Substack is adding dynamic ads to the podcasts it hosts
If you listen to a podcast hosted on Substack, such as the Dwarkesh Podcast, Pantsuit Politics or Split Zone Duo, ads are coming to the free feed. Substack said on Wednesday, October 21 that sponsorships will soon be coming to podcasts hosted on Substack: dynamic ad insertion, an optional marketplace to fill ad breaks, and ad-free episodes for paying subscribers. There is no launch date yet. Creators can sign up for early access now.
The practical answer for listeners is simple. The free version of a Substack podcast may start carrying ads that are inserted into the audio after recording, so they can be swapped out later without re-editing the episode. Paying subscribers get the route around them, because the same post pitches ad-free and bonus episodes as the reward for a paid subscription.
The three pieces Substack announced
| Capability | What it does | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic sponsorships | Lets a podcaster run campaigns with its own sponsors and update ads across the back catalog without re-editing episodes | Early access signups open |
| Sponsorship marketplaces | Third-party marketplaces fill the ad breaks a podcaster marks in an episode; the podcaster sets how many ads run and which sponsor types are acceptable | “Soon”, optional |
| Ad-free community | Paid subscribers get bonus and ad-free episodes, plus chat and community channels | Available now |
The first row is the one listeners will hear. Until now, Substack says, its podcasters “have had to record sponsorships directly into episodes,” so an ad read in a 2024 episode stayed there forever. Dynamic insertion separates the ad from the recording. A sponsor bought this month can appear in an episode from two years ago, and an expired deal can be removed from every episode at once.
Podnews, which covered the announcement on Thursday, says it thinks Substack means ads rather than sponsorships and has asked the company. The distinction matters to listeners: a sponsorship is usually a host-read endorsement, while a marketplace fill is an ad the host may never have heard.
What changes if you pay, and if you do not
For a free listener, the feed stays free and the ads arrive when the show turns them on. Substack says participation is “completely optional,” so some shows will never add them, and a podcaster who does join sets the guardrails: “how many ads run and which types of sponsors you’re comfortable with.”
For a paying subscriber, the post points at what already exists. Scott Galloway, host of the Prof G Pod, publishes bonus and ad-free episodes to his paid subscribers on Substack. Shea Serrano runs a subscriber chat. Drop Your Buffs has described organizing its community into channels. Substack’s model is that the free feed funds itself with ads while the paid tier buys quiet and extras.
Substack also says it recently earned IAB Tech Lab certification for podcast download measurement. That is a sponsor-facing detail, but it means podcasters can pitch sponsors with the same download numbers the rest of the industry uses, which Substack could not offer before.
How this compares with Spotify Memberships
Spotify launched Spotify Memberships on October 20 with a 10 percent platform fee and the same basic promise: fans pay the creator directly for bonus and ad-free content. The difference is where the ads live. On Spotify the ads in the free feed are Spotify’s business. Substack is building the ad tools for the podcaster to use, with the podcaster choosing the sponsors or opting into a marketplace. We think the ad-free option for paying subscribers is the part most listeners will notice first, on both platforms.
Four questions about ads on Substack podcasts
Will my free episodes get ads?
Possibly, once the show you follow turns on dynamic sponsorships. Substack has not said when the tools leave early access, and each podcaster decides whether to use them.
Can I avoid them?
A paid subscription to the show is the only route Substack describes, and only if the podcaster publishes ad-free episodes to paid subscribers. Shows that keep their old recorded reads will sound exactly as they do today.
Which shows does this affect?
Only podcasts hosted on Substack. Substack named Split Zone Duo, the Dwarkesh Podcast (which Substack lists as The Dwarkesh Patel Podcast) and Pantsuit Politics as shows that use it to build both the podcast and the community around it.
When does it start?
Substack says “soon” and has opened early access signups for dynamic sponsorships. The announcement post has the details. Substack has not given a date; we will update this page when it does.
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