The Pudding
The Pudding is a Brooklyn-based digital publication founded in 2017 that creates interactive, data-driven visual essays on cultural and social topics. It serves general readers free of charge, funded by Patreon subscriptions, merchandise sales, and reader tips, with a commercial arm, Polygraph Studio, handling brand partnerships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersBrooklyn, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What The Pudding does
The Pudding is a privately held digital publication founded in 2017 and based in Brooklyn, New York. It produces visual data essays — long-form, interactive web stories that use scroll-driven animations, programmatic data visualizations, and multimedia formats to analyze cultural, social, consumer, and linguistic topics ranging from women's clothing sizing and pocket-fit disparities to K-pop generational history, restaurant menu archives, and 200,000 similes drawn from popular fiction. As of June 2026 the publication has produced 223+ numbered essays, distributed freely at pudding.cool and surfaced through a broad social presence spanning Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, RSS, and an email newsletter. Notable analytical methodologies include natural language processing pipelines combining grammatical pattern matching, LLM validation, and embedding similarity; algorithmic spatial testing with the largestRect() function; and statistical anthropometric analysis using ASTM standards and National Center for Health Statistics reference data.
The Pudding operates on a community-supported publishing model in which all editorial content is offered free of charge. Revenue is generated through voluntary reader contributions — a $2/month Patreon subscription program, branded merchandise sales through a Printify storefront (t-shirts, stickers), and reader tips via Stripe integrated on individual article pages. The team is small, reported as 1–10 employees, and the publication has no disclosed venture backing, parent company, or public listing.
A separate commercial entity, Polygraph Studio (polygraph.cool), functions as the brand-partnership and sponsored-content arm of The Pudding, handling external client work in data visualization and editorial production. Named contacts include Jan Diehm and Michelle Pera-McGhee. The company reports no enterprise software product, mobile app, or subscription paywall — its offerings are editorial stories, not licensed technology products.
The Pudding firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Pudding
- Legal name
- The Pudding
- Website
- https://pudding.cool
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- The Pudding is a Brooklyn-based digital publication founded in 2017 that creates interactive, data-driven visual essays on cultural and social topics. It serves general readers free of charge, funded by Patreon subscriptions, merchandise sales, and reader tips, with a commercial arm, Polygraph Studio, handling brand partnerships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Pudding industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Journalism / Data Storytelling
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Newsletter & Email Digest Aggregators (MPACAKAG)
Keywords
Where The Pudding is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brooklyn
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
The Pudding business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Patreon Subscriptions: Monthly recurring subscriptions from supporters on Patreon at $2/month. Provides community funding for the editorial team.
- Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise including t-shirts and stickers through Printify storefront.
- Reader Tips: Voluntary tips via Stripe integrated on article pages, often supporting specific authors or stories.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Patreon Support - $2/month |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
The Pudding product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Pudding is a digital publication that creates visual data essays and interactive stories explaining ideas through data-driven journalism and design. Each issue combines original data collection/analysis with scroll-driven web animations and interactive visualizations on cultural, social, and consumer topics. The publication distributes content free to readers and monetizes through voluntary reader support (Patreon subscriptions, tips, and branded merchandise).
Product overview
The Pudding is a digital publication that creates visual data essays and interactive stories analyzing cultural, social, and consumer topics through data-driven journalism. The publication publishes periodic story installments (numbered issues) covering diverse subjects such as women's clothing sizing, pocket disparities, language analysis, music patterns, and social phenomena. The Pudding does not offer a software platform or technology product—it is a content-driven editorial publication whose 'products' are its written and visual data stories, not software applications or services.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- The Pudding Visual Data Essays Long-form interactive visual data essays published on pudding.cool combining original data analysis with scroll-driven animations, data visualizations, and multimedia storytelling on cultural, social, and consumer topics. Free public access; funded by reader support.
- Polygraph Studio Commercial arm of The Pudding (polygraph.cool) that handles brand partnerships, sponsored content projects, and data visualization services for external clients seeking data-driven storytelling.
- The Pudding Branded Merchandise Branded merchandise including t-shirts and stickers sold via a Printify storefront at the-pudding.printify.me to support The Pudding's editorial operations.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 220 published visual data essays on diverse topics
Companies that use The Pudding
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The Pudding technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
The Pudding partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Polygraph StudiocorePolygraph Studio (polygraph.cool) is the commercial studio arm of The Pudding, handling brand partnerships, sponsored content projects, and data visualization services for external clients.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Pudding competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Pudding social profiles
Digital presenceThe Pudding financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Pudding leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
The Pudding funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Pudding M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Pudding
What does The Pudding do?
The Pudding is a digital publication that creates visual data essays and interactive stories explaining ideas through data-driven journalism and design. Each issue combines original data collection/analysis with scroll-driven web animations and interactive visualizations on cultural, social, and consumer topics. The publication distributes content free to readers and monetizes through voluntary reader support (Patreon subscriptions, tips, and branded merchandise).
Is The Pudding a public or private company?
The Pudding is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was The Pudding founded?
The Pudding was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is The Pudding based?
The Pudding is headquartered in Brooklyn, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Pudding make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Patreon Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are merchandise Sales and reader Tips.
Does The Pudding have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Pudding.
What industry is The Pudding in?
The Pudding's product category is Digital Journalism / Data Storytelling. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAKAG, Newsletter & Email Digest Aggregators. Its NAICS code is 516210 and its SIC code is 2741.