Latest / The Newsletter Podcast with Fexingo: Substack, Beehiiv, and Email Newsletter Business / How Newsletters Are Using Audio Editions to Beat Inbox Fatigue
Transcript
- Lucas: So it's mid 2026, and the average professional inbox is sitting on something like 150 unread emails at any given moment. Newsletters are fighting for attention in that chaos. And one of the more interesting responses I'm seeing — especially this year — is the rise of the audio edition. Not a companion podcast. The newsletter itself, read aloud. Luna: I've noticed that. Substack has had audio for a while, but I'm seeing more writers treat it as a primary distribution channel, not an afterthought. Lucas: Exactly. And there's a real difference. A podcast is its own format — interviews, narrative, production. An audio edition is the newsletter, sentence for sentence, usually narrated by the author or an AI voice. The theory is: you don't have to open the email to consume it. The subscriber listens on their commute, and you still get their attention. Luna: Does it actually help with engagement metrics? Or is it just a nice to have for existing superfans? Lucas: There's some data now. Lenny Rachitsky — who runs one of the biggest business newsletters on Substack — said in a post earlier this year that his audio listeners spend about 25 percent more time with his content than his text-only readers. And his open rates for the audio-enabled send are about 8 percent higher. It's not massive, but it's real. Luna: And I imagine it helps with retention, too. If someone's really busy, they might skip the email, but they'll listen while driving or doing dishes. Lucas: That's the thesis. The Hustle — before HubSpot sold it — actually tested this back in 2023. They offered an audio version of their daily email, and their subscriber churn dropped by roughly 15 percent in the test group. People who listened were less likely to unsubscribe, because the content fit into their routine differently. Luna: Fifteen percent churn reduction is significant. So who's doing this well right now? Beyond the obvious big names. Lucas: A lot of the growth is happening at the mid-tier — newsletters with 20,000 to 100,000 subscribers. The barrier to entry has dropped. Substack's native audio feature lets you record from your phone. Beehiiv recently added an audio player that auto-generates a version from your text using an AI voice. You don't need a studio. Luna: I've heard Beehiiv's AI voice is actually decent now. The first generation was pretty robotic. But I'm curious — does using AI voice hurt the personal connection? Part of why people subscribe to a newsletter is the writer's voice, literally and figuratively. Lucas: That's the tension. Some writers record themselves — it's more work, maybe 15 to 20 minutes per episode — but listeners say it feels like a direct conversation. Others use AI because they can't afford the time. The data on which retains better is still mixed. But one thing is clear: audio editions are opening a new ad slot. Luna: You mean selling ad reads within the audio version? Lucas: Exactly. A newsletter might have one or two ad slots in the email. But the audio edition can have a mid-roll and a pre-roll, just like a podcast. And because the listener is captive — they're not scrolling past the ad — some writers are charging CPMs that rival podcast advertising. I've seen rates between 25 and 40 dollars per thousand listens. Luna: That's higher than most email ad CPMs. But the audience is smaller, right? Not every subscriber listens. Lucas: Right now, conversion rates from subscriber to audio listener range from 5 to 15 percent. So you're monetizing a subset. But for a newsletter with 50,000 subs, that could be 5,000 regular listeners. At a 30 dollar CPM, one mid-roll ad per week brings in about 150 dollars. Not life-changing, but it covers production costs. Luna: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us keep digging into these trends without sponsors. Lucas: Totally. And speaking of useful — one thing I want to clarify is that audio editions aren't replacing the written newsletter. They're additive. The best performers use the audio to drive back to the text, especially for links or visuals. Luna: Right, because in audio you can't click. So you have to say 'the link is in the show notes' — but for an email, that's just the email itself. Lucas: Some writers are getting clever with it. They'll include a 'listener-only' tidbit at the end — a bonus stat or a quick rant — that doesn't appear in the text. That gives people a reason to both read and listen. It's a two-touch strategy. Luna: That's smart. So what about production costs? For a solo writer, is it sustainable to record every issue? Lucas: It depends on frequency. A daily newsletter is tough. Many are only doing audio for their weekend or premium editions. Others batch-record four or five episodes in one sitting. And the AI option is getting better — some tools can clone your voice with a sample. The ethical question there is disclosure. But technically, it's possible. Luna: Do you think audio editions will become table stakes for newsletters in the next couple years? Like, if you don't offer it, you're at a disadvantage? Lucas: Not for every niche. If your newsletter is highly visual — charts, infographics, product shots — audio doesn't translate. But for long-form analysis, opinion, or curated news? I think it's becoming an expectation, especially among younger subscribers. The 25-to-35 demographic is podcast-native. They want the option. Luna: I've seen some newsletters offering both a written and an audio-only version, with slightly different structures. Like the audio version is more conversational, with ad-libs. Lucas: That's the next frontier. Instead of a straight read, you're rewriting the newsletter for the ear — shorter sentences, more rhetorical questions, signposting. That takes more work, but engagement metrics are stronger. One finance newsletter I follow — call it 'The Daily Brief' — saw a 40 percent higher completion rate on audio when they rewrote it versus a straight read. Luna: Forty percent is huge. So the takeaway might be: audio editions work, but only if you treat them as a distinct product, not a copy-paste job. Lucas: Exactly. The newsletters winning with audio are the ones that optimize for the medium. Short intros, clear transitions, a sense of the writer's personality. That's hard to fake with AI, but not impossible if you script well. Luna: I want to circle back to monetization. You mentioned ad rates. Are there examples of newsletters making serious money from audio alone? Lucas: There's one I know — a marketing advice newsletter with about 80,000 subscribers. They launched an audio edition last year and within six months were generating about 4,000 dollars a month from audio ads. That's not their primary revenue, but it's a meaningful increment. And they're now offering a 'sponsored segment' within the audio that the text version doesn't have. Luna: So it's basically a new inventory slot. For advertisers, that's attractive because it's a different kind of attention — audio is lean-back, not lean-forward. Lucas: Right. And some advertisers are specifically buying audio-only placements because they want to reach people during commute or workout time. That's a demographic that's harder to hit with email. Luna: What about the tech stack? Do writers need a separate platform for audio distribution, or is it all built into the newsletter tool now? Lucas: It's consolidating. Substack and Beehiiv both have native audio players. ConvertKit has a beta. But some writers still use a separate podcast host like Buzzsprout or Transistor and feed it into a private podcast feed. That gives them more control over analytics and ad insertion. The trade-off is complexity. Luna: A private podcast feed — that's interesting. So the subscriber gets a unique RSS link that only they can access. That way, you can track who's listening and for how long. Lucas: Exactly. And that data is gold for advertisers. You can tell them: 'We have 3,000 listeners who finish 80 percent of episodes.' That's a much stronger pitch than email open rates. Luna: So the future might be: every newsletter has three versions — text, audio, and maybe a video summary. And the smart writers will bundle them. Lucas: I think that's where it's heading. The ones who figure out the audio piece early will have a distribution advantage. Because inbox fatigue isn't going away. The question is: can you meet your reader where they actually have time for you? Luna: And for now, the commute is a pretty good place to start.