Substack continues to double down on video amid TikTok’s uncertain future in the U.S. The company announced on Monday that it’s rolling out a scrollable video feed in its app, making it the latest platform to introduce a TikTok-like feed.
Given the timing of the launch, Substack is likely aiming to capitalize on the potential void left by TikTok if it faces a ban in the United States.
The move comes a month after Substack announced that it would start allowing creators to monetize their videos on the platform and let them publish video posts directly from the Substack app.
Substack first launched native video back in 2022 and later introduced an in-app Media Tab in 2024. The tab has now been redesigned into a scrollable video feed that will feature short-from videos under 10 minutes. Substack plans to launch long-form and podcast previews in the feed soon.
The company believes that the new feed will allow for better visibility and discovery for creators trying new formats while also giving readers a better way to come across new perspectives and voices beyond their inbox.
The new feed also allows Substack writers and creators to move beyond text-based newsletters to explore multimedia content, which the company says they are already doing.
As of February, 82% of the platform’s top-earning writers are using multimedia — up from just over 50% last April, Substack says. The company believes the new video feed with supercharge this momentum, as it allows creators to grow their audience right where they publish.
For instance, a creator who has a Substack newsletter may also post short-form video content to TikTok. Now, they are incentivized to share the same short-from video content on Substack.
With this new TikTok-like feed, Substack is looking to meet the growing demand for quick, bite-sized content. Substack joins numerous other popular apps that have launched their own short-form video feeds following TikTok’s rise in popularity, including Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Netflix, LinkedIn, and more.
