Substack is spending $20 million to court TikTokers

Jan 24, 2025 02:39 AM - 2 weeks ago 20998

Meta and YouTube aren’t the only platforms looking to benefit from TikTok perchance disappearing — Substack wants successful connected the action, too.

The institution announced Thursday it’s launching a $20 cardinal “creator accelerator fund,” promising contented creators they won’t suffer gross by jumping vessel to Substack. Creators successful the programme besides get “strategic and business support” from Substack, and early entree to caller features.

“We established this money because we’ve seen creators who specialize successful video, audio, and matter grow their audience, revenue, and power connected Substack, wherever the platform’s web effects amplify the value and effect of the activity they’re doing,” the institution said successful a blog post.

This pivot connected Substack’s portion has been successful the useful for a while — for months, the institution has been trading itself not arsenic a newsletter transportation work but as a creator platform akin to Patreon.

“On Substack, [creators] tin build their ain location connected the internet: 1 wherever creators, not level executives aliases advertisers, ain their activity and their audience,” the blog station reads. The station besides cites “bans, backlash, and policies that alteration pinch the governmental winds” arsenic a logic creators can’t dangle connected accepted societal media services.

That’s each good (we astatine The Verge have been saying this for a while). But creators focusing connected Substack are besides taxable to ebbs and flows depending connected what the institution is prioritizing: first, it was newsletters, past it was tweet-like micro blogs, followed by full-on websites and livestreaming. For some, Substack’s first stated ngo of giving much state to independent writers is fading. And TikTok creators looking to move to Substack will request to rebuild their pursuing each complete again — you evidently can’t export your TikTok followers.

Substack’s business is not immune from “political winds,” either. Just a twelvemonth agone the institution recovered itself successful basking h2o complete Nazi newsletters that were being monetized connected the platform. Substack yet banned immoderate of the newsletters, but only aft sustained and nationalist pressure from high-profile writers. In 2022, erstwhile Substack’s committedness was to beryllium a amended type of a newsroom, the institution abruptly fired an editor who had worked connected a newsletter captious of Substack.

The $20 cardinal money isn’t the first clip Substack has offered a excavation of money meant to entice creators. Under a programme called Substack Pro, the institution poached apical media talent from accepted newsrooms pinch higher pay, wellness insurance, and different perks. That programme ended successful 2022, pinch Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie saying the deals weren’t employment arrangements but “seed backing deals to region the financial consequence for a writer successful starting their ain business.” In different words, invited to Substack. Now that you’re here, you’re connected your ain — which is much aliases little the woody different platforms offer.

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