Featured Research · Find Independent Writers database
The State of beehiiv for PR: What 6,251 beehiiv Newsletters Tell PR Professionals
We analyzed the 6,251 beehiiv newsletters in Featured's Find Independent Writers database on October 20, 2026, measuring how active they are, how they can be reached, what they cover, and how large their audiences are.
47.7%
of beehiiv newsletters published 12 or more times in the last 90 days, roughly weekly or more.
“Most beehiiv writers publish on a schedule you can plan a pitch around. 81.6% sent an issue in the last 30 days, and the median newsletter published 11 times in 90 days.”
Key points
- 6,251 beehiiv newsletters are in Featured's Find Independent Writers database, and 93.3% publish in English.
- 81.6% published in the last 30 days and 97.9% in the last 90 days. 47.7% published 12 or more times in 90 days, roughly weekly or more, and 15.5% published 36 or more times, three a week or more.
- 85.7% link at least one social account and 70.8% link two or more. Only 6.4% publish a contact email, and 15.3% a contact page.
- 38.0% are recommended by at least one other beehiiv newsletter.
- 42.9% publish on a custom domain, 16.1% offer paid subscriptions, 7.4% also run a podcast, and 11.2% list more than one author.
- Of the 470 newsletters that display a subscriber count, the median is 17,000. 294 show 10,000 or more, 86 show 100,000 or more, and 6 show 1,000,000 or more.
- Business (27.0%), technology (16.8%) and artificial intelligence (14.6%) are the largest categories, followed by marketing, community, news and finance at about 10% each.
Key definitions
- beehiiv newsletter
- A newsletter published on beehiiv, on a beehiiv.com subdomain or a custom domain, and held in Featured's Find Independent Writers database.
- Published in the last 30 or 90 days
- Based on the most recent post visible on the newsletter's public site at the time of analysis.
- Posts in the last 90 days
- The number of posts published to the newsletter's public site in the 90 days before the analysis.
- Social accounts
- Accounts the newsletter or its author links from its public site or profile.
- Contact email
- An email address the newsletter publishes on its site. Featured does not verify these addresses.
- Recommended by
- The number of other beehiiv newsletters that list this newsletter in their recommendations.
- Subscriber count
- The count the newsletter displays on its own site, recorded as shown. beehiiv does not publish counts for newsletters that do not display one.
- Categories
- Category tags assigned to the newsletter. A newsletter can carry several.
- Audience evidence
- Featured's rating of whether a newsletter shows direct evidence of its audience size, such as a displayed subscriber count or recommendations from other newsletters.
Reachability: most beehiiv writers are reached through social profiles
There is no beehiiv inbox to pitch. beehiiv's Community feature, launched in July 2026, lets members of a writer's community message each other, and only if the writer has set one up. Just 6.4% of beehiiv newsletters publish a contact email and 15.3% a contact page, so the way in is usually a social profile or the newsletter's website.
85.7% link at least one social account, and 70.8% link two or more. LinkedIn (57.0%) is nearly level with Instagram (57.9%), about twice the rate in The State of Substack for PR, where 27.9% of publications linked LinkedIn.
| Channel | Share | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| Any social account | 85.7% | |
| Two or more social accounts | 70.8% | |
| 57.9% | ||
| 57.0% | ||
| X | 47.4% | |
| YouTube | 38.2% | |
| 34.4% | ||
| TikTok | 23.7% | |
| Contact page on the newsletter's site | 15.3% | |
| Threads | 9.4% | |
| Public contact email | 6.4% | |
| Bluesky | 6.2% |
How often beehiiv newsletters publish
A pitch about this week's news needs a newsletter that publishes this week. 81.6% of beehiiv newsletters published in the last 30 days and 97.9% in the last 90. The median newsletter published 11 times in 90 days, with 77 posts on its site in total.
What beehiiv newsletters cover
Business is the biggest beat on beehiiv: 27.0% of tagged newsletters carry it. Technology (16.8%) and artificial intelligence (14.6%) come next, and marketing, community, news and finance each sit near 10%.
The shares use the 5,834 newsletters (93.3%) that carry at least one category tag as the base. A newsletter can carry several categories, so shares add to more than 100%.
| Category | Share | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| Business | 27.0% | |
| Technology | 16.8% | |
| Artificial intelligence | 14.6% | |
| Marketing | 10.5% | |
| Community | 10.5% | |
| News | 10.4% | |
| Finance | 9.9% | |
| Education | 7.5% | |
| Startups | 7.0% | |
| Investing | 6.7% | |
| Lifestyle | 6.6% | |
| Sports | 6.0% | |
| Entertainment | 5.9% | |
| Culture | 5.6% | |
| Leadership | 4.9% | |
| Health | 4.4% | |
| Creativity | 4.4% | |
| Media | 4.1% | |
| Work | 4.0% | |
| Writing | 3.9% |
Who shows a subscriber count, and how big it is
Most beehiiv newsletters don't show how many people read them. 470 (7.5%) display a subscriber count on their own site, and Featured records it as shown, without checking it. Among those 470, the median is 17,000.
The largest displayed counts belong to AI, business and finance newsletters: The Rundown AI (2,000,000), Superhuman AI (1,500,000), and TLDR AI, The Daily Rip by Stocktwits and National Real Estate Brief (1,000,000 each).
| Displayed subscribers | Newsletters | Share | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 or more | 447 | 95.1% | |
| 10,000 or more | 294 | 62.6% | |
| 100,000 or more | 86 | 18.3% | |
| 1,000,000 or more | 6 | 1.3% |
1,304
One in five has direct evidence of its audience
When a newsletter shows no count, Featured's audience score looks at how often it publishes, how many other newsletters recommend it, and the writer's social following. 1,304 newsletters (20.9%) are rated as having direct audience evidence.
4,947
The rest are active, audience unverified
4,947 newsletters are active but show no direct evidence of their audience size. For these, check how often they publish and who recommends them.
How beehiiv newsletters are run
42.9% of beehiiv newsletters publish on a custom domain; the rest use a beehiiv.com subdomain. 1,008 (16.1%) offer paid subscriptions, and 2,373 (38.0%) are recommended by at least one other beehiiv newsletter. 701 (11.2%) list more than one author.
| Newsletter trait | Share | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domain | 42.9% | |
| Recommended by another beehiiv newsletter | 38.0% | |
| Paid subscriptions offered | 16.1% | |
| More than one listed author | 11.2% | |
| Runs a podcast | 7.4% |
| Language | Share | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| English | 93.3% | |
| Spanish | 2.1% | |
| Portuguese | 1.8% | |
| French | 1.2% | |
| German | 1.2% |
What this means for PR
Put the numbers together and a beehiiv writer is active, on social, and often recommended by other writers. The pitch that works names the last issue, fits the format, comes through the channel the writer checks, and offers something the next issue needs.
For breaking news, Featured's Newsjacking finds the story and the angle, and Find Independent Writers finds the writers who cover it on Substack, beehiiv, Ghost and Medium.
1
Name the last issue
81.6% published in the last 30 days, so there is nearly always a recent issue to read. Say what it covered and why your idea is the next step.
2
Match the format
A weekly roundup wants a link and one line. An essay newsletter wants an argument. Read two or three issues before you decide what to send.
3
Pitch where the writer is
Just 6.4% publish an email, and 85.7% link a social account. Use the account the writer posts from.
4
Offer what the next issue needs
47.7% publish weekly or more. An expert reaction sent the day a story breaks has an issue to land in within days. Send it with the quote ready to paste.
Source. Featured's Find Independent Writers database, platform beehiiv, as of October 20, 2026: 6,251 newsletters. Fields include the most recent post, posts in the last 90 days, total posts, linked social accounts, contact email and contact page, recommendations received, displayed subscriber count, custom domain, paid subscriptions, podcast, listed authors, language and category tags.
Selection. Newsletters were discovered from public beehiiv sites and directories and enriched from each newsletter's public website and profile. [NEEDS: Product to confirm the discovery sources]
Counting. Percentages are shares of all 6,251 newsletters unless a table or figure states a different base. Category shares use the 5,834 category-tagged newsletters as the base, and a newsletter with several categories counts once under each. Subscriber figures use only the 470 newsletters that display a count. 19 records are flagged as possible duplicates of another record and are included in the counts.
Thresholds. Twelve or more posts in 90 days is read as roughly weekly, and 36 or more as three times a week or more. Subscriber counts are recorded as each newsletter displays them, without verification, so the median and thresholds use the displayed figures.
Dates. Activity is based on the most recent post visible on each newsletter's public site at the time of analysis. The analysis was run on October 20, 2026 and reflects the database at that time; counts change as newsletters are added.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you send a direct message to a beehiiv writer?
- Not the way you can on Substack. beehiiv's Community feature lets members of a writer's community message each other, and only if the writer has set one up. Most beehiiv writers are reached through a linked social account (85.7% link one) or the newsletter's website. 6.4% publish a contact email.
- How often do beehiiv newsletters publish?
- 81.6% published in the last 30 days and 97.9% in the last 90 days. 47.7% published 12 or more times in 90 days, roughly weekly or more, and the median is 11 posts in 90 days.
- How many subscribers does a beehiiv newsletter have?
- Most do not say. 470 of 6,251 display a subscriber count, and among those the median is 17,000. 86 display 100,000 or more and 6 display 1,000,000 or more.
- What do beehiiv newsletters write about?
- Business (27.0% of category-tagged newsletters), technology (16.8%), artificial intelligence (14.6%), marketing (10.5%) and community (10.5%) are the largest categories.
- What is the best way to pitch a beehiiv newsletter?
- Read the last issue and name it. Match the format the writer uses, send it through the social account they link, and offer something the next issue needs. Only 6.4% of beehiiv newsletters publish a contact email.
Sources
Newsletter platform beehiiv now lets subscribers chat with each other, TechCrunch, July 16, 2026.
Getting started with beehiiv Community, beehiiv, updated October 9, 2026, read November 5, 2026.
The State of Substack for PR, Featured, October 19, 2026.
Find the newsletter writers who cover your subject
Ask Featured for independent writers on your topic and it searches Substack, beehiiv, Ghost and Medium at once, with how each writer can be reached.