# The State of Substack for PR

- Published: 2026-10-19
- Author: [Featured](https://press.featured.com/author/featured.md)
- Topics: [Research](https://press.featured.com/research.md)
- Source: https://press.featured.com/research/the-state-of-substack-for-pr/
- Publisher: Featured Press Room

### Original research · Find Substacks database

*Data from Featured's Find Substacks database of 38,746 Substack publications. October 2026.*

*Based on 38,746 Substack publications, October 2026 · 12 min read*

- **90.8%** Have Substack DMs open (35,198 of 38,746 publications)
- **4,000** Median free subscribers (Across 35,654 publications with a recorded count)
- **481.9M** Combined free subscriber count (Sum across all publications, not unique readers)

## Reachability: nine in ten writers take direct messages

Substack direct messages are the primary route to a newsletter writer, and 35,198 publications (90.8%) have them open. Counting linked social accounts as a second channel, 37,314 publications (96.3%) can be reached by DM or at least one social account, leaving only 1,432 (3.7%) with neither. Reachability holds at the top of the market too: of the 9,481 publications with 10,000 or more subscribers, 89.4% have DMs open.

![Reachability by channel · Share of all 38,746 publications; a publication can appear on more than one row. · Substack DMs open: 90.8% · At least one social account: 77.7% · Two or more social accounts: 48.4% · Instagram linked: 46.5% · X linked: 43.5% · LinkedIn linked: 27.9% · YouTube linked: 23.8% · Custom domain: 16.0% · Source: Featured, Find Substacks database (38,746 publications), analysis dated October 2026.](https://featured-com-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/featured-sites/press.featured.com/uploads/2026/10/chart-substack-reachability-52a3b5b7.webp)

### Figure 2. Publications by free subscriber tier (cumulative thresholds)

| Free subscribers | Publications | Share of database |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1,000 or more | 35,654 | 92.0% |
| 5,000 or more | 16,156 | 41.7% |
| 10,000 or more | 9,481 | 24.5% |
| 25,000 or more | 3,904 | 10.1% |
| 50,000 or more | 1,784 | 4.6% |
| 100,000 or more | 733 | 1.9% |
| 250,000 or more | 195 | 0.5% |
| 500,000 or more | 50 | 0.1% |
| 1,000,000 or more | 10 | 0.0% |