What legacy media gets wrong about newsletters

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Hey folks, today we’re taking a look at what traditional media is missing about this new world of newsletters. Actually, it’s not so new. Twenty-five years ago, Dany Levy started up DailyCandy, a lifestyle newsletter that curated awesome events and products. Eight years later, she sold it to Comcast for a reported $125 million 😲 (I actually worked as an LA contributor for DailyCandy for a time.)

So, newsletters have been around for a long time. But legacy media still doesn’t really understand them as a business. What are they getting wrong? Keep reading…

—Phat X. Chiem, Editor

🗞️ The Lede: What legacy media is missing about newsletters

I got my start in legacy media. Like old-school print journalism. Stories printed on dead trees.

I made the jump to digital media a long time ago. Right now, I’m obsessed with newsletters (which is why you’re reading this).

Despite the enormous success of publications like Morning Brew (sold for $75 million) and The Hustle (reportedly sold for north of $30 million), a lot of my colleagues in legacy media still don’t get the concept of a newsletter.

A newsletter is not a list of your top stories.

A newsletter is not email marketing.

A newsletter is not a sales pitch.

A newsletter is not a channel. 

Newsletters should be products of their own

Legacy media often treats newsletters as a place to dump repackaged content (e.g. "Top 5 stories of the day") rather than a standalone editorial experience. Modern newsletters like The Generalist, The Ankler or Platformer succeed because:

• They have a clear voice and point of view

• They’re curated and written specifically for the inbox

• They build relationships, not just inform

The writer is the brand

Traditional outlets often suppress individual personalities in favor of institutional voice. In contrast:

• Successful newsletters are often built around individual creators

• Readers subscribe because they trust the person, not just the brand

Legacy media has been slow to let talent own their audience and build personal brands within their organizations.

Smaller lists are often more valuable than massive audiences

Traditional media prioritizes scale and pageviews. Newsletter founders know that the “riches are in the niches.”

• With newsletters, the quality of the list matters more than the size of the list

• A 25K highly engaged newsletter audience can easily outperform a 1M email list in terms of influence and monetization

• See the story of Milk Road for an excellent example of a rich niche

Distribution is not algorithm-dependent

Legacy media still relies heavily on SEO and social media for reach. Newsletters:

• Are permission-based: they go directly to inboxes

• Have higher signal-to-noise ratio: people choose to hear from you

• Bypass gatekeepers like Google and Facebook

Monetization is more diverse and personal

Legacy media sticks to ads and paywalls, missing opportunities for creator-led monetization. Modern newsletters make money through:

• Sponsorships

• Paid subscriptions

• Courses, events & communities

The big takeaway: Legacy media sees newsletters as a distribution tool. Modern newsletter creators see them as a relationship, a business, and a brand. The ones who get this distinction are winning and leaving traditional outlets behind.

Here’s the thing though: Traditional media has access to huge audiences and writing talent that newsletter businesses would kill for. They’re sitting on gold mines. With the right strategy and execution, newsletters could be a wellspring of new revenue and engagement for legacy media.

Reach out to me if you’re one of these folks. Let’s talk!

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🚀 What’s new in newsletters

🗞️ WashPo might add Substack writers: In a sign of Substack’s growing influence, The Washington Post is in talks with Substack to add some of its writers to the paper’s opinion pages. Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie tells The Guardian that the discussions are preliminary, but interest is high. “All of a sudden really, a bunch of legacy news organizations are trying to see how they can take advantage of Substack,” he says. [The Guardian]

💰️ Morning Brew launches Revenue Brew: Revenue ops is becoming an essential part of B2B organizations. So Morning Brew is launching a new newsletter “for and about revenue organizations.” The publication will help chief revenue officers (CROs) understand their expanding roles better, while exploring revenue strategies and tactics from across a wide breadth of industries. [Revenue Brew]

📺️ ABC News vet jumps on Substack: Days after calling Donald Trump and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller “world-class haters,” ABC News correspondent Terry Moran parted ways with the network… and landed on Substack. In less than a week, Moran signed up more than 100K subscribers to his newsletter. What’s he posting about? His kids, a live interview with The Bulwark's Tim Miller, and Mike Lee’s terrible tweets about the Minnesota political murders. [Vanity Fair]

🚀 Why 2025 is the year to launch a newsletter: “While social media feeds get crowded with ads and suggested content, email remains a place where people go to hear from the voices they actually chose to follow,” writes Jim Person. [Medium]

📈 Growth tips & tricks

🚀 Podcast: The ultimate guide to your first 1,000 email subscribers [The Newsletter Operator]

✍️ Growth hacks: 50 simple ways to grow your Substack [Zoki’s Creative Universe]

🧳 Case study: How the Daily Drop scaled its travel newsletter to 7 figures [Beehiiv]

📈 Get paid: Your complete guide to newsletter ads and sponsorships [Indiegraf]

🤝 Meet peeps: The top 20 email marketing conferences in 2025 and beyond [Beehiiv]

From the Ink Media Insights blog

The biggest mistake you’re making with your B2B newsletter

Every B2B company should have a newsletter that engages prospects, builds credibility, and showcases your thought leadership.

But most businesses are doing it wrong. They fall into the trap of using their newsletters as a platform for self-promotion, packing them with boring press releases and company updates of little interest to anyone outside of the business itself.

The true value of a B2B newsletter lies in providing content that is relevant, insightful, and valuable to the reader. Here’s why newsletters are more effective when they focus on covering your industry rather than your company.

💪 Tools & resources you should know

[Content may contain affiliate links to support our publication]

Get a 30-day trial + 20% off for 3 months on Beehiiv [link]

Create beautiful on-brand forms with Typeform [link]

Send up to 12,000 emails for free with MailerLite [link]

Get a free trial of Kit, the creator-first email platform [link]

🧠 Send us your story ideas!

What would you like to see covered in the world of newsletters? Just reply to this email to get in touch!