The Athletic uses comment counts to highlight its most discussion-worthy content. It's something more publishers should experiment with.

Getting people to click on articles is becoming increasingly difficult. We’ve been lazily conditioned by big tech’s greed, and it shows no sign of slowing.

To combat this, we have to build and own audiences and get better at marketing. Publishers need to work harder to make their content appealing, particularly on the surfaces they control.

The Athletic does something very simple on its homepage that more publishers should consider: It shows readers how many comments selected articles have generated.

Now part of the world’s most successful publisher, The Athletic has gone from strength to strength in recent times. In Q2 of 2025, revenue was up one-third to $54 million with an adjusted operating profit of $5.8 million. Hell, even ad revenue nearly doubled to $14.1 million.

Safe to say The New York Times, and by extension The Athletic, are publishing’s most profitable case study. They are worth listening to.

It tells you, dear apathetic reader, which articles are generating discussion. It’s an extremely simple, clever use of social proof.

People are naturally drawn to things other people are interested in. And every publisher is trying to create a community. These comment counts signal which articles are generating discussion among its audience. Arguably other like-minded people.

If one article has 500 comments and another has just one, all things being equal, I’m far more likely to click on the former. It has piqued my curiosity.

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