Newsletter Advertising Statistics and Case Studies for 2026

Substack passed 5 million paid subscriptions in March 2025¹. Its active subscriptions, paid and unpaid, topped 35 million, and more than 50,000 of its publications make money¹. Readers are paying for newsletters, and advertisers are paying to reach them.

This page collects the newsletter advertising statistics a buyer actually needs. Audience size, ad growth, prices by niche, open and click rates, and the published advertiser results, each with its date and source. It ends with what the numbers don't tell you and how to use them in a real plan.

Facts and prices checked November 11, 2026. See something wrong? Tell us.

Key takeaways

• Substack passed 5 million paid subscriptions and 50,000+ moneymaking publications in March 2025.
• beehiiv publishers sent 28 billion emails in 2025 to more than 255 million unique readers, with open rates of 41% or more.
• Litmus says over 50% of email opens happen on devices with Apple Mail Privacy Protection on, which inflates open counts.
• One newsletter ad marketplace's Q3 2026 benchmark priced HR newsletters at $18.47 per 1,000 subscribers and lifestyle newsletters at $1.22, about a 15-fold gap.
• Published newsletter ad results, such as Redact's 3,000 clicks at half its LinkedIn cost per click on TLDR AI, come from the ad sellers and rarely disclose spend.

Newsletter advertising statistics at a glance

Here are the headline numbers in one table. Every row comes from the platform, publisher or report named in the source column.

Use the date column. Newsletter numbers move fast, and a 2025 benchmark may already be out of date by the time you buy. For a full introduction to the channel, see the newsletter advertising guide.

Newsletter audience statistics

Newsletters reach a large, growing audience, and much of it is spread across independent writers rather than a few big brands.

Platform scale

• Substack had more than 5 million paid subscriptions and more than 50,000 moneymaking publications in March 2025¹. Its paid base grew from 4 million to 5 million in about four months¹.
• beehiiv hosts 65,000+ newsletters². Its publishers sent 28 billion emails in 2025 and reached more than 255 million unique readers².
• beehiiv's recommendation network includes 30,000+ active publishers².

New newsletters grow fast

• New beehiiv newsletters reached a median of 482 subscribers in their first month and 8,314 by the end of year one².
• For newsletters launched in 2025, the median time to a first dollar was 66 days².

Large publishers

• TLDR says 8M+ tech professionals open its newsletters every week, across 14 editions, with 22% of readers at VP level or above⁴.
• The Rundown reports 3.5M+ active readers across its newsletters and a 55% average open rate⁷.
• Cooperpress reports 436,662 subscribers across its developer newsletters⁸.

For buyers, the growth of small newsletters matters most. A newsletter with 8,000 subscribers after a year is too small for most ad networks, but it may be exactly the audience you want, and it usually sells direct.

Newsletter advertising growth statistics

Ad money is following the readers.

• beehiiv's ad network. Monthly revenue doubled from 2024 to 2025, and some months contributed more than $1M to publisher earnings². beehiiv says that for many publications, ads are now their first meaningful revenue stream².
• Substack sponsorships. Substack launched a native sponsorship program and Creator Kits on June 15, 2026, with launch partners including Yahoo Scout, Whatnot, Granola, Balenciaga, T-Mobile, Polymarket and Uber⁹. Creator Kits started with writers who have at least 100 paid subscribers⁹.
• Advertiser volume. A product-seeding company went from 4 newsletter campaigns a month to 50+ after moving to beehiiv's ad network, per a beehiiv case study¹⁰.
• Paid subscriptions. Paid subscription revenue on beehiiv grew from $8M in 2024 to $19M in 2025, a 138% jump². That's reader money, not ad money, but it shows how much readers value these newsletters.

Many publishers mix both. beehiiv says many of its publishers used its ad network as a base and added direct deals with advertisers on top². That's why buying direct from writers is a normal route, not a workaround. Our guide to marketplaces vs ad networks vs buying direct compares the three.

Newsletter ad price statistics by niche

One newsletter ad marketplace published a Q3 2026 benchmark from 12 months of its own campaign data, showing only categories with at least 20 completed campaigns⁶. It prices per 1,000 subscribers, not per open.

All figures above are from PPC Land's report on the benchmark⁶. Two lessons come out of it. Small, specialized B2B lists cost far more per subscriber than big consumer lists. And the gap is large, about 15 times from HR to lifestyle⁶. PPC Land also notes some internal inconsistencies in the report, such as the sort order and which category gained 27% and 41%⁶.

Published rate cards

• Small newsletters can be very cheap. OpenLampTech, with 1,150+ readers, sells a classified for $7¹¹.
• Local newsrooms sit in the middle. Block Club Chicago charges $400 for a neighborhood newsletter ad and $2,500 for its citywide morning newsletter¹².

Averages hide the spread inside each category. The only way to get a real price for the newsletters your buyers read is to ask each writer. That means finding them and reaching them one at a time, which is where most plans slow down. For more price data, see newsletter advertising rates.

Engagement statistics, opens, clicks and MPP

Engagement numbers tell you how much attention a newsletter gets. They also come with a big caveat.

• The average beehiiv open rate rose from about 38% in 2024 to 41% or more in 2025².
• The average click rate fell from 4.74% to 3.23% over the same period². beehiiv links that partly to inbox competition and to readers reading inside the email instead of clicking out².
• Delivery improved to 98.90%, and spam complaints fell to 0.02%².
• Short subject lines delivered the strongest opens at 41.56%, and the 5 to 6 AM Eastern window peaked at 44.46%².
• Top categories like podcasts, history and parenting topped 51% open rates².

The MPP caveat

Litmus says over 50% of email opens happen on devices with Apple Mail Privacy Protection turned on, which inflates open counts and hides open times⁵. beehiiv says it filters most bot activity from its open data². Not every newsletter does. Some publishers report a net open rate instead. Cooperpress, for example, reports a 37% net open rate for JavaScript Weekly and 49% for Golang Weekly⁸.

So use clicks and outcomes to judge a buy, and treat opens as a rough guide to list health. Our guide on how to vet a newsletter open rate shows what to ask for.

Reader behavior and publisher revenue statistics

A few more numbers from beehiiv's 2026 report help you plan when and where an ad will be seen.

• Desktop reading. beehiiv says 86% of opens on its platform happen on desktop, not mobile². Your ad and landing page should work well on a laptop screen.
• Morning reading. The 5 to 6 AM Eastern send window produced the strongest opens, peaking at 44.46%².
• Growth through recommendations. Newsletters in beehiiv's recommendation network grow 2.75 times faster². Fast-growing lists can be cheap to buy early, before the writer raises prices.
• Ads as core revenue. Girlboss, a daily women's career newsletter with about 110,000 active subscribers, gets 58% of its revenue from newsletter ads and partnerships².

That last point matters for buyers. When ads are a big share of a writer's income, the writer has a reason to protect reader trust. They'll turn down poor fits, and they'll care that your ad works. Ask how many sponsors the newsletter turned down last quarter. A writer who says some is usually a good sign.

Published newsletter advertiser case studies

These are the newsletter ad results on the public record. Every one was published by the company that sold the ads.

What the cases have in common

• B2B dominates. Clerk, Black Crow and the product-seeding company all sell to businesses, and they measure on pipeline, signups and acquisition cost.
• Targeting by list. The product-seeding company said its old problem was finding high-performing newsletters for specific audiences¹⁰. Black Crow targeted a specific customer profile¹⁵.
• Consumer works too. Cozy Earth sponsored newsletters including Travel and Leisure, Taste of Home, Southern Living and Martha Stewart's Everyday Cooking, reaching more than 2.6 million unique subscribers¹⁶.

What the data does not show

Read every statistic on this page with five limits in mind.

1. Sellers publish the cases. TLDR, beehiiv and the email ad platform behind the Cozy Earth case all sell the ads they report on. They pick their best stories.
2. Spend is missing. None of the cases above disclose spend, except Black Crow's overall $100K monthly marketing budget across all channels¹⁵. So you can't work out a cost per lead from them.
3. Subscriber counts are self-reported. No independent body audits newsletter lists the way some media are audited. Ask for proof, such as a screenshot of the dashboard.
4. Opens are inflated. Apple Mail Privacy Protection affects over half of opens, per Litmus⁵.
5. Benchmarks have gaps. The marketplace benchmark covers only its own campaigns and has internal inconsistencies⁶.

None of this means newsletter ads don't work. It means you should test, track and judge on your own numbers. The podcast world has the same problem, as our podcast advertising statistics page shows.

How to use these numbers in a plan

Statistics are useful for setting a budget and a target, not for predicting a result. Here's how to turn them into a plan.

Worked example

Say you sell HR software and have $3,000 for a first test.

• At the benchmark's $18.47 per 1,000 subscribers for HR newsletters, $3,000 reaches about 162,000 subscribers⁶.
• The average HR list in the benchmark has 24,439 subscribers⁶. So that's roughly six to seven average HR newsletters, one placement each.
• At a 41% open rate, those subscribers would produce about 66,400 opens (162,000 x 0.41)². At a 3.23% click rate, about 2,150 clicks (66,400 x 0.0323)². The click rate is a newsletter-wide average for all links, not just ads, so treat it as a ceiling.
• If 2% of those clicks book a demo, that's about 43 demos (2,150 x 0.02), or about $70 each ($3,000 / 43). Is a demo worth $70 to you? That's your go or no-go line.

Then run it, and replace every assumed number with your real one. Track each placement with its own UTM link and code, as covered in how to track newsletter ad results.

So does newsletter advertising work

The evidence says it can, especially for B2B products and niche audiences. Readers chose the newsletter, the ad sits next to content they trust, and a click is easy to measure. Published results from TLDR and beehiiv show pipeline, signups and lower acquisition costs⁴¹⁰¹⁵.

The evidence also says it depends on the list. A 15-fold price spread across niches⁶, wide open-rate gaps across categories² and unaudited subscriber counts all point the same way. The newsletters you choose decide the result more than the channel does.

Is email marketing worth it in general? Litmus's 2025 survey of nearly 500 marketers found 35% of companies see $10 to $36 back for every $1 they spend on their own email marketing¹⁷. That's email sent to your own list, not ads in other people's newsletters, but it shows how much value marketers get from the inbox. The same question for podcasts is answered in does podcast advertising work.

Find newsletters in your niche and ask for rates

The statistics point to one job. Find the newsletters your buyers read, get real prices and test a few. Media List helps with the first two steps.

• Search newsletters. Media List has 28,000+ newsletters you can email. Search by topic and filter by country and language.
• See the writer's email. Emails unlock from your plan's allowance, no bot checks.
• Save a shortlist. Keep the newsletters for your test in a saved list.
• Ask for rates. On Professional, send your rate request to the whole list from built-in email campaigns, from your own mailbox.

Media List doesn't sell newsletter ads, quote rates or filter newsletters by subscriber count. It gets you to the writer who sells the ad.

Basic at $99 a month covers search, saved lists and exports. Built-in email campaigns come with Professional at $399 a month. Start with a 3-day trial. It's $0 today, and you can cancel anytime. See all plans on the pricing page.

Questions, answered

Does newsletter advertising work?

Published cases say it can, especially for B2B. TLDR reports Redact got about 3,000 clicks at half its LinkedIn cost per click, and beehiiv reports a product-seeding company (beehiiv case study) reached 1006% ROAS with 24% lower acquisition cost. All of these were published by the ad sellers, so test with your own tracking.

What is the average newsletter open rate?

The average open rate across beehiiv newsletters was 41% or more in 2025, up from about 38% in 2024. Litmus says over 50% of opens happen on Apple Mail Privacy Protection devices, which inflates open counts, so treat opens as a rough guide.

How big is the newsletter market?

Substack had more than 5 million paid subscriptions and 35 million+ active subscriptions in March 2025. beehiiv hosts 65,000+ newsletters that sent 28 billion emails to more than 255 million unique readers in 2025.

Is newsletter advertising growing?

Yes. Paid subscription revenue on beehiiv grew from $8M in 2024 to $19M in 2025, and beehiiv says ads are now the first meaningful revenue stream for many publications. Substack launched a native sponsorship program in June 2026.

How much do newsletter ads cost by niche?

One newsletter ad marketplace's Q3 2026 benchmark priced HR newsletters at $18.47 per 1,000 subscribers, marketing at $13.88, tech at $4.76 and lifestyle at $1.22. Prices for any one newsletter can be far from these averages.

What is the ROI of email marketing?

Litmus's 2025 survey of nearly 500 marketers found 35% of companies see $10 to $36 for every $1 spent on their own email marketing. Ads in other people's newsletters are a different channel and need their own tracking.

Related guides

• Newsletter Advertising Guide for Brands Buying Direct in 2026
• Newsletter Advertising Rates and CPM Benchmarks for 2026
• How Much Does It Cost to Advertise in a Newsletter
• How to Find Newsletters to Sponsor in Your Niche
• Newsletter Directory and Contact List for Advertisers

Sources

1. Tubefilter, Substack passes five million paid subscribers (Mar 12, 2025), checked 2026-11-11
2. beehiiv, The state of newsletters 2026 (Jan 5, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
3. beehiiv, Ad Network, checked 2026-11-11
4. TLDR, Advertise with TLDR, checked 2026-11-11
5. Litmus, Apple Mail Privacy Protection resources, checked 2026-11-11
6. PPC Land, Marketplace benchmark finds HR newsletter ad rates run 15 times higher than lifestyle lists (Aug 30, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
7. The Rundown, Advertise with us, checked 2026-11-11
8. Cooperpress, Media kit Q4 2026, checked 2026-11-11
9. Nieman Lab, Substack is launching a sponsorship program (Jun 16, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
10. beehiiv, product-seeding case study, 1006% ROAS (Apr 4, 2025), checked 2026-11-11
11. OpenLampTech, Newsletter sponsorship options, checked 2026-11-11
12. Block Club Chicago, 2026 media kit, checked 2026-11-11
13. TLDR, Redact's TLDR campaign outperforms LinkedIn ads at half the CPC (Sep 3, 2024), checked 2026-11-11
14. TLDR, MLOps Community generates 1,200 leads with TLDR AI (Apr 2, 2024), checked 2026-11-11
15. beehiiv, How Black Crow slashed CPO by 50% with newsletter marketing (Apr 5, 2025), checked 2026-11-11
16. Cozy Earth email newsletter sponsorship case study, published by the ad platform that ran it, checked 2026-11-11
17. Litmus, The ROI of email marketing (Jul 16, 2025), checked 2026-11-11