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How do I show a media outlet's reach and standing?

Key answer

SimilarWeb alone does not work - the community has seen RFEs where the officer explicitly called such data insufficient. The working package: the outlet's media kit with audience figures, its registration certificate, a letter from the outlet about your article, and mentions of the outlet in other major media. A combination of factors decides, not one metric.
Check a journal or outlet for the petition

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • Request media kits from publications; they usually specify the audience. Supplement with articles from other major media outlets where your publication is mentioned as authoritative, include proof of media registration, and a statement from the publication about your article.

  • Fresh NOID: the officer once again wrote that SimilarWeb is irrelevant. Such or similar phrases appear in every second or third RFE regarding this criterion.

  • I had a website for a leading business media outlet with huge traffic and a print industry journal with a tiny circulation - both were accepted. It's not about one factor but their combination: publication status, audience, article content.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Why "Published material about you" gets refused

Accepted in 24% of challenged petitions (47 of 200); not an approval rate.

The platform accepts user-generated and marketing content. Where anyone can post, the officer has no assurance of editorial selection or independence.

All refusal grounds and the sample

Sources

All questions on: Media about you

Related on this site

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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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