When is the best time to send a pitch?
And the three things you need to know before pressing send
You’ve got your pitch perfected and ready to go, so when should you press “send”?
There are all sorts of resources out there on the internet which confidently tell you the perfect time to fire off your pitch email. But which is right?:
Lots of media blogs cite this Muck Rack report which found pitches get the best response rates if they are sent between 10am and 2pm, Tuesday to Thursday.
But another Muck Rack report said most journalists were split between whether they preferred to receive pitches either between 6am and 9am, or 9am and 12noon.
And then 5W PR said they found the “sweet spot” for pitching is 9.30am to 11.30am (in the reporter’s local time).
Yet this report by Propel revealed response rates are highest for pitches sent between 12pm and 1pm or - controversially - 6pm to 7pm, but you should avoid 9am to 10am like the plague.
All of this advice, compiled by some of the best minds in the PR business, is completely contradictory. In fact, the only thing they all broadly agree on is that you should avoid Fridays (and yet I know some editors who dedicate Friday afternoons to reading pitches…).
So who on earth are you supposed to believe - and what really is the best time to pitch?
As a journalist who both pitches regularly to editors and receives hundreds of PR pitches a week, here are three questions I always ask myself to work out the best time to send a pitch:
1. Who are you pitching to?
I’m pretty sure there’s a really simple reason all of the reports above found a different “ideal” pitching time: they all asked different journalists.
Because the truth is there is no single time that works for every journalist at every publication.
Some reporters start work at 6am. Some do late shifts until gone midnight. Some websites publish everything at set times, others update continuously throughout the day. Every newsroom works to a slightly different schedule and each reporter’s job, hours and daily routine will be different.
The key is to focus on who you are pitching to and work out when they are most likely to be receptive to pitches.
Say, for example, you’re pitching a news release based on a report which is due to come out in the next few days.
The best time to pitch this to an online reporter covering breaking news is probably by 7am on the morning the report is released, so they’ve got something to put up there and then.
But that would be the worst time to pitch to a Sunday newspaper features editor - when it would be far too late for them to do anything about it. They’ll have wanted to see the report in advance at least a couple of weeks beforehand so they could commission a reporter to work on an in-depth article in time for the embargo lifting. (And yes, a Tuesday or a Wednesday is a good day to contact editors of weekend publications).
Tip: Use the guide!
To help you navigate different newsroom schedules, I’ve put together a comprehensive list of all the news conference times at major UK publications - check out the Get Featured 2025 Press Deadlines guide to discover the best times to pitch (and when to avoid).
2. What type of pitch are you sending?
Is it breaking news? An embargoed release? An exclusive story? All of these are best sent at different times, so understanding what you’re sending is as important as who you’re sending it to.
Breaking news
It’s usually best to send urgent news stories as early in the day as possible.
Editors compile a "news list” of the stories they’re planning to publish first thing in the morning, which gets agreed at a meeting of senior editors (a “conference”). And although this list gets updated throughout the day, to get onto the news list later, your story has to be strong enough to push something else off it.
So you’ve got the best chance of making that list in the first place if your story is in their inbox fresh and early, before that morning conference.
Of course, if you’ve got a major world exclusive, you can send that literally any time and it will still get picked up - but the typical story you or I send is probably best flagged up first thing in the morning.
The Press Deadlines guide explains exactly when each publications’ first conference of the day is - make sure you’re pitching at least half an hour ahead of that time.
Embargoed releases
I always send out stories a few days in advance of any embargo time, so journalists have enough time to prepare their version ready to go when the embargo lifts.
Exactly what time of day you send out an embargoed release doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as when you’re pitching breaking news, but it’s worth avoiding the morning rush so your email doesn’t get lost in the journalist’s inbox or forgotten about while they’re focused on urgent breaking stories.
Telegraph health editor Laura Donnelly shared some great advice on why she prefers to receive embargoed pitches in advance in our Q&A.
Personally, I usually pitch embargoed news stories around lunchtime a couple of days before the embargo lifts. No strategy has guaranteed success but the logic of this one is that journalists may actually read the email because it’s after the morning rush and before their afternoon deadlines start looming. (Bonus points if you manage to time if just after lunch so no one is hangry…)
Exclusives
If your exclusive is time-dependent, you’ll ideally pitch it as either a breaking news story or under an embargo (depending on the urgency). But for anything else, there’s much more flexibility over when you pitch.
The key with exclusive pitches is to make sure they catch the journalist’s attention - which means sending your email at a time when they’re not doing a million other things.
I aim to send my exclusive pitches when I know the journalist/editor I’m pitching to isn’t dealing with the morning rush or tied up on deadline (i.e. lunchtime ish). I want to leave plenty of time for them to work on the story - so at least a few days/weeks in advance, depending on the publication.
But this is publication-specific so you’ll need to do some research for each of your target outlets.
For news publications with a lunchtime edition (particularly broadcast outlets), for example, later in the afternoon (2-3pm) may be better timing. And if a newspaper section only comes out on a Wednesday, their Tuesday press day is probably a day to avoid…
3. What else is going on?
The Muck Rack State of Journalism 2024 report said one in 20 pitches is rejected because of “bad timing”. But I don’t think this necessarily means the release was sent at 4pm on a Friday and that annoyed the journalist so much they ignored a brilliant news story.
I think it’s just as likely that what the journalists meant by “bad timing” was it was just not the right time for that sort of story - and/or that it wasn’t the right time for them personally to work on it. Here are a few examples of what I mean:
Breaking news can take over
Major breaking or scheduled news events will take over a reporter’s time and make it difficult for them to pick up unrelated pitches - no matter how good they are.
With something unexpected, like the death of the Pope, being flexible and holding off pitching until after a major news event has passed is key. But some planned events - for example the day the Government announces the latest Budget - are also worth avoiding, as reporters from pretty much every specialism will be tied up covering that.
Match the story to what readers are experiencing
I’ve had stories pitched to me recently about tips for keeping cool, just as we were going through a freak cold wave. It’s bad timing because readers are just not going to be interested in keeping cool when they’re already freezing.
Stay flexible about when you pitch and if the story doesn’t match the wider circumstances, be realistic about that and try at a later date.
Be wary of awareness days
One of the reasons I go on about the downsides of pitching around awareness days/weeks/months is they often create “bad timing”. They mean journalists receive a glut of pitches on the same theme but, as their publication can still only run one or two stories on this topic, plenty of decent stories get overlooked. Pitching at any other time of year might be more successful.
Sometimes its personal
Individual commitments can also play a role in whether a pitch is “good timing”. For example, last week I was away covering a conference full-time and simply had no time to pick up emails about anything unrelated to the event I was covering - I’m still working through them to find out what I missed.
And sometimes there are reasons way beyond your control. The journalist you’re pitching to may be away on holiday or leave, or dealing with a personal crisis, or have just been made redundant…
All of these things make a pitch “bad timing” - through no fault on your part.
Tip: Look at the wider picture
Be aware of what else is going on in the news/world, what the journalist you’re pitching to is likely to be working on that day (are there any major announcements or reports planned?) and whether they’re at their desk that week (their social media accounts are a good place to find clues).
If it looks like they’re overwhelmingly busy or away, try another time!
Ready to send that pitch? Check out these Get Featured guides before you press the button:
Paid subscribers get every weekly pitching advice newsletter, including editor Q&As and real-life pitch examples, plus unlimited access to all the Get Featured pitching advice guides and toolkits.