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How to Get Featured in The Times

The Times — the daily flagship of News UK — remains one of the most reputationally consequential UK newspapers a brand or expert can earn coverage in. A single feature in The Times Business section, Bricks & Mortar, Times Money Mentor or Times Style materially moves recruitment, capital-raise and B2B sales conversations, and it is a recurring credibility signal that compounds over time. But The Times has approximately 60 commissioning editors and named correspondents across its sections and supplements, and a pitch sent to the wrong one almost always gets deleted unread. This guide explains exactly how to get featured in The Times in 2026 — from finding the right named journalist to crafting the pitch, timing the send, and following up without becoming a nuisance.

Written for UK founders, in-house comms managers, agency-curious operators and senior experts, this is a tactical guide grounded in what consistently works on the Times newsdesk in 2026.

Step 1: Decide which Times section is the right home for your story

The Times is not a single publication — it is a federation of sections, each with its own editor, audience and editorial cycle. Pitch into the wrong section and the response rate collapses.

  • News — fast-moving, hard-news desk; pitch only when you have genuine news (regulatory, market-moving, scoop-grade).
  • Business — corporate, City and economy reporting; the home for funding rounds, deal announcements, executive moves, sector commentary.
  • Times Money / Times Money Mentor — personal finance, mortgages, savings, investments, pensions, tax.
  • Times Style (Saturday) — fashion, beauty, celebrity, lifestyle long-reads.
  • Bricks & Mortar (Friday) — prime and super-prime residential property, country houses, design.
  • Times2 (weekday features) — health, family, culture, identity, columnists.
  • Saturday Review — books, ideas, long-form non-fiction.
  • Times Magazine (Saturday) — in-depth profile features, photography essays.
  • The Sunday Times — entirely separate editorial operation: News Review, Business, Money, Style, Home, Travel, Magazine, Culture.
  • The Times Tech — has a dedicated technology beat covering AI, fintech, B2B SaaS and consumer tech.
  • The Times Health Commission and Health pages — healthcare, NHS, life sciences, mental health.

Step 2: Find the named journalist who actually covers your topic

Generic pitches to news@thetimes.co.uk rarely land. Three reliable ways to identify the right named journalist:

  • Read the section. Spend 30 minutes reading the last fortnight of articles in your target section. Note the bylines that recur on stories closest to your angle.
  • Use a UK media database. Cision, Roxhill, ResponseSource and Muck Rack maintain UK journalist contact lists with named bylines, beats and recent articles. Roxhill is particularly strong for UK national-newspaper coverage.
  • Use LinkedIn. Most Times journalists are on LinkedIn; search by employer and beat. Connect with a brief, relevant note rather than a cold pitch.

Twitter / X is still useful but less reliable in 2026; many UK journalists have moved to Bluesky, Threads or are off public social entirely. Email remains the dominant pitch channel.

Step 3: Build a pitch that solves a problem for the journalist

The single biggest variable separating pitches that get covered from pitches that get deleted is whether the pitch makes the journalist’s job easier or harder. A useful test: would receiving this pitch save the journalist three hours of work today?

Strong UK pitches in 2026 typically include:

  • A specific, fresh angle that has not been written about in the past six months — not a recycled think-piece.
  • Original data — a UK-specific survey, dataset, internal numbers shared exclusively, or a Freedom of Information request result.
  • Named UK case studies with informed consent to be named.
  • A senior, articulate spokesperson available within 24 hours for a 15-minute interview.
  • A clear UK news hook — a regulatory change, a date in the calendar, a Bank of England decision, a market event.
  • An offer of exclusivity — The Times consistently rewards exclusives over mass blasts.

Step 4: Write the pitch email itself

The pitch email should be short — ideally 100 – 180 words. Structure:

  • Subject line: a 6 – 12 word headline that previews the story angle. Avoid generic subject lines like “Press Release” or “Story Idea”.
  • First sentence: the news hook — why this story is relevant now.
  • Second paragraph (2 – 3 sentences): the substantive angle — what is new, what data supports it, who is involved.
  • Third paragraph: what you can offer — exclusivity, named spokesperson, original data, named case studies, supporting assets.
  • Sign-off: direct phone number, role, organisation, response timeframe.

Step 5: Time the send

UK industry surveys consistently show that 6:30am – 9:30am Tuesday to Thursday is the highest-response-rate window for pitching UK national-newspaper journalists. Avoid Mondays (newsdesk planning), Fridays (deadline crunch), school holidays, the week between Christmas and New Year, and the days surrounding major Bank of England rate decisions, Budget days and election results when newsdesks are saturated.

For The Sunday Times, the Tuesday – Wednesday window of the week of publication is the live editorial window for that Sunday’s editions; pitches outside that window are usually held for the following week.

Step 6: Follow up — once, briefly

If you have not heard back after five to seven UK working days, send a one-sentence follow-up referencing the original subject line and offering one new piece of information (a fresh data point, a reaction quote, a new source). After that, move on — chasing a third or fourth time damages future relationships.

What gets featured in The Times in 2026

  • Original UK data — surveys of 1,000+ UK respondents with a clear methodology and a finding that subverts a conventional view.
  • Named UK case studies — a real UK person, family or business affected by a sector trend, willing to be photographed and quoted.
  • Senior expert commentary on a breaking UK news story, delivered within hours of the news breaking.
  • Counter-intuitive findings — something that contradicts a widely held assumption, supported by data.
  • Exclusive announcements with embargoed pre-briefing.
  • Investigative tip-offs supported by document evidence (these sit with the news desk).
  • Long-form profile material on subjects with genuine public interest.

What does not get featured

  • Mass-blasted press releases with no exclusive angle.
  • Generic awareness-day pegs without a UK angle.
  • Product launches without a wider story angle.
  • Pitches to the wrong section.
  • Pitches with overstated claims that do not survive a 30-second fact check.
  • Pitches without a named, available spokesperson.
  • Sponsored-style content disguised as editorial.

Working with a specialist UK PR agency

For most UK businesses, working with a specialist PR agency that already has named relationships at The Times will out-perform internal efforts because the agency has been working those relationships for years and can place the right story with the right journalist within days rather than months. Typical UK pricing for a programme aimed at sustained Times-tier coverage:

  • Project basis: £8,000 – £25,000 to land a single major Times feature, including narrative development, original-data production and senior-editor relationship work.
  • Retainer basis: £7,000 – £18,000 per month for a programme that produces 1 – 2 named tier-one placements per quarter (The Times, FT, Telegraph) plus sustained tier-two volume.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay The Times to feature me?

No — The Times editorial pages are unpaid. Sponsored content is clearly labelled and sold separately by the commercial team; it does not give the same trust signal as earned editorial.

Should I pitch The Times by phone or email?

Email is the strong default in 2026. Phone calls are typically tolerated only for breaking-news scoops or established relationships.

How quickly do Times journalists respond?

Same day for breaking-news pitches; 1 – 5 working days for feature pitches; sometimes never. A response rate of 10 – 25 per cent is typical for well-targeted, well-written pitches.

Is The Sunday Times easier or harder to land than The Times?

The Sunday Times often has more space for long-form features and original data. The bar for the news pages is similar; the bar for News Review and Magazine is higher. Treat the two papers as separate editorial operations.

Do The Times require a press release?

A press release is rarely the right format for The Times. A targeted pitch email plus supporting data and named case studies works better. The press release becomes useful only after the journalist commits to writing the story.

Next steps

Pick one section of The Times where your story most naturally lives. Identify three named journalists who cover your beat. Draft a 150-word pitch email that solves a problem for them. Send it on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning. Follow up once after five working days. If you have done all of that and nothing has worked, the issue is usually the angle — not the pitching.

For deeper context, see our how to get media coverage guide, our PR pitch template, and our guides to getting featured in Forbes and getting on Sky News.