Substack brings video to its Chat feature

Newsletter platform Substack is introducing the ability for writers to send videos to their subscribers via Chat, its direct messaging feature, the company announced on Wednesday. The rollout of video in Chat comes two months after the newsletter platform brought videos to Notes, its X/Twitter copycat that lets users share short-form content. 

Substack continues to add features that put it in close competition with social media platforms. The addition of video to Chat is no different and provides a new way for newsletter creators to communicate directly with loyal followers as well as share exclusive news or sneak peeks with their community.

The company launched Chats earlier this year, enabling users to converse more casually with subscribers. Just last month, Substack added the ability to paywall an entire chat or specific threads to paid members.  

To share a video in Substack Chat, writers can open a new chat and click on the plus icon in the bottom left corner. After selecting “Video,” they can upload media from their gallery or record a video with their phone camera. One caveat is that videos can only be five minutes long. 

Substack also provides the option to add a caption, put the video behind a paywall, as well as email subscribers about the video. Subscribers will also get a push notification sent to their mobile devices. The feature could broaden Substack’s appeal to include other types of creators beyond only those who write and publish.

Additionally, writers who allow subscribers to start their own chat threads will now also be able to share their own videos. The company will soon add the ability for subscribers to send video replies, it said.