Hitting the Substack Ceiling
A few months ago, Janice Min, the chief executive of The Ankler, phoned Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie with some news: the Hollywood trade outlet, one of the top-selling publications on Substack, had decided to leave the platform. The call, I’m told, was amicable—and Substack even assisted in helping The Ankler migrate to a new platform called Passport, created by tech journalist Ben Thompson.
When Min officially announced the news last week, she praised Substack, but made it clear that she believed The Ankler had ultimately outgrown its capabilities. “Substack is an incredible launchpad, but we reached a point where it wasn’t built for what we were becoming,” Min told Status. “As we grew into a broader media business, we needed more flexibility and control across products, revenue, and audience relationships than the platform allows, and frankly, we wanted a beautiful home to house it all. In talking to Ben, it felt like Passport was being built with exactly that next phase in mind.”
The Ankler’s exit from Substack was largely treated as an isolated story. But it draws attention to a very real issue lurking beneath the surface at the newsletter and podcast platform, one that could prove detrimental to the company’s larger business. Indeed, Status has learned that The Ankler is far from alone among major publishers privately frustrated with the platform. According to people familiar with the matter…
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