Podcast powerhouse Goalhanger attracted more than 1.8 billion views and streams across its audio, video and social content in 2025. More than 250,000 people also pay for membership clubs attached to eight of its shows. It has built an enviable audience, but many listeners and viewers are spread across platforms that offer limited information about who they are.

For a company whose success has been built on voices and video, an investment in newsletters might seem like a surprising shift in strategy. However, Goalhanger sees an opportunity to spend more time with its fans and reach them directly. It appointed former Sunday Times and Daily Mail journalist Emily Kent Smith as editorial director at the start of the year and has since rolled out editorial newsletters for five of its 14 podcasts.

The approach goes beyond recapping episodes. Each newsletter is shaped around its show’s audience, from deeper reporting on political issues to essays and profiles that accompany history episodes. Early growth has been strong, while Goalhanger is still working out how newsletters will support memberships and generate revenue of their own.

The appeal of written content

At the point of Kent Smith joining in January, Goalhanger regularly sent email communications to members. But there was no cohesive strategy for written journalism or editorial newsletters.

“We have this very big and growing audience that wants to spend a lot of time with us. They’re highly engaged,” said Kent Smith, explaining the reasoning behind expanding into written content. “What else can we do for them that gives them more time in ‘The Rest Is’ universe” but not necessarily listening to more podcasts, as people like to consume in different formats?”

Kent Smith pointed out that many people don’t just read or listen or watch; they like a mix. She wants to be able to offer that to people who already enjoy Goalhanger’s content. “They might listen to a podcast on a Tuesday, watch a show on a Wednesday, and read a newsletter on Sunday,” she explained.

“The overall goal for us is how do we get people to spend more time with us and deepen their relationship with the brand, without just producing more and more podcast and video content?”

Choosing newsletters as the priority rather than a web presence crucially helps Goalhanger get to know its audience. Viewers and listeners may currently be large in number, but are fragmented across platforms, with fairly limited data beyond demographics.

Having a direct line of communication to fans in their inboxes gives more control to the publisher in building direct relationships, rather than relying on algorithms.

A tailored content strategy

Despite the somewhat predictable naming conventions behind many of Goalhanger’s The Rest Is… shows, their editorial newsletter strategy is unique to each brand. Kent Smith has rolled out written journalism across five of the 14 podcasts, with the approach tailored depending on the audience.

The Rest Is Politics is one of Goalhanger’s leading shows, hosted by former politicians Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell. The podcast publishes twice a week, with a main discussion-based episode, and a listener’s question time episode. 

Kent Smith explained that The Rest Is Politics was an ideal place to start experimenting with written content. The audience were less interested in political gossip, and more in understanding the wider global political situation. “There are so many big picture issues that this audience want to hear more of that we can’t possibly cover on the show,” she said.

Crucially, the newsletter needed to avoid round-ups or trying to cover everything that had happened in politics that week. “We’re at a point now where there’s a lot of saturation of those sorts of newsletters… we don’t have an edge there. Our edge has to be that direct journalism in your inbox: people that you admire and you’re interested in think this is worth your time,” Kent Smith said.

One example Kent Smith highlighted was the number of times Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the US was coming up in conversation on the podcast. Isabelle Stanley, Goalhanger’s Commissioning Editor interviewed a number of political figures and commentators, and published a magazine-style feature piece in the newsletter about why Americans think Britain is broken. 

Stanley then went on the podcast to talk about the piece. This in turn drove subscribers to the newsletter who wanted to read further. “The reading experience is an additional element to the podcast, so that you hear about it on the podcast and then you want to go and read it,” Kent Smith outlined.

The team are currently in the early stages of developing a written offering for The Rest Is Politics: US, taking on board learnings so far. For the political brands in particular, they aren’t aiming to be people’s primary read or source of news. Rather, they want to take a slower and more thoughtful approach to issues.

Goalhanger’s other leading series, The Rest Is History, takes a different approach to newsletters. The podcast is planned and structured around different time periods, rather than reacting to political news. Written content is therefore tied in with these, from profiles of key historical figures mentioned in the podcast, or guest essays from historians.

So far, the differentiated approach has paid off. The Rest Is Politics and The Rest Is History have seen 500% and 400% growth respectively since the editorial newsletters launched earlier this year. 

Another recent success for Goalhanger has been the launch of Book Club Notes, a companion to The Book Club podcast. The podcast itself debuted in February, with the accompanying newsletter coming a few months later.  Each week, hosts Dominic Sandbrook and Tabitha Syrett explore a classic or contemporary book, the historical context, and the story behind the author. The newsletter follows at the weekend, with talking points and reader reviews included.

“The show is [hosted], but the newsletter is our audience’s review of the books,” Kent Smith explained. “The reviews that we get in are incredibly considered and intelligent.”

Despite only being live for four months, Book Club Notes is already the publisher’s fastest-growing newsletter. Kent Smith said they have an incredibly active community receiving hundreds of comments and reviews from audience members each week. The newsletter ranks in the top 5% globally for engagement on their email platform Beehiiv. 

Although Goalhanger relies on strong personalities to build its shows, surprisingly this isn’t a feature of their newsletters. Many of the show hosts don’t have the capacity to write fully every week. Instead, Kent Smith explained that the newsletters expand the universe of each brand.

 “We’re building out our stable with personalities and different characters who…do fit with the ethos of the brand and cover topics that our audience will be interested in,” she said. Contributors need to capture the DNA of each brand, rather than newsletters being anchored by specific individuals.

The next test: membership and revenue

Goalhanger has found an appetite for its newsletters. Kent Smith describes open rates as consistently double the industry average, although she points out that the company starts with audiences already deeply interested in each show’s subject. “But the next challenge for us is what we do with that audience,” she said.

One priority is to strengthen existing memberships. Goalhanger sends different newsletter versions to paying members and free subscribers, with extras for members including discounts and exclusive access to competitions. The team is tracking newsletter engagement and wants to establish whether regular readers are less likely to cancel their paid memberships.

Free newsletters also give Goalhanger a way to attract prospective members. Kent Smith said there would always be a free offering, but the team is experimenting with what encourages those readers to pay. High open rates suggest an engaged audience; how that engagement translates into membership is still being tested.

A commercial offering for the newsletters is also in development. Goalhanger has successfully monetized audio and video, but Kent Smith emphasized that newsletters need their own approach. Some bundling has already been trialed, while the priority so far has been on establishing the journalism readers want.

“My focus initially was, if you don’t do great journalism, people won’t want to read,” Kent Smith said. For her, the rapid growth has been an encouraging sign that the editorial approach is working.

That does not mean every Goalhanger show will get a newsletter. Kent Smith is taking a selective approach to expansion, based on the subject and what each audience wants. “You have to think, will this actually work as a newsletter?” she said.

The newsletters have already persuaded podcast fans to spend time with Goalhanger’s written journalism. The next test is whether that reading habit helps retain paying members, attracts new ones, and creates a business that earns revenue of its own.