‘I don’t need to be objective’: Inside the bull market in fintech newsletters
- More fintech newsletters are popping up.
- With more newsletters comes more room for new opinions and perspectives.

As media consumption becomes increasingly fast-paced, newsletters are getting more popular. The New York Times and the Washington Post each offer over 70 different newsletters to subscribe to. 21% of U.S. respondents said they use emailed news, according to Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report for 2020. Globally, this number is at 16%. While this may not seem like such a significant data point, it’s important to note that those falling within this percentage tended to show more interest in news in general, making them good targets for publications.
Newsletters’ newfound trendiness is best illustrated through Substack, a publishing platform kickstarted in 2017 that makes it very easy to manage a newsletter. Today, the platform has over 250,000 paid subscribers. Newsletter creators on the platform make money through subscriptions. The top ten publishers on Substack make around $7 million altogether. The platform increased its revenue by 60% three months into the pandemic.
More journalists and reporters are leaving their jobs at popular publications to make their money through newsletter subscriptions. This is happening in fintech and financial services, as well.
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