Substack has launched a built-in Substack Recording Studio for desktop, allowing creators to pre-record videos with guests, add watermarks, and share screens. The tool auto-generates clips and thumbnails, consolidating previously separate video creation processes.
The platform is aggressively expanding into video, having recently enabled livestreaming, monetization, and a TV app, positioning itself as a competitor to platforms like Patreon. This push is underscored by data showing creators using audio or video grow revenue 50% faster.
The move aligns with a broader trend of audiences consuming longer-form video content on TV screens, a shift also seen with major platforms like Netflix and YouTube investing in TV-based podcast and video viewing.
Main Topics: Substack's new video recording studio; its strategic expansion into video and multimedia to compete with platforms like Patreon; the industry trend toward consuming long-form video content on television.
Publishing platform Substack is continuing to invest in video content as it launches the Substack Recording Studio, a built-in mechanism for creators to pre-record and publish videos.
The studio, which is only available on the desktop, can support solo videos as well as conversations with up to two guests. Creators can add custom watermarks to their videos and share their screen with co-hosts. Once the recording is over, Substack auto-generates clips and thumbnails for sharing.
“Until now, creating video on Substack meant going live, or stitching together a separate stack of tools: a recording platform, a way to create and distribute clips, and something to design a thumbnail,” the company shared in a blog post. “Substack Studio brings all of those tools into one place.”
The post also notes that creators who have used audio or video on Substack in the past 90 days have grown revenue 50% faster than creators who haven’t.
Though Substack is predominantly known as a newsletter platform, the company has been showing a keen interest in video over the last few years, prioritizing updates that position it more like a Patreon competitor, encouraging creators to explore multimedia.
While Substack has allowed creators to upload videos since 2022, it began letting creators livestream and monetize videos last year, then launched a Creator Accelerator Fund of $20 million to help transition creators from other platforms to Substack.
Like Instagram, Substack also recently launched a TV app, which is available on Apple TV and Google TV. The app allows viewers to watch video posts and livestreams on TV and includes a TikTok-like “For You” row that provides further recommendations.
Despite the popularity of watching short-form videos on a phone, people seem to be turning to TV screens to watch longer-form content. Netflix has been making significant investments in bringing video podcasts to TV. On YouTube, viewers watched over 700 million hours of podcasts each month on living room devices (like TVs) in 2025, up from 400 million per month last year.
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