The 2025 Newsletter Playbook

Everything you need to know about choosing platforms, building audiences, and monetizing newsletters, featuring 19 case studies of successful models across the industry.

When clients come to us seeking advice on financial sustainability, we give them our full bespoke, artisanal, hand-crafted, small-batch, organic, free-range consulting experience. We emphasize that every publisher is unique, requiring a custom-tailored strategy calibrated to their specific market contexts and organizational DNA. Our recommendations are precision-engineered for each client's individual journey, lovingly polished to a warm patina of financial sustainability.

And then, about six times out of ten, we tell them: "You should probably start a newsletter."

This isn't (just) because of my mild newsletter fetish or my very serious historical theory that the Medicis secretly invented Substack in the mid-16th century. I genuinely believe newsletters are the single best entry point to direct audience relationships and reader revenue.

Since so many of our conversations with partners have revolved around newsletters, how to start them, which platforms to use, what models work, we've created something new: a comprehensive "The 2025 Newsletter Playbook" that answers those early, crucial questions.

Whether you're a small newsroom looking to build direct audience relationships, an individual writer considering going independent, or an established publisher exploring new revenue streams, this guide provides actionable insights for your specific situation.

Our guide breaks down into three main sections:

1. The case for newsletters – We make a rational argument for when newsletters are the right solution (and, importantly, when they might not be).

2. Platform comparison – We introduce and compare the most popular platforms (Substack, Ghost, Beehiiv, Mailchimp), analyzing their features, pricing structures, benefits, and limitations.

3. 19 mini-case studies – The heart of our guide showcases successful newsletters across five thematic categories. We examine what they do well, which platforms they use, and explore their business models to provide actionable insights you can apply to your own projects.

This represents a departure from our usual coverage and format. We've invested significantly more time creating this guide than we typically spend on our weekly editions—which is why this is our first subscriber-only offering. For as little as €8, you can gain a month's access to Media Finance Monitor, including this comprehensive guide available in the email, as a Google Doc, and as Notion mini-site.

We have plans to create more specialized resources like this in the coming months. In fact, we're already working on the next one. But we want to hear from you: Do you like this approach? What topics would you like us to explore in similar depth? Your feedback will help shape our future offerings.

I hope you find value in this guide and, while I'm obviously biased, I believe it's well worth the €8 investment in your financial sustainability.