# Brett Farmiloe: media room > CEO of Featured, HARO and Connectively. Brett runs three of the platforms that connect journalists with expert sources. He talks about PR in the AI era: why human pitches win, how earned media drives AI visibility, and what reviving HARO taught him. ## Fast facts - Role: Founder & CEO, Featured · CEO, HARO and Connectively - Based: Scottsdale, Arizona - Founded Featured: January 2022 (as Terkel; became Featured.com in 2023) - Acquired HARO: April 15, 2025, from Cision; relaunched April 22, 2025 - Relaunched Connectively: June 2, 2026 - HARO reach: 100M+ emails since the revival; sent at 5:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET - Pitch research: 1.4M+ pitches scored for AI authorship; human pitches accepted ~3× as often - Podcast appearances: 42 on 40 shows - Speaking: 100+ keynotes, including TEDx - Previously: Markitors, a digital marketing agency for small businesses (10 years, acquired 2021) ## The companies - [Featured](https://brettfarmiloe.com/companies/featured) — Founder & CEO. Featured.com is the co-pilot for PR. Experts and PR teams use it to find media opportunities and earn coverage across journalist requests, podcasts, bylines, speaking, awards, and GEO (generative engine optimization). - [Help a Reporter Out (HARO)](https://brettfarmiloe.com/companies/haro) — CEO. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) connects journalists with expert sources through a three-times-a-day email of journalist requests. Featured acquired HARO from Cision in April 2025 and revived it as a free service for journalists and sources, supported by newsletter ads. - [Connectively](https://brettfarmiloe.com/companies/connectively) — CEO. Connectively is the media-sourcing platform Cision launched as HARO’s successor in 2024. Featured acquired and revived it alongside HARO, relaunching Connectively on June 2, 2026. ## What Brett talks about ### AI-written pitches, and why human ones win About 21% of HARO pitches are fully AI-generated and 35% of journalists opt out of them. Human-written pitches are accepted about three times as often. - [Comms Confidential: 35% of Journalists Opt Out of AI Pitches](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/comms-confidential-brett-farmiloe-ai-pitches) - [Let's Talk PR & More: Why Your AI-Written Pitch Might Never Reach a Journalist](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/lets-talk-pr-and-more-ai-written-pitch) ### Earned media is how brands show up in AI Media mentions help with model mentions. AI is the new front page, and earned coverage is what the models trust. - [On Top of PR: Media Mentions Help With Model Mentions](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/on-top-of-pr) - [In Reality: AI Is the New Front Page | Brett Farmiloe on In Reality](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/in-reality-ai-is-the-new-front-page) - [PR Yourself: Your New Customer Is AI](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/pr-yourself-your-new-customer-is-ai) ### Reviving Help a Reporter Out Why Featured bought HARO from Cision, the harder line on spam and fake accounts, and rebuilding trust email by email. - [The BuzzStream Podcast: HARO Is Back: First Interview With the New Owner](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/buzzstream-haro-is-back) - [The Edward Show: HARO Is Back: The Guy Who Revived It](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/edward-show-haro-is-back) ### Getting experts in front of journalists One point of contact, a trusted core of 15 to 20 experts, and an outer tier. The operating model that works, from universities to brands. - [IN CLEAR FOCUS: How to Get Subject Matter Experts Into the Media](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/in-clear-focus) - [Public Relations Review: 42 Answers Per Query: How Featured and HARO Work](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/public-relations-review-featured-haro) ### Where journalism is going Influence has fragmented into podcasts and Substacks, and journalists now run several revenue streams. What that means for PR. - [Under Embargo: Eight Revenue Streams For Journalists](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/under-embargo-fragmented-influence) ## On the record > “Media mentions help with model mentions. Platforms like HARO are a great way to help boost up those media mentions so that your model mentions can start to increase.” > — Brett Farmiloe on [On Top of PR](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/on-top-of-pr), March 10, 2026 > “AI is the new front page. PR used to get you on the front page of newspapers. Backlinks used to get you on the front page of Google. And now you have a variety of ways to get you on the front page of AI.” > — Brett Farmiloe on [In Reality](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/in-reality-ai-is-the-new-front-page), May 30, 2026 > “Today's business day for a PR professional doesn't start where it used to be. It starts on Claude.” > — Brett Farmiloe on [Comms Confidential](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/comms-confidential-brett-farmiloe-ai-pitches), September 8, 2026 > “I think at the core of it, there's magic still to be had at Help A Reporter Out.” > — Brett Farmiloe on [The BuzzStream Podcast](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/buzzstream-haro-is-back), April 19, 2025 ## Podcast appearances (42) - [How Brands Get Subject Matter Experts in Front of Journalists: Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on IN CLEAR FOCUS](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/in-clear-focus) — IN CLEAR FOCUS, September 22, 2026. Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on Bigeye's IN CLEAR FOCUS: how brands get subject matter experts in front of journalists, and why human pitches win 3 to 1. - [35% of Journalists Opt Out of AI pitches: Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on Comms Confidential](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/comms-confidential-brett-farmiloe-ai-pitches) — Comms Confidential, September 8, 2026. Brett Farmiloe of Featured on Comms Confidential: AI detection on every HARO pitch finds 21% fully AI-generated; 35% of journalists opt out of AI pitches. - [Why Your AI-Written Pitch Might Never Reach a Journalist: Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on Let's Talk PR & More with Sherry Goldman](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/lets-talk-pr-and-more-ai-written-pitch) — Let's Talk PR & More, August 11, 2026. Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on Let's Talk PR & More with Sherry Goldman: 21% of HARO pitches are AI-written, and 35% of journalists filter them out. - [Why Are Journalist Request Platforms So Important for SEO?](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/why-journalist-request-platforms-important-seo) — Majestic's SEO in 2026, August 5, 2026. Brett Farmiloe joined Majestic's SEO in 2026 podcast to share insights on how to leverage journalist request platforms like HARO and Connectively for SEO a - [AI Is the New Front Page: Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on In Reality with Eric Schurenberg](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/in-reality-ai-is-the-new-front-page) — In Reality, May 30, 2026. Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on In Reality with Eric Schurenberg: AI is the new front page, 21% of HARO pitches are AI-written, and 3,000+ accounts banned. - [Inside the HARO Acquisition and Launch of Featured: What It Signals About the Future of Earned Media, with Brett Farmiloe on The Brandinc PR Podcast](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/brandinc-pr-inside-the-haro-acquisition) — The Brandinc PR Podcast, March 27, 2026. Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on The Brandinc PR Podcast with Brandi Sims: why HARO still matters, what its acquisition signals, and how AI fits in. - [Fragmented Influence: Why PR Now Means Podcasts, Substacks and Eight Revenue Streams Per Journalist, with Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on Under Embargo](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/under-embargo-fragmented-influence) — Under Embargo, March 18, 2026. Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on Under Embargo: HARO's AI detection, the two camps of journalists on AI pitches, and why influence moved to individuals. - [AI in PR: The Strategic Edge, with Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on PureLogics Pulse](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts/purelogics-pulse-ai-in-pr) — PureLogics Pulse, March 13, 2026. Featured CEO Brett Farmiloe on PureLogics Pulse: human-in-the-loop PR, why unedited AI pitches hurt credibility, and what a good pitch looks like in 2026. - [All podcast appearances](https://brettfarmiloe.com/podcasts) ## Coverage - [Journalists Hate AI-Generated PR: Pangram's Case Study on a Year of AI Detection Across Featured, HARO and Connectively](https://brettfarmiloe.com/media-mentions/pangram-case-study-journalists-hate-ai-generated-pr) — September 23, 2026. Pangram's case study on a year of AI detection across Featured, HARO and Connectively: 1.39M pitches, 21% fully AI-generated, 35% of journalists opt out. - [Inngest Profiles How Featured Runs Three Media Brands With A Team Of Seven](https://brettfarmiloe.com/media-mentions/inngest-featured-orchestration-layer) — September 15, 2026. How Connectively, HARO, and Featured run three brands and 2,500 articles a month on a team of seven — and where the reliable, boring layer underneath actua - [Featured's Users Make 100,000 Media Pitches a Month, Running on Vercel](https://brettfarmiloe.com/media-mentions/featured-on-vercel-100k-media-pitches-a-month) — September 13, 2026. How Featured's users make 100K media pitches per month on Vercel, with a three-person engineering team managing three brands, including HARO. - [Featured Launches Find Awards To Search 4,596 Business Awards, Rankings And Best-Of Lists Across 43 Industries](https://brettfarmiloe.com/press-releases/featured-launches-find-awards) — September 15, 2026. Featured launches Find Awards to help PR professionals and experts find relevant awards to apply for all in natural language. - [Featured Launches GEO Audit to Show Brands Which Publications AI Search Engines Cite and Which Ones to Pitch](https://brettfarmiloe.com/press-releases/featured-launches-geo-audit) — August 25, 2026. Featured launches GEO audit to help users see how their brand is showing up across the 4 largest LLMs. Check how your brand shows up against search prompts - [Featured Launches Find Creators Search With 380 Million Creators Across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube](https://brettfarmiloe.com/press-releases/featured-launches-find-creators) — August 18, 2026. Featured launches Find Creators to help PR and marketing teams discover relevant creators across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube using natural language. ## Research - [Featured Workflow Usage Report — September 2026](https://brettfarmiloe.com/research/featured-workflow-usage-report-september-2026) — September 21, 2026. Featured's automated workflows help users find press opportunities on a custom cadence. Here's the data we've gathered so far. - [Featured AI Citation Report, June-August 2026](https://brettfarmiloe.com/research/ai-citation-report-august-2026). We analysed 405 GEO audits and 22,881 real citations from AI search. More than a third pointed to domains with Domain Authority under 40. - [HARO Statistics (2026)](https://brettfarmiloe.com/research/haro-statistics). 21% of HARO pitches are written entirely by AI. Journalists are about three times more likely to use a human-written pitch, and 35% now block AI-generated responses. ## Short bio Brett Farmiloe is the founder and CEO of Featured.com and CEO of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and Connectively, the media-sourcing brands Featured acquired and revived in 2025. He has spent 20 years building outlets for experts to share their expertise, and speaks on PR in the AI era, earned media, and AI visibility. ## Long bio Brett Farmiloe is the founder and CEO of Featured.com, the co-pilot for PR, and CEO of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and Connectively. Experts and PR teams use Featured to find media opportunities and earn coverage across journalist requests, podcasts, bylines, speaking, awards, and generative engine optimization. In April 2025 Featured acquired HARO from Cision and relaunched it a week later as a free service for journalists and sources, supported by newsletter ads. HARO has since sent more than 100 million emails. Featured relaunched Connectively in June 2026. Brett’s career started in an RV: after quitting his job as a financial auditor, he and three friends drove 16,000 miles across 38 states interviewing 300 people about how they found meaning in their work. He then ran Markitors, a digital marketing agency for small businesses, for ten years before it was acquired in 2021, and started Featured in January 2022. He has given more than 100 keynotes, including a TEDx talk, and has contributed to Inc. and Fast Company. He is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. ## Press and bookings The best part of my job is talking with 10–20 customers every week. If you’re an expert or PR team who wants to connect and share your feedback on Featured, HARO, or Connectively, please feel free to reach out anytime. Calendar is always open to talk shop and learn what we should build next. - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettfarmiloe/ - X: https://x.com/brettfarmiloe - Featured press inquiries: support@featured.com --- Brett Farmiloe · Founder & CEO, Featured · CEO, HARO & Connectively · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettfarmiloe/) · [X](https://x.com/brettfarmiloe) Every page on brettfarmiloe.com is available as Markdown. See [llms.txt](https://brettfarmiloe.com/llms.txt) and [sitemap.md](https://brettfarmiloe.com/sitemap.md).