Have you ever heard of the Letters from an American Substack? No? Yet 2.8 million users have subscribed to receiving commentary on American politics and democracy from history professor Heather Cox Richardson. How about Citrini, whose report was partially blamed for a recent fall in the US market? Know it or not, Substack is beginning to move the needle across the media landscape – it is now more visited than Yahoo, CNBC and Reuters, among others.

So, what is Substack and where has it come from? Put simply, it is a blog in yet another form but gives users the opportunity to subscribe to the content, meaning that they get emailed new content when it is released. This gives you a strong tool to grow an engaged audience, as the users who receive the content have opted in and content is delivered directly into inboxes. It caters to niches, whether you’re looking for financial news, world politics analysis to insights from the arts and illustration world. The most authoritative pages can be found in Substack’s useful navigation bar, which ranks them by size and growth.

You can find a Substack that covers most niches, and, quite frankly, if you can’t, then you should probably start one. It’s been quietly building for a while, but has accelerated into the mainstream for numerous reasons including the rise of creator-led journalism, the ability to monetise content on the site for freelance journalists, and the delivery of content directly to subscribers’ inboxes, meaning that creators are less at the behest of algorithms for followers to see their content.

LondonCentric is an example of the growth that a Substack hybrid approach can offer – set up by former Guardian media editor Jim Waterson, it now is ranked by the platform as the 13th most popular news Substack, with over 36k subscribers. It filled the gap left by the Evening Standard’s transition to a weekly publication, of a solely London-focused publication, carrying out investigative reporting in the capital, with recent crusades on Lime Bikes and Criteron Capital, the latter of which has led to politicians wading into the mix.

Substack is continuing to grow and is becoming more than a blog platform, moving towards a multimedia content hub. In the last few years, it has diversified into video and podcasts, recently announcing the Substack Recording Studio, which allows the creation of long-form video content on the platform. There is also the “notes” feature, which makes a homepage feel like an old Twitter feed – users can share snippets of their content, thoughts and even video content. Ultimately, it is providing you more touchpoints with your audience, which gives more chance for your message to be received and digested.

But who is really on there? Well, the short answer is that we cannot provide specific demographics or data (as the platform does not give general information), but there are over 35 million monthly users, which is not insignificant for a blog platform. You can also infer from the popular topics that Substack lists, which illustrates where demand is – there is clearly a highly engaged financial audience, alongside those interested in political and current affairs. It is a hotbed for journalists, particularly as many are finding that having a respected page can generate a reliable and consistent source of income, meaning that there is far increased chance that posters will be active on the platform. Therefore, in the spirit of meeting audiences where they are, Substack can be a compelling platform. Politicians are also embracing the platform to reach the electorate (even Keir Starmer!) – demonstrating the varied audiences present on the platform that make it an attractive communications tool.

But why should organisations care? Primarily, it represents the opportunity to reach a broader audience – news platforms and their online readership are dwindling due to paywalls, reduced clicks and a falling subscriber base. By contrast, Substack reported a significant level of growth across 2025. The engaged audience is also a crucial point; if you manage to build a solid audience behind your page, you will have a direct line for your messages to be shared. Of course, posts are judged by writing and content, so they must be able to stand by themselves, which can be (and should be) a resource-demanding task. Companies that are looking to disseminate their thought leadership, and particularly those that already create their content, could score an easy win by setting up a Substack to share content there too.

Substack is a great option to reach new audiences, and as a growing platform, there is the opportunity for organisations to join and share their insights to a growing userbase. This can be particularly useful to organisations who already publish their content, as it can give another publishing platform to share.

Do not be surprised if you see more and more individuals and organisations joining the platform. Maybe you’re even reading this on our Substack now, and perhaps you might even want to subscribe for even more insights from across communications, public affairs and digital.