--- title: "How The Publish Press Reached 20,000+ Subscribers with 45% Open Rates" canonical: https://www.beehiiv.com/case-studies/the-publish-press description: "Expanding from YouTube to newsletters to educate creators at scale" source: live-converter generated: 2026-05-10T16:17:25.731Z --- # How The Publish Press Reached 20,000+ Subscribers with 45% Open Rates # How The Publish Press Reached 130,000+ Subscribers with 45% Open Rates ## Expanding from YouTube to newsletters to educate creators at scale ![How The Publish Press Reached 130,000+ Subscribers with 45% Open Rates](https://images.prismic.io/beehiiv/aXXIdgIvOtkhB6hf_Untitleddesign-1-.png?auto=format,compress) Written by Kanishka Kumawat Published on 07 Apr 2025 [](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beehiiv.com%2Fcase-studies%2Fthe-publish-press&title=How%20The%20Publish%20Press%20Reached%20130%2C000%2B%20Subscribers%20with%2045%25%20Open%20Rates&summary=Expanding%20from%20YouTube%20to%20newsletters%20to%20educate%20creators%20at%20scale)[](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beehiiv.com%2Fcase-studies%2Fthe-publish-press&text=How%20The%20Publish%20Press%20Reached%20130%2C000%2B%20Subscribers%20with%2045%25%20Open%20Rates)[](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beehiiv.com%2Fcase-studies%2Fthe-publish-press)[](https://www.threads.net/intent/post?text=How%20The%20Publish%20Press%20Reached%20130%2C000%2B%20Subscribers%20with%2045%25%20Open%20Rates%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beehiiv.com%2Fcase-studies%2Fthe-publish-press) ### Table of contents ### Overview The Publish Press is a twice-weekly newsletter by Colin and Samir covering the business of creators, written _by creators, for creators_. Launched in May 2021 as an extension of their YouTube channel, the newsletter delivers timely creator-economy news paired with clear analysis and actionable takeaways. In under a year, The Publish Press grew to 130,000+ subscribers while maintaining 45% open rates, becoming a core education channel for creators navigating platforms, monetization, and media businesses. ### The Newsletter - Name: The Publish Press - Category: Creator economy, media, business - Frequency: 2x per week (expanding to 3x) - Subscribers: 130,000+ - Open rate: ~45% - Platform: beehiiv ### The Challenge Colin and Samir already had a large YouTube audience, but video wasn’t the right format for: - Fast-moving creator-economy news - Short, scannable insights - Building a daily or weekly habit They needed a channel that could: - Scale beyond their personal time - Deliver timely education - Deepen their relationship with creators They launched on Substack initially, but quickly ran into limitations around growth tooling, analytics, and referrals. ### Why beehiiv The team migrated from Substack to beehiiv to unlock: - Native referral program to drive subscriber-led growth - Advanced analytics (link-level clicks, subscriber quality, source tracking) - Improved deliverability - Flexible email design for a more visual, scannable format For a publication planning to monetize and scale, data quality and growth infrastructure were critical. ### Content Strategy The Publish Press complements YouTube rather than duplicating it. - YouTube: Long-form interviews and analysis - Newsletter: Timely news + fast insights Each issue breaks down creator-economy news and answers one question: “What does this mean for creators?” Rather than headlines alone, the newsletter frames news as a curriculum—turning real-world events into lessons creators can apply immediately. ### Growth Strategy - Leveraged Colin and Samir’s existing YouTube audience for initial distribution - Focused on product quality before aggressive growth - Preparing to scale growth through: - Referral program - Paid acquisition - Cross-promotion beehiiv’s analytics allow the team to evaluate subscriber quality, not just raw growth—critical for advertising and long-term monetization. ### Results - 130,000+ subscribers in under one year - 45% open rates on a twice-weekly newsletter - Seamless migration from Substack completed in minutes - Positioned to confidently launch referrals and paid growth ## Related Case Studies ![How AdQuick Scaled Industry Sponsorships with beehiiv's Ad Network](https://images.prismic.io/beehiiv/Z_VpXHdAxsiBwdKG_adquick.png?auto=format,compress) ### How AdQuick Scaled Industry Sponsorships with beehiiv's Ad Network Solving scale and visibility challenges in B2B marketing [ Read Case Study → ](/case-studies/adquick) ![How Particle for Men Generated a 1.73 ROAS Through Newsletter Ads](https://images.prismic.io/beehiiv/abfLOrbci2UF6CEY_Untitleddesign-34-.png?auto=format,compress) ### How Particle for Men Generated a 1.73 ROAS Through Newsletter Ads Scaling newsletter advertising to 8.3M readers while achieving 809 conversions with beehiiv [ Read Case Study → ](/case-studies/particle-for-men) ![The Founder Who Turned His 400k+ Newsletter Into a Negative CAC Machine](https://images.prismic.io/beehiiv/afL59cBOoF08xfCT_Untitleddesign-36-.png?auto=format,compress) ### The Founder Who Turned His 400k+ Newsletter Into a Negative CAC Machine How Open Source CEO pioneered model where newsletter ad revenue offsets customer acquisition costs with beehiiv. 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