Exclusive: Beehiiv expands into podcasting, looking to Patreon

Newsletter site Beehiiv is starting to host a podcast, the company told TechCrunch. With this move, creators can now host, distribute, and monetize their podcast directly on Beehiiv. Users will be able to publish a session, share with subscribers, and track their analytics all on the platform.

“Podcasting was the obvious one,” Beehiiv founder and CEO Tyler Denk told TechCrunch in an email. “The truth is, newsletters and podcasts are very closely related. Both are long-term, distributed to people who have their own money, earn money through support. Our approach is very much driven by our customers. They have told us that they want to integrate all their tools into Beehiiv, and customers have different requests.”

Denk says Beehiiv already has thousands of users who have podcasts hosted elsewhere, which is why it makes sense to bring the format in-house. Of course, this move reflects Beehiiv’s efforts to turn its platform into a platform for all developers, Challenge Patreon and Substackall of whom have been helping for a long time. The push into podcasting is centered on the company’s recent launch of a group of tools aimed at developers including website design, analytics, and more.

By moving into podcasting, Beehiiv wants to attract creators to its platform while its rivals are following the same tactics. Substack has become redundant dating movie and podcast creators, when Patreon has been working on attracting subscribers and promoting products that have been waiting for a long time.

One way Beehiiv convinces creators to switch from competitors like Substack and Patreon is by not cutting off their revenue. Denk says producers keep 100% of their earnings, and the company doesn’t take a share. By comparison, Substack takes a 10% cut of revenue from paid podcast subscriptions, while Patreon takes 8%.

Producers can aggregate podcasts with existing subscriptions and provide a private feed to paying subscribers. They may offer you special offers with special sessions, early access, and other benefits. Denk says that many Beehiiv users already pay for a subscription, and that they can now include a podcast as part of that subscription. Producers also have the option of offering a free podcast.

Beehiiv wants to expand its ad network beyond newsletters to include podcasts as well. The company is hiring Head of Podcasts to oversee those plans, Denk told TechCrunch.

Some of the podcasts joining Beehiiv in the launch include: Genshe and Avni Barman, 505 podcast and Brayden Figueroa and Kostas Garcia, The reboot and Brian Morrissey, Sweat Equity by Alex Garcia & Brian Blum, The Most Important Question from Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, Lunch with Jamie and Jamie Patricof, and others.

Denk says Beehiiv expects a large rollout of existing users over the coming weeks and months, noting that there are several other popular podcasts committed to launching on the platform in the next few weeks.

In addition to serving people at Beehiiv who already have newsletters and podcasts, Denk says the new launch could also attract an audience that wants to start a newspaper.

“We believe that the newspaper should be the foundation of every podcast,” Denk said. “That’s how you grow your audience, expand distribution, and create more space for advertisers. Podcasters who want to set up a newsletter will find a natural home here. Growth is one of the biggest challenges in podcasting. Newsletters drive podcast downloads. Podcasts drive newsletter signups. The two reinforce each other, and right now producers are controlling all the tools.”

Creators can upload podcasts directly to Beehiiv, and the platform will distribute them to major podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Castro, and more. The platform supports MP3, M4A, and WAV files, with standard audio formats. Each unit is also fully bibliographic, facilitating search accessibility by LLMs.

Each podcast segment gets its own SEO page, Denk said. Instead of sending listeners to Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, Beehiiv can save them on the platform, where they can choose to listen directly or choose the player they like.

Beehiiv’s podcast analytics are built according to IAB standards and provide detailed information by country, audio program, device, and operating system. Developers also gain insight into regular downloads and real-time data.

Launched in 2021, Beehiiv has uploaded the latest $33 million Series B in April 2024 and Lightspeed Venture Partners and NEA as investors. Thank you he recently shared that Q1 2026 was Beehiiv’s best quarter in history, as the company added $4.5M ARR, sent more than 10 billion emails, and crossed 50,000 users.