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This is a hypothetical case study based on real industry benchmarks for newsletter churn, growth, and engagement.
Profile:
The problem: The author notices churn is highest among subscribers who haven’t opened the last 3 editions. They’re falling behind on reading and canceling out of guilt.
The author sets up an audiclip station. Each newsletter edition becomes a podcast episode with two AI hosts discussing the content. Subscribers get a private RSS link.
Announcement email: Open rate 62% (higher than usual). 340 subscribers add the RSS feed in the first week.
Cost: $0 (audiclip free during early access) Time investment: 15 minutes (one-time setup)
The author introduces a premium tier: 10 text-only).
| Metric | Before Audio | After Audio |
|---|---|---|
| Paid subscribers | 800 | 920 |
| Monthly revenue | $8,000 | $10,400 |
| Monthly churn (paid) | 6.5% | 4.8% |
| Subscribers lost/month | 52 | 44 |
| Audio listeners | 0 | 580 |
| Revenue from audio tier | $0 | $1,800/mo |
6-month delta:
The revenue gain comes from TWO sources:
Neither required creating new content. The same newsletter editions power both text and audio.
These are modeled numbers based on industry benchmarks (Substack’s 2.5x growth data, 4-8% newsletter churn ranges, and typical premium tier conversion rates). Your results will vary based on your audience, content type, and execution.
The math works. The effort is zero. The only risk is not starting.