One in Three Media Contacts Cannot Be Verified as Deliverable

The finding

Of 29,083 published journalist records, 65.2% verify as deliverable and 33.5% return a risky result. That is our own database, published openly, and it is the honest state of media contact data industry-wide.

Anyone advertising a 100% verified media list is either re-checking every address immediately before every send, or counting something other than what the word implies.

What risky actually means

Risky is not a synonym for dead. Verification systems return it when they cannot get a definitive answer, and the most common cause is a catch-all domain that accepts mail for any address, so the individual mailbox cannot be confirmed. Many large media organisations run exactly this configuration.

A risky address may reach the journalist perfectly. It may also land in a mailbox nobody has opened since a restructure. The verification layer genuinely cannot tell you which, and a vendor who claims otherwise is guessing.

Why the number can never reach 100%

Journalism has high turnover. Reporters change beats, move titles, go freelance and get made redundant continuously, and none of that generates a notification to anyone holding their address. A media database is a photograph of a moving subject.

The useful question is not whether a list is perfect. It is what happens when it is wrong — whether the vendor replaces bounced contacts, how recently the addresses were checked, and whether they will tell you the real figure when asked.

What to do about it

• Ask for the deliverable percentage and treat a refusal, or a 100% claim, as the answer.
• Check the bounce policy. Replacement of bad contacts matters more than the accuracy claim.
• Verify immediately before a large send rather than relying on a check from months ago.
• Send in batches so a bad segment does not damage your sending reputation all at once.

Questions worth asking any media data vendor

Accuracy claims are largely unfalsifiable at the point of sale, so the useful questions are about process rather than percentages.

• “What share of your contacts currently verify as deliverable?” A specific number under 100% is a good sign. A refusal, or a round 100%, tells you what you need.
• “When was this segment last checked?” Not the database as a whole — the contacts you are buying.
• “What happens when a contact bounces?” Replacement or credit is the meaningful commitment; an accuracy claim is not.
• “How do you handle catch-all domains?” A vendor who counts unverifiable addresses as verified is inflating the number, and this question surfaces it.
• “Can I see a sample before buying?” The answer to this predicts the answers to the others.

None of this requires technical knowledge. It requires being willing to ask a question the sales process is designed not to invite.

Methodology

These figures come from the 29,083 published journalist records in the Media List database, spread across 2,993 news outlets, measured on 15 August 2026.

Only published records are counted — the ones a customer can actually reach. Deliverability states are supplied by third-party address verification and reflect the most recent check on each address. Outlet size means the number of journalists we hold at that outlet, which is a floor on its real newsroom headcount rather than an exact count.

You are welcome to cite these findings with attribution to Media List.