Sponsorships/ Ads at Substack (and not selling out)

+ the results of my festive ad experiment

Hi folks,

Substack are gently rolling our sponsorships. They have hand picked creators to work with. (I don’t know any of them but I’ll do some digging). Sponsorships aren’t new to the online space - we see #ad and people raving about brands they love. We see affiliate gifts in gift guides etc - it’s all part of our online consumption experience.

It also really supports creators financially. I have a friend who is an influencer and he got £6000 for posting three instagram stories - there is A LOT of cash in ad work. We all deserve to be paid.

Of course sometimes the ads or affiliate links fit with the tone of our newsletters/ publications really well.

Here’s an example from Sparkle on Substack member JP Clark

59 Gifts For When You’re Out of Ideas

Substack has changed, is changing, will change and it’s all ok.

When you email them, to find out more Substack say…

Thanks for reaching out about Substack’s sponsorship pilot program. We appreciate your interest and the time you took to get in touch.
We’re keeping this testing group intentionally small while we learn from early creator and brand partnerships. Because of that, we may not be able to respond individually, but we’ve received your note and will keep your information on file.
If we have an opportunity that feels like a strong fit for your work, we will be in touch.

If you have a healthy audience and you’re keen the email is - sponsorships@substackinc.com

Emma Gannon wrote about adverts coming to Substack here…

Are adverts coming to Substack?

From the horses mouth…

I was super keen to verify the info and Substack do tend to drip feed info to test the waters. This article was originally behind a paywall but Emily kindly unlocked it…

Emily Sundberg at Feed Me which has tens of thousands of paid subs interviewed co-founder Hamish McKenzie so here’s what we know on ads/ sponsorships and the partnership pilot at Substack…

“ Substack is launching a pilot program for native ads. Which means investors in Substack can sleep a bit more soundly tonight. The intent of the new feature is to fill a gap, especially for independent creators who are spending a lot of time coordinating sponsorships on their own. Their comms team told me:

“During the pilot, Substack is simply facilitating payments and is not taking a cut. We will shape the long-term structure after we learn from this phase.”

One of my biggest unlocks to productivity was bringing on a team to help me sell ads, so I can imagine how helpful this will be to writers on here looking to sell sponsorships. I’m sure other people will view this news as a fundamental change to the quaint newsletter platform this company was a few years ago. I spoke to Substack’s co-founder

• Hamish McKenzie

  last night to learn a bit more about how this is all going to work:

Emily: Can you tell us a bit about the brands that are part of the pilot program and how you chose them? How can other brands get involved with being onboarded?

Hamish: “The pilot program includes brands that reached out to us and brands that have previously worked with creators on Substack. The focus is on partners who respect editorial independence, support the creator-first approach of the program, and those who really understand Substack (and may even have a Substack of their own). They know that the best conversations are happening on Substack, and they want to be close to them.”

Emily: You’re starting with a small set of creators for this. When can it be available to everyone?

Hamish: “The goal is to take our time, gather feedback, and refine the model before a larger rollout later next year.

If creators or brands want to be considered for future expansion of the pilot program, they can reach out to sponsorships@substackinc.com.”

Emily: How distracting will these ads be from the reader experience?

Hamish: “This sponsorship program won’t change the look or feel of Substack. In many ways, it reflects what’s already happening organically, since many creators have independently brought in their own sponsorships. This pilot is a test to see if we can build infrastructure that makes the process simpler and more sustainable while keeping subscriptions at the core of the business.

This is not an ads marketplace. These are direct partnerships that creators choose, shape, and approve. Our role is simply to provide infrastructure and support, without influencing editorial content.

Formats will vary by brand and creator, and we are focusing on approaches that help amplify the creator-subscriber relationship by adding meaningful value for subscribers. This could include, for example, occasionally unlocking paywalled posts or introducing perks that complement paid subscriptions.”

Emily: Will sponsorships ever also be available for audio?

Hamish: “During this pilot program, we are focused on written content for now, but we expect to explore additional formats over time.”

Thank you to Emily Sundberg and Hamish McKenzie for sharing the intention.

Other resources

• Here’s the Substack help article - https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407986455188-Can-my-publication-host-sponsored-ads

• Paved is a sponsorship marketplace - here’s their take on Substack ads - https://www.paved.com/blog/substack-advertising

• Ad week wrote about it too - https://www.adweek.com/media/substack-ads-sponsorship-newsletters/

The results of my adverts on Substack

I’ve published adverts for the last two weeks on my Substack… I’ve added the results in both income and clicks below and I’ll update these again after Christmas…

I got the idea from Cody Cook Parrot who runs ‘classifieds’ on their Monday, Monday newsletter. I ran an ad and got a couple of new members through it so thought I’d try it here.

Income in for Sparkle on Substack