Substack has launched the next phase of its native sponsorships program and hired former Roku and PayPal executive Dan Robbins as its first Head of Brand Sponsorships, introducing a cohort of flagship brand partners and a new tool for creators to signal interest in commercial collaborations. 

In a blog post, Substack CEO Chris Best said the program pairs Substack creators directly with brands, with the platform handling matchmaking, infrastructure, and logistics. Creators retain editorial independence and set the creative direction for any sponsored work. 

Inaugural partners include Uber, Whatnot, Granola, Balenciaga, T-Mobile, Polymarket, and Yahoo Scout, which the company says are collectively investing millions of dollars in creators on the platform.

Creator Kits

To support the program, Substack has introduced “Creator Kits,” a tool that allows publishers to build a media kit for potential brand partners. Currently available to Substack bestsellers, Creator Kits also serve as the entry point into a forthcoming partnership platform where creators will be able to connect directly with brands investing in the Substack ecosystem.

Image: Jenn Lueke’s Creator Kit for “the eat goood newsletter”
Source: Substack

Previously, creators sourced, negotiated, and managed brand relationships independently. Best cited several examples of creators who built sponsorship arrangements on their own, including Emily Sundberg, whose sponsored letter with Hinge ranked as Feed Me’s fourth-most-engaged letter in 2024, and Lenny Rachitsky, who assembled a product access bundle valued at more than $30,000 as a perk for paying subscribers.

Sponsorships as a Complement to Subscriptions

More than 100,000 publishers make money on Substack through subscriptions, per Best. The top 10 collectively generate more than $100 million annually. The company frames sponsorships as a complement to that foundation rather than a replacement for it.

To lead the effort, Substack hired Robbins, who previously held senior roles at Roku, PayPal, and Nielsen. 

“Subscriptions remain the foundation of creator businesses on Substack,” Robbins told Axios. “These are first steps towards a broader brand partnership platform, but the ambition is very much just in line with Substack’s ethos of independence, of ownership, of direct relationships.”

Substack piloted native ads in December before this month’s expanded announcement. The formalized program positions the company more directly against rivals, including beehiiv, which operates its own ad network.

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