Substack Pushing New Video Features Amid Creator Uncertainty

TikTok's uncertain future is leading unsuspecting alternatives like Substack to embrace video. But maybe not quite in the way you'd expect. 

What Is Substack And Who Uses It?

At its core, Substack is a platform that allows people to monetize their newsletters and articles. Since its launch in 2017, the platform has focused largely on its core user base of authors and their audiences. Though it's certainly more niche than platforms like YouTube, Twitch, or even Patreon, Substack is certainly the leader in subscription newsletters and is an excellent option for word-first creators. 

According to CNBC, Substack boasts more than 50,000 creators and 4 million paid subscribers (creators are also able to provide content for free). The company has raised more than $100 million of funding and is currently valued around $650 million. 

In the past few years, the company has added a suite of features to start attracting podcasters. Those include more intuitive ways to incorporate audio and some video. As podcasts continue their surge in popularity post-pandemic, Substack made a bet that podcasters will eventually face the same monetization issues as authors — that ad-supported revenues aren't enough, and more podcasters will want to directly monetize their episodes. 

Now, Substack sees a potential point of entry on video and mobile-first creators.

How TikTok's Conundrum Fueled Substack's New Push

Because Substack is almost the antithesis of most vertical video-first platforms like TikTok, it seems a little curious that TikTok's roller coaster ride in the U.S. would inspire new feature sets. But that's exactly what Co-founder Hamish Mackenzie says led to their new expansion focus.

"If TikTok gets banned for political reasons, there’s nothing to do with the work you’ve done, but it really affects your life," McKenzie told CNBC. "The only and surefire guard against that is if you don’t place your audience in the hands of some other volatile system who doesn’t care about what happens to your livelihood."

It's no surprise, then, that Substack also recently launched a $20 million fund specifically to court creators who may have used platforms like TikTok primarily and are now looking for a more stable opportunity. 

But that's not to say Substack is suddenly launching a scrollable video feed with an addictive algorithm intent on keeping eyes forever. In reality, Substack's push into video is more closely aligned with YouTube.

What Substack Is Now Offering Video-First Creators

The primary new feature on Substack is paywalled video content, meaning people who are used to making longer videos can now create them and post them exclusively for subscribers. While this isn't a revolutionary feature by any stretch of the imagination (you can also create subscriber-only videos on many platforms, including YouTube, OnlyFans, and Patreon), Substack's video integration feels like a natural extension of a platform where people are already used to paying for longer content.

Substack says since the platform started offering audio and video options, 82 percent of their 250 top-earning creators have utilized the feature. Now that they can also be sure that only paying fans get access, it's not hard to imagine creators foregoing free platforms altogether.

"There’s going to be a world of people who are much more focused on videos," McKenzie says. "That is a huge world that Substack is only starting to penetrate." With more and more creators exclusively using their phones (even for longer content) and more and more fans exclusively consuming on mobile devices, Substack's ability to cater to those creators and users will be a big factor in whether or not it breaks through its niche.

What's The Best Platform For Creators Looking To Monetize?

This is a question we see a lot. And the answer, frustratingly, is pretty much always, "It depends." There are a few easy answers if you narrow it down a bit. For instance, if you're starting from zero and want to build a livestream that has the most opportunity to turn into a significant revenue stream, Twitch is probably the platform to go with. If you're looking for ways to grow your discoverability, you probably want to pick the monetization options on the social media platform you love most, whether it's TikTok, YouTube, Instagram etc.

But if you're trying to find a way to convert your fans from multiple places into customers, or find the right system you can sustain, it's really going to take trial and error. A platform like Patreon really only works if you've built a community of people you can lead to that platform. Conversely, if you're looking to simply add a new style of content to your repertoire to monetize, jumping into Substack simply because it's a written-content-first platform when you've already got several other places may not be worth your time. 

The reality is, most creators need to find their 80/20 — the thing that drives the most results for them — and see where it intersects with what they love doing most. There will almost always be a good monetization platform once you find that intersection. But in the meantime, don't be afraid to check them all out. The more they compete for your attention, the better they become.