Race to Control Creator Economy

This race is really about who gets to own the economics of creator media for decades, not just who wins newsletter software today. ConvertKit, now Kit, was built as a cash flowing SaaS business with most revenue coming from monthly software fees, while Substack and Beehiiv used outside capital to grow faster and build network features like discovery and ads. The Sulzberger analogy points to durable control of a media distribution layer, where the winner earns every time creators publish, grow, and monetize.

• The funding split shapes how each company can play the game. Kit reached about $43.2M ARR in 2024 with only about $1.8M of funding, while Beehiiv had raised about $49.7M and reached $30M revenue by June 2025, and Substack reached $45M revenue by June 2025 after major venture rounds and a $1.1B valuation.
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• They also make money in different ways. Kit and Beehiiv started from software subscriptions, charging creators for email tools based on list size, then layered on ad networks and referral products. Substack started by taking 10% of creator subscription payments, which works best when a few big writers generate a lot of GMV.
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• Becoming the Sulzbergers means becoming infrastructure plus distribution plus monetization. Substack built the strongest reader facing brand and recommendation loop. Kit emphasized interoperability and creator ownership. Beehiiv pushed hardest into the ad marketplace, and by 2025 about a third of its revenue was coming from ads and creator to creator sponsorships.
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Going forward, the winners are likely to look less like simple email tools and more like mini media economies. The platforms that keep creators earning more through subscriptions, sponsorships, recommendations, and adjacent software will compound fastest, because once a creator's audience growth and money flows run through one system, switching gets much harder.