Substack Previews Podcast Ads and Brand Paywall Formats
Brands are testing paid access for your free subscribers, and dynamic ad insertion for podcasts is open for early access sign-ups.
On 21 October, Substack said “sponsorships will soon be coming to podcasts hosted on Substack.” That came after it set out three new sponsorship formats at Advertising Week on 8 October.
So if you publish on Substack, sponsorships could become a second income line next to subscriptions. Substack is still early with both, and neither has a public price or launch date.
Podcast ads you can swap
Without it, a sponsor read stays baked into the episode.
Substack’s podcast sponsorships announcement says dynamic ad insertion for podcasts hosted on Substack will let you update ads across your back catalog without re-editing.
No sponsors of your own? Substack says that soon you’ll be able to mark ad breaks and let third-party marketplaces fill them.
You stay in charge of:
- how many ads run
- which kinds of sponsors you accept
- whether you use marketplace ads, your own deals or both
Then there’s measurement. Substack says it recently earned IAB Tech Lab certification for podcast download measurement, which gives podcasters industry-standard data they can use to pitch sponsors.
Still, it isn’t live for everyone.
Dynamic ad insertion is in early access, with a sign-up form on the post, and the marketplaces are marked as coming soon.
Substack’s announcement says podcasts already use the platform for their shows and communities, naming The Dwarkesh Patel Podcast and Pantsuit Politics.
Brands that pay to open your paywall
At Advertising Week on 8 October, Substack’s post on its new sponsorship formats added three:
- the upgrade, where a brand pays for a month of paid access for your free subscribers
- a paid post of yours that a brand sponsors so anyone can read it
- the masthead: one brand, several writers and a themed collection, a bit like a digital zine
But it’s all in early testing with small groups of bestsellers and brands, and Substack says it looks forward to bringing more publishers into the program soon.
Who can take part? You opt in through a Creator Kit, Substack’s customizable media kit.
PPC Land’s breakdown of the formats found the help page, as it read on 22 October, opens kits to Bestsellers and to publications with at least 100 paid subscribers.
PPC Land also lists what Substack left out: pricing, the split with writers, minimum budgets and dates.
Why it matters
The upgrade is the clever one. A brand pays for a month of paid access for your free subscribers, and when it ends some of them may stay and pay you.
That’s a sponsor feeding your paywall for once. A sponsored paid post works the same way, so give the brand your best piece.
Will it pay well? Nobody outside Substack and its test brands knows yet.
I wouldn’t plan a budget around either format until Substack publishes a split.
In practice, two jobs for now.
- If you have at least 100 paid subscribers, turn on your Creator Kit.
- If you podcast on Substack, join the early access list.
Common Questions
What is the Substack upgrade sponsorship for newsletters?
It’s a format where a brand pays for a month of paid access for your free subscribers. Readers can then choose to stay on as paying subscribers when the sponsored month ends.
Does Substack support dynamic ad insertion for podcasts?
It’s coming. Substack announced on 21 October 2026 that podcasters can sign up for early access to dynamic ad insertion for podcasts hosted on Substack, but it gave no date for when every podcast on the platform gets it.
Who can get a Substack Creator Kit for brand sponsorships?
Bestseller publications and publications with at least 100 paid subscribers can turn on a Creator Kit, according to Substack’s help page as it read on 22 October 2026, as reported by PPC Land.
