Building on Momentum: What’s Ahead for Atlas Obscura

This note was sent out today by Atlas Obscura’s CEO & Publisher, Louise Story:

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Dear Partners and Friends,

We’re entering 2026 with extraordinary momentum.

Last year marked a breakthrough year for Atlas Obscura. Our community grew stronger and more engaged—audience engagement surged across our platform and social channels. We added 2,232 new places to our proprietary map, accelerating our pace of community interaction.

The New York Times named us a must-visit mobile app for road trips, joining Fast Company and Forbes who listed us as an essential app in their year-end roundups. We were featured as an entire category on Jeopardy! in the fall. Comedian Alex Edelman told New York Magazine we’re an app he “can’t live without.” We appeared on NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” program. Our work is showing up pretty much anytime people talk about where to go and what matters in travel.

The recognition also came in the form of awards and official recognitions. Charlie’s Place, our five-part documentary about an integrated nightclub in Jim Crow-era Myrtle Beach, landed on The Atlantic’s “20 Best Podcasts of 2025″ and the BBC’s “10 of the Best Podcasts of 2025 So Far.” We won 8 Signal Awards—including Golds for History, DEI, and Documentary in Brand Storytelling. We also took home a Webby Award and a James Beard Award.

Our content resonated. We launched major projects like Feast and our American roadtrip series. Our “Where to Visit in 2026” list sparked wanderlust. We introduced a new Gastro Obscura newsletter. We published Inventing the World, a children’s book celebrating inventions from around the globe. And we rolled out product features our audience loves—like the 50 State Map, with more digital innovations coming soon.

Behind the scenes, we built an incredible team for what comes next. We welcomed award-winning talent including Kelly McEvers as co-host of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, Natalie Moore as Head of Product, Lauren Johnston and Emma Patti as content leaders, and numerous accomplished professionals to our board. They joined a seasoned team of leaders including Sara Ewell, our Chief Revenue Officer, Daniel Sobo, SVP of Technology and Engineering, and Doug Baldinger, Chief Content Officer of AO Entertainment.

And, last but not least, we achieved something critical: our first-ever year of profitability as well as our highest-ever revenues. Atlas Obscura has been around 16 years, and we are thrilled to be operating at a fast pace of growth as well as profitability.

Now we’re ready to transform. This year, we’re evolving from a content brand into a comprehensive travel platform that serves our millions of curious explorers in powerful new ways. We’re building on our beloved brand, our 30,000+ wondrous places, surging engagement, and cultural momentum to fundamentally change how people discover and experience the world.

The energy around Atlas Obscura right now is extraordinary. Thank you for being part of it. We can’t wait to show you more of what we’re building.

With gratitude and excitement,
Louise

About Atlas Obscura

Atlas Obscura is the leading community-focused travel platform inspiring wonder and curiosity about the world’s most remarkable places. Through its award-winning content, unique experiences, and community-driven platform featuring more than 30,000 wondrous places, Atlas Obscura serves millions of passionate travelers seeking authentic, off-the-beaten-path discoveries. The company publishes bestselling books including the No. 1 New York Times bestseller “Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders,” and operates digital products that help people find amazing things to do when they are traveling.

For more information about Atlas Obscura, visit http://www.atlasobscura.com.

For questions or media requests, please contact Rebecca Cruz at rebecca@atlasobscura.com.