Substack is taking another step toward becoming a universal social network/content creation platform by adding a vertical video feed to its app. Technically, the new TikTok-style feed is a redesign of the existing Media tab that the company added to the app in 2024, but either way, Substack’s intentions are clear: it wants a piece of the short video pie that Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are currently sharing.
Scrolling videos from authors you follow and others suggested by the algorithm will appear in the feed. Various forms of short-form content can be included, such as videos shared via Substack Notes, a Twitter-like microblogging feature, clips from longer video posts, and eventually podcast previews.
The addition of multimedia features such as podcasts and videos has been a boon for authors, according to Substack. The company claims that “82% of Substack’s top-earning authors use multimedia, up from just over 50% last April.” Support for short-form video is an attempt to go even further.
Substack added support for native video in 2022, expanded those features in 2023, and recently gave creators the ability to host live video streams in 2024. The company makes no secret of the fact that it sees Substack as a place for more than just newsletters and has been trying to attract the attention of TikTok creators since at least 2024.
The redesign of the Substack app gives followers a new way to find creators to follow and makes the platform a better home for a whole new type of creator. The changes to Substack are deliberate. The respite that President Trump granted TikTok by not banning the app is set to expire in April, which means there may be room for alternative vertical video apps.
