What crstoday does

Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today (CRST) is a private medical media and continuing medical education (CME) platform serving a global audience of 10,972 cataract and refractive surgeons. Its core product is a monthly clinical publication covering cataract surgery, refractive surgery, cornea, ocular surface disease, comorbidities, practice management, and technology and imaging. The platform's underlying technology is a digital content management and publishing system supporting a content library of 2,455+ articles accumulated since 2006, hosted on crstoday.com and extending into podcasts (CRST: The Podcast, Eyewire News: The Podcast, Ophthalmology Off the Grid, Pupil Pod), video series (Innovation Journal Club, Inside the Wills OR, and the peer-reviewed Video Journal of Cataract, Refractive, and Glaucoma Surgery), and CME/CE programming (including the KOL KNOCKOUT series). Distribution spans the owned website, the Eyetube/Eyewire network, ReachMD Radio live broadcasts, and a print subscription layer, with sub-brands such as YoungMD Connect (targeting younger ophthalmologists) and Eyewire News extending the footprint.

CRST's business model is a classic niche medical-media hybrid: advertiser-funded (with ad sales routed through the BMC Today media network at [email protected]) supplemented by print subscription revenue and CME/CE program delivery to physicians and optometrists. The company's self-stated value proposition for advertisers is targeted reach: content is explicitly tailored to cataract and refractive surgeons rather than retina or general ophthalmology, positioning CRST as a cost-effective vehicle for industry marketing messages from IOL, laser, and intraoperative technology manufacturers. Geographic reach includes audiences in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Turkey, China, Singapore, Argentina, and Greece. The entity is privately held, has no disclosed parent company, no public ticker, no funding rounds on record, and no disclosed headcount or revenue, which limits visibility into ownership structure and operating scale.

Name

crstoday

Legal name

Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today

Website

https://crstoday.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CRST is a monthly medical publication and continuing medical education platform serving cataract and refractive surgeons globally. It delivers clinical articles on surgical techniques, complications management, practice management advice, and the latest ophthalmic technological advances through print, digital, podcast, video, and CME program channels.

Product overview

Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today (CRST) is a medical publication platform serving ophthalmic surgeons with a unified content ecosystem. The core offering is the monthly CRST publication covering cataract surgery, refractive surgery, cornea, and practice management topics. This is complemented by an extensive multimedia portfolio including the CRST: The Podcast, Eyewire News: The Podcast, Ophthalmology Off the Grid, and Pupil Pod for audio education; Innovation Journal Club, Inside the Wills OR, and VJCRGS for video-based surgical education; and CME/CE programs (such as KOL KNOCKOUT series) for continuing medical education credits. The YoungMD Connect platform extends content access to younger ophthalmologists. The publication also organizes content by specialty topics including Cataract Surgery, Comorbidities, Cornea, Ocular Surface Disease, Practice Management, Refractive Surgery, Technology & Imaging, and General.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• YoungMD Connect: A separate platform/brand under CRST for young ophthalmologists
• Eyewire News
• CRST: The Podcast
• KOL KNOCKOUT

Products and services

• Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today (CRST)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Healio: Healio publishes specialty medical news, CME, and journal content including a dedicated ophthalmology channel. It directly overlaps CRST's editorial, CME, and audience-targeting model for practicing ophthalmologists.
• Ocular Surgery News: A long-running ophthalmology news and education publication serving cataract, refractive, and broader subspecialty surgeons. Comparable to CRST in editorial cadence, advertiser support model, and CME integration.
• EyeWorld: The official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), directly serving the same cataract and refractive surgeon audience CRST targets, with CME and meeting coverage.
• Review of Ophthalmology: Monthly clinical and practice-management publication for ophthalmologists, including cataract/refractive coverage. Competes for the same surgeon readership and advertiser dollars as CRST.
• Ophthalmology Times: A leading ophthalmology news and clinical publication covering cataract, refractive, glaucoma, and retina. Comparable multi-format, advertiser-supported model targeting practicing ophthalmologists.

Broad incumbents

• EyeNet Magazine (American Academy of Ophthalmology): The flagship clinical and news publication of the AAO, the largest U.S. ophthalmology professional society. Overlaps with CRST's clinical content and audience, but as part of a much broader society ecosystem.
• Medscape Ophthalmology: WebMD/Medscape's ophthalmology channel offering news, CME, and education to ophthalmologists. A larger, broader incumbent competing for the same digital attention and CME-credit demand as CRST.
• JAMA Ophthalmology: Peer-reviewed academic journal from the JAMA Network covering clinical ophthalmology research. Adjacent in audience and topic but differentiated as scholarly, society-tier publishing versus CRST's how-to clinical format.

Regional players

• mivision: An ophthalmology and optometry publication serving the Australia/New Zealand and Asia-Pacific region. Comparable audience and advertiser-supported model, but with primarily regional rather than global reach.

Emerging players

• DocWire News: Digital medical news and education network including specialty coverage. A digital-first challenger that competes for surgeon attention and advertiser share against established specialty publications like CRST.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/crstoday

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about crstoday