A big part of our job on the DMi Partners affiliate team is understanding the full partner landscape. The better our understanding, the deeper the partner relationships we can build and the more growth opportunities we can offer our clients.

With this in mind, I’d like to dig into the reasons creators are starting to flock to a relatively new affiliate platform: Substack.

1. Multiple revenue streams

Substack creators (also referred to more or less interchangeably as editors or authors) have a couple of ways to bring in revenue. The first is what you’d expect: curated (and fee-based) brand or product placements in the creator’s content. Those placements come in the form of affiliate links that Substack readers can use to shop the products, with creators earning commission on sales generated from those links. (Note: The commission-based fee structure is currently the most common on Substack, although Substack creators do sometimes feature a single brand in their content for a flat fee.)

The second revenue stream is paid subscriptions. Creators have the option to charge users or let them subscribe for free. If creators have built a solid base of free subscribers with strong open rates and engagement KPIs, they’re in a good position to test paid subscriptions. The Substack platform also shares lists of Substacks on the rise and alerts Substack creators when they’ve reached best-seller status (see below), and achieving either status on either one of those is a great sign that creators are ready to charge for their content.

2. More context than TikToks

We all know and love good TikToks, but they’ll never be mistaken for long-form pieces offering tons of contextual value. Substacks are great for context; on any given topic, creators can go into multimedia depth without character limits. In fact, one of Substack’s most common use cases is for journalists seeking independence from the rules and regulations of traditional news outlets like newspapers and magazines.

For this reason, Substack has become the home for former bloggers who represented a kind of pre-TikTok, pre-Instagram generation of creators. Brands seeking to engage Substack creators who specialize in relevant verticals or interests should expect any placements to be included thoughtfully and meaningfully in creator content.

3. More powerful discovery and engagement levers than blogs

Substack has a number of advantages over blog platforms. One is built-in email functionality that makes it easy to put content directly in subscribers’ inboxes. Another is discoverability on the Substack platform itself, which features social media-like levers including interest-based searches and the ability to see who your Substack friends are following.

4. Editorial power

Much like beloved newspaper columnists or magazine writers (whether in print or online or both), Substack creators can build a brand and a searchable archive of content on a trusted third-party platform. The big advantage of Substack, however, is that creators have complete flexibility over when to post, what to post about, how often to post, how to write, how much to editorialize, etc. A creator has nearly total control over their Substack – the platform even makes it free to create a profile and content, though it does take a 10% cut of all paid subscription fees. It’s a very low-risk, low-barrier-to-entry vehicle for new creators to show off their content skills and their knowledge of a particular category or topic.

We expect that Substack will continue to draw creators to the platform for the foreseeable future, making it a great option for brands to consider when building their affiliate placement portfolio. Reach out to info@dmipartners.com if you’d like to start a conversation about finding and engaging Substack creators who can provide incremental reach and revenue for your business.