By Aimee Metcalf, Content Lead, ROAST
While artificial intelligence is accelerating the speed and volume of online content, something unexpected is happening – people are slowing down. They’re seeking out substance over scroll. Across demographics, particularly among Gen Z and Millennials, audiences are showing a renewed hunger for meaningful long-form content that offers human personality and depth. In this shifting landscape, Substack has quietly (and not-so-quietly) emerged as the go-to platform for writers, creators, and increasingly, brands.
This resurgence of long-form doesn’t represent a dismissal of AI. It’s a response to the overwhelming sameness created by tightly personalised algorithms and AI-generated answers that are dominating the online experience. When every feed begins to feel algorithmically polished, people start searching elsewhere for voices that feel authentic. Substack offers precisely that. Direct-to-reader, personality-driven editorial content that creates genuine community rather than passive consumption.
And audiences are responding. Substack readership and paid subscriptions continue to rise: Substack currently gained 5 million paid subscribers, equating to a 67% increase in paid subscriptions in less than one year. Website visits continue to climb, specifically in the UK. With monthly visits to Substack.com increasing by 53% YoY… the momentum is unmistakable.
When Substack launched in 2017, it positioned itself as a simple newsletter tool for independent writers. Today, it has become a hybrid publishing and community platform where users consume everything from personal thought pieces and discussion threads to op-eds and investigative journalism.
But the real power of Substack lies in its philosophy – creator to consumer, without interruption. No algorithm deciding who should see what, paired with no forced ad placements.
Just writing, delivered directly to people who opt in.
This model has helped revive the kind of editorial content that used to thrive in magazines, newspapers, and blogs. Substack brings back the slower, more intentional rhythms of reading while still feeling in tune with today’s digital behaviours. That’s exactly why it’s resonating with younger audiences. The platform offers what their social feeds don’t.
What Brands Often Get Wrong and How Substack Fits In
As per its own guidelines, Substack are very clear that it is not an email marketing channel:
“Substack is intended for high-quality editorial content, not conventional email marketing.”
This distinction is critical, because it forces brands to behave less like advertisers and more like storytellers, editors and educators.
And the brands seeing success on Substack are those that understand this shift. They resist the urge to sell, in the knowledge that trust, not transactions, is what readers are seeking.
Rare Beauty is a leading example. Its Substack reads like a thoughtful lifestyle publication, where products appear naturally within broader topics such as beauty routines, travel, or wellbeing – not as sales pushes but as authentic human recommendations.
Other brands winning on the platform, such as SmartFlyer, Sprout Social, Ottolenghi and Loftie, all share a similar editorial-first ethos. They lead with expertise and perspective, allowing product relevance to emerge naturally.
For brands, Substack becomes a relationship channel, not a sales channel. It’s where a brand’s voice, values, and worldview take centre stage.
But before jumping into Substack, brands need to consider if this platform is where their audience actually wants deeper content from them.
For many brands, especially those in lifestyle, travel, beauty, tech, wellness, culture, and food – the answer is increasingly yes. But the opportunity is especially strong for those with niche expertise, where audiences crave specialised knowledge or behind-the-scenes insight.
Once that alignment is clear, brands should anchor their Substack strategy around:
- Unique, tailored, high-quality editorial
- Authenticity and internal expertise
- Niche topics delivered with authority
- Community building
- Consistency over time
- A strict avoidance of overt sales messaging
Brands should also embrace the broader ecosystem of Substack. Collaborations with established Substack writers, guest writers, co-authored essays, and affiliate partnerships can help accelerate growth and reach relevant audiences organically.
The rise of Substack does not replace short-form content. In fact, the two are incredibly complementary.
Short-form content, such as YouTube Shorts and TikTok, is still where most audiences discover new voices. It’s where interest is sparked. But the problem with short form is that it rarely builds loyalty; it builds fleeting attention.
The long-form depth found on Substack is where that fleeting attention transfers into trust.
Creators like Coco Mocoe exemplify this flywheel perfectly. Her TikToks introduce audiences to her pop-culture and marketing insights; her Substack provides them with the depth and nuance they crave. The result is an ecosystem where both content types amplify each other.
Brands can replicate this model. Use social for discovery and use Substack for loyalty.
Substack’s Indirect SEO Advantage
Substack insists that brands should not create content on the platform for SEO benefits, and they are right. Substack is for authenticity first. But interestingly, high-quality content on Substack does indirectly contribute to wider search visibility.
Large volumes of organic, non-branded traffic flow to Substack from lifestyle, food, and recipe searches, signalling that Substack posts are increasingly being indexed, surfaced, and trusted in traditional search environments.
And with AI search tools’ ability to draw from Substack as a source for narrative and expert-led insight, the platform’s influence extends beyond its own ecosystem.
The renewed appeal for long-form content is not a trend. It’s a recalibration. Audiences are overwhelmed by noise and craving context.
Substack, with its blend of community features, editorial authority, creator autonomy, and reader intimacy, is emerging as the place where those needs are met.
For brands, this is the real opportunity for three reasons:
1. To stop chasing algorithms and start cultivating relationships.
2. To shift from content as performance to content as service.
3. To earn loyalty through expertise, not interruption.
Substack rewards brands that think like publishers, not marketers, and punishes those who try to sell before they’ve built trust. But for brands willing to lead with value, originality, and point-of-view, the platform offers something incredibly rare in today’s attention economy – a chance to be truly listened to.
