search experience, and their current consumers adopt it (100 million active monthly users), how does this affect current search models built on top of advertising? How does this affect how teams are tasked with work inside of brands, which skills are in demand, where does ad money move to?”

Do you see what he’s doing there? He’s looking at technological trends today and then thinking where it is headed and how that affects which jobs will be in demand and where advertising and consumer spending is headed.

I’ve known Duane for almost twenty years and he’s always doing that kind of thing where he puts context on what’s happening now and what it means for the future. Those questions he asks show how to anticipate where the industry is headed .

His Yext keynote ended with a hockey analogy:

“You do not want to skate to where the puck is. You want to skate to where the puck is going to be. The greatest hockey players who have ever played the sport knew that and acted on it every time they took to the ice.

Skating to where the puck is is a sure way to miss the point and fall behind. Skating to where it will be is how you stay in front and on top of things. And you can get there by being curious, learning continuously and building a robust network.”

Watch Duane Forresters’s keynote:

How to Keep Up with SEO Best Practices

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Artem Samokhvalov

Pearson Partners International is thrilled to announce its recognition for the third time by Forbes as one of America’s Best Executive Search Firms.

In today’s complex economic and geopolitical climate, C-suite executives face myriad challenges in the workplace, including employee burnout and stress, increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the drive for sustainable business practices and increased workplace transparency. A recent Deloitte global survey revealed that nearly 70 percent of C-suite executives are considering leaving their positions in pursuit of those that better support their well-being.

Amidst this potentially significant job turnover, Forbes has collaborated with market research company Statista to identify America’s Best Executive Search Firms.

Pearson Partners International has earned this prestigious accolade three times in the seven years Forbes has compiled the list, including the inaugural year in 2017, again in 2018 and for a third time in 2023.

We are honored to be recognized again by Forbes as one of America’s Best Executive Search Firms. This acknowledgment is a testament to our commitment to exceptional service and our clients’ trust. – Keith Pearson, Chairman & CEO

Keith Pearson, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Pearson Partners International, said, “We congratulate our search industry colleagues—especially our fellow IIC Partners firms sharing this prestigious recognition: Dinte Executive Search in Washington, Ellig Group in New York; Furst Group in Chicago and Salveson Stetson Group in Philadelphia.”

Renee Arrington, Pearson Partners International President & COO, added, “We are delighted to be in such esteemed company. Our fellow honorees embody our core values of quality and integrity. It is especially a privilege to work with and collaborate alongside our U.S.-based IIC Partners firm leaders joining us on this year’s Forbes list—Samuel Dinte, Janice Ellig, Bob Clarke, Sherrie Barch, Sally Stetson, Keith Pearson and our team at Pearson Partners International.”

Partnering with Forbes, Statista surveyed 5,200 external recruiters, HR leaders, internal hiring managers and candidates to solicit their recommendations and assessments of executive recruiting firms with whom they had recently worked. The firms that received the highest scores made it onto the list of the top 150 companies specializing in filling positions with salaries of at least $100,000.

View the 2023 Forbes list of America’s Best Executive Search Firms.

Stephen P. Konstans, a former Senior Vice President at Pearson Partners International, was featured in an Oracle NetSuite study on the increasing rise of the CFO to CEO, with insight and tips for CFOs for a successful ascent to CEO. Pearson Partners summarizes this transformative study below. Read the full article and a comprehensive breakdown on NetSuite.com.

In the first half of 2022, the promotion of chief financial officers to chief executive officers reached an all-time high, marking an upward trend over the last two decades. Today’s market uncertainties and challenges have heightened the need for business leaders with financial and analytical acuity, making the selection of the CFO as CEO even more appealing to boards and stakeholders.

Stephen P. Konstans, a former Senior Vice President at Pearson Partners International, attributes this upward trend to rising interest rates, inflation, global uncertainty and supply chain disruption. “[These factors] cause boards to be even more interested in getting somebody who can guide the ship from a financial perspective,” says Konstans.

Twenty years ago, the COO was typically the primary stepping stone to the CEO. However, the landscape is shifting. According to the 2022 Volatility Report from executive search firm Crist|Kolder Associates, 8 percent of surveyed CEOs at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies advanced from CFO roles, up from 5.6 percent a decade ago.

The breadth of the CFO remit and increasing responsibilities—including managing risk and compliance with ESG (environmental, social and governance) and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mandates—have primed CFOs for the top leadership position. According to Konstans, CFOs have always been natural successors to CEOs because of their comprehensive involvement in company affairs. “That’s by default,” Konstans says, “because of all the things they’re brought in on in typical companies.”

5 Insights for CFOs and Finance Executives Seeking the CEO Seat:

Internal Promotions and Organizational Culture: CEOs are more likely to be recruited from within during economic volatility, often because boards and search committees are less likely to take on the risk of hiring externally. Company culture can also influence the process, says Konstans. For example, a sales-focused company often promotes its chief revenue officer, while an engineering-oriented company may promote its chief operating officer. However, broad oversight and an expanded role make the CFO the likely choice for CEO for most businesses.

“Uncertain economic times put more emphasis on getting somebody who is a financial expert into that CEO seat.”

Relationships with Boards and Stakeholders: A successful transition to CEO hinges on strong relationships with board members and stakeholders (both internal and external) built on trust and transparent communication. Intangible qualities like emotional intelligence, informed prioritization, problem-solving skills, effective communication and strong leadership traits are crucial for these relationships.

Academic Credentials: While an Ivy League degree is not a prerequisite, an MBA or similar qualification increases the chances of a CFO’s promotion to CEO. While the number of CPAs has declined among CFOs over the last five years, more than half have earned an MBA. This educational pursuit showcases a CFO’s commitment to professional development, according to Konstans.

Challenging Stereotypes: People often label CFOs as risk-averse, introverted, lacking creativity and poor managers. To effectively transition to CEO, CFOs must challenge these stereotypes by demonstrating their ability to take risks, show creativity and lead effectively.

“CFOs I’ve worked with who sought the top job are rarely driven by ego, but rather a desire to leave the company better than they found it. Typically, it’s the opportunity to build something, leave your imprint on something, feel like you’re doing something meaningful.”

Prepared Succession: CFOs aspiring to step up to CEO should groom strong successors, making it easier for boards to consider them for promotion. Formal succession planning is vital considering that most CFO hires—72 percent, according to a Pearson Partners study spearheaded by Konstans, are recruited externally. “If you want that opportunity, you need to show that you can build, develop, mentor and have the right people in the right seats,” says Konstans.

“Good leaders get intrinsic value by putting their stamp on the organization and helping the people behind them achieve. There is a much more natural tendency among those CFOs to want to bring others along. ”

Bottom Line

With today’s market challenges, chief financial officers are increasingly ascending to chief executive officers—perhaps more so than in any other decade in recent history. CFOs and financial executives can take vital steps early in their careers to position themselves as the best candidate for the CEO seat.

Read the full article and a comprehensive breakdown of insight and tips on Oracle NetSuite.com.