At the start, Ghost was a WordPress alternative and was focused on blogs. Then it introduced newsletter features and a paywall letting users monetize the content. So, Substack and beehiiv are now the main competitors.
But the public perception of Ghost hasn’t caught up with how much it changed over the years. And that’s where I would focus with a video strategy for YouTube.
Where things stand
While Ghost is doing well and growing as a business (+$1.4M ARR in the first half of 2026), there’s a gap in how the market sees it.
The 2 main ICPs are content creators and media publications monetizing written content (blog or newsletter) with memberships.
But content about newsletters rarely recommends Ghost as a top 3 or top 5 option. I’ve seen this both when searching on ChatGPT, Gemini, and video platforms.
This happens despite Ghost being a popular topic on YouTube and on pace to overtake Substack.
I suspect this happens because Ghost initially focused on blogging, the videos on the official channel are more technical, and the audience was more technical.
That’s why several videos about Ghost are made by devs or spend a lot of time talking about how to self-host.
The strategy
Since the audience appears to be watching YouTube videos and even searching for Ghost, that’s where I would focus.
Ghost isn’t present on TikTok or Instagram anyway, and I’m confident YouTube will pay off.
Most search-based videos in this niche get around 1k-10k views. These are the ‘Ghost vs Substack’, ‘Ghost review’, ‘beehiiv tutorial’, etc.
Even tho there are some outliers, the bulk of my strategy is to target broader topics using proven video formats.
This is the modus operandi when the goal is to grow a YouTube channel and increase awareness.
For example, the topics ‘starting a newsletter’ and ‘growing a newsletter’ show several outliers with 20k-100k views.
These outliers prove there’s interest in the topic, and these channels are getting more views than normal! Even HubSpot has a video with more than 100k views, which is a good sign for a B2B channel.
So, let’s put Ghost in the conversation from the start, and not only when creators need to migrate away from Substack.
The Video Ideas
Here are 3 videos I would create if I worked for Ghost.
These ideas were selected because they make sense for Ghost as a company and how they communicate.
Video 1 - Newsletters Are NOT Dead
People love to say that something is dead.
SEO is dead. Ads are dead.
And they have been saying that newsletters are dead for the past 20 years.
But Ghost has data proving the opposite, so let’s make a video about it.
For the thumbnail, I would take inspiration from Matt McGarry.
I would try to draw attention to the ‘Not Dead’ argument to open a loop and the $100M earned by Ghost users. This is a huge number and something worth paying attention to!
For the title, I will use ‘Newsletters Are Not Dead’ as this is the main thesis of the video, so we don’t risk clickbaiting people.
Video 2 - How long it takes to grow a newsletter
For the other 2 videos, I will repurpose some of the great content I have found on Ghost’s newsletter, starting with the issue ‘Taking your Time’.
The internet is filled with 30-day challenges or that growing a newsletter is fast. Spoiler: it’s not!
For 99% of creators, it takes years of hard work to grow.
So, I will take that idea and adapt it to the topic of ‘growing a newsletter’.
My thumbnail inspiration is a mix of Jeff’s and Cole’s images, by combining the zero-to-one visual and the question (‘is it worth it’).
I would blur the number of subscribers on the right to open a curiosity gap.
My title suggestion is ‘The Painful TRUTH About Growing A Newsletter’. I want to appeal to curiosity by implying other videos are saying the full truth.
Video 3 - Why your newsletter isn’t growing
The topic of ‘why my newsletter isn’t growing’ is a common frustration for creators, and has some potential.
So, I will repurpose newsletter titled Saving your subscribers.
This video will be about newsletter churn, as it can be a common reason for the lack of growth.
Inspiration for the thumbnail comes from Patrick Walsh’s video “How to Grow an Email Newsletter from 0 With BeeHiiv or Substack”.
I tried to make the pain point visible by showing a gain of just 42 subscribers in 6 months.
As for the title, I would pick ‘This is why your newsletter will NEVER grow’. This is a bold claim and touches on the pain point again.
Landing the plane
I think improving awareness is the biggest win available for Ghost. So, the effort would go towards helping people find Ghost earlier, instead of waiting for them to get frustrated with their current tool.
This awareness job is a long-term play that needs a global marketing effort. Yet, YouTube is a route to potentially get thousands of views from their ICP and put Ghost in the conversation when it comes to newsletters.
Contact me if you want to talk or work with me :)