The News
Newsletter and creator startup Beehiiv is making a push into podcasting, and wants to peel off talent from Substack and Patreon.
Beehiiv has privately been reaching out to independent podcasters on Substack and other platforms, hoping to convince them to become founding members of the publishing platform’s podcast program, two people familiar with the conversations told Semafor. The podcasting program is expected to launch in the coming days, with additional tools rolling out over the next several months.
The network is tapping the same tactics it’s used to convince writers to switch from Substack: It’s planning to charge a flat fee instead of taking 10% of revenue (and often will waive the fee initially for certain creators). It also offers built-in ad monetization for users through its advertising network, which it eventually hopes to integrate into podcasts hosted on Beehiiv.
Beehiiv declined to comment.
Max’s view
Beehiiv’s push into podcasting marks a new moment in the heightened competition to corner the “creator economy” market by providing creators with a one-stop shop.
Independent podcasters have long relied on a patchwork of services to upload and distribute content on audio platforms and monetize their fans’ loyalty. Many use one service to send emails to fans, another for websites, another to upload shows, another for subscriptions or recurring donations, and so on.
But the space between all of those platforms is shrinking. Both Substack and Patreon have moved aggressively to take market share. Patreon has recruited Substack talent by dangling sweeteners like revenue guarantees. Substack has created its own version of X in a bid to keep users on the platform and introduce Substack journalists and creators to new audiences.
Beehiiv is later to the party, but offers advertising and the promise of lower costs for independent creators. The company is also betting that few independent podcasters feel particularly loyal to their audio hosting and monetization platforms, and believes some of the audio companies are too slow to realize that many podcasters now want publishing, audio, email, and video all in one service.
Beehiiv is attempting to cut into Substack’s large creator base by hammering the point that its flat-fee model can be more favorable to certain people. Last year, CEO Tyler Denk said Substack was trying to make it harder for creators to leave the platform, and has repeatedly described Substack’s attempts to make itself a social network for creators as “dark.” Writing on LinkedIn about Substack’s recent push into TV, he wrote: “Lol.”
Substack has mostly shrugged off the criticism. The platform’s staff has seemed minorly annoyed at the shots Denk and others at Beehiiv have taken as Substack has moved from disruptor to incumbent. But if executives are nervous about Beehiiv’s roster of publishers and creators, they aren’t showing it publicly.
“I don’t think they’re a threat at all to the business,” co-founder Hamish McKenzie told me in February at Semafor’s Trust in Media event in response to some of Denk’s criticism and the idea that Beehiiv is a competitor.
“I think of other platforms and other services like that as being kind of fellow travelers in this new mission to give more power to writers and creators, and for those people to have the ability to assess the landscape and make their own choices,” he said. “So I’m basically cheering on Beehiiv and Ghost and any of the other services that are trying to do this good thing for writers and creators to give them more power.”