Beehiiv introduces new creator tools, including webinars and customizable payments

It’s been clear for a while now that Beehiiv wants to be more than just a newsletter platform. The Los Angeles-based company announced a series of updates Thursday that make that ambition even more apparent. New features include webinars, AI analytics for podcasts, metered paywalls and paid trials.

Overall, the announcement is a clear sign that the nearly five-year-old company is trying to become an all-in-one hub for creators, reducing the hassle of juggling various tools and services to run their businesses. With these additions, Beehiiv is positioned against platforms spanning newsletters, webinars, and podcasting — including Patreon, Substack, Zoom, Kit, and Ghost.

The launch of the webinar is perhaps the biggest signal of where things are headed. Creators can now host live events for up to 10,000 people right inside Beehiiv, with video, screen sharing, and chat. They can charge for access to multiple coins or just use it as a free offer to grow their audience. The feature opens up new use cases for educational content, product demos and community building.

On the monetization side, Beehiiv makes it easy to convert new readers into paying subscribers without immediately alienating them. The new metered paywalls allow creators to decide how much content to give away before asking for money — one post or ten before a subscription message appears. Creators can also control the reset period: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or never.

Paid trials are another widely used tactic to attract new subscribers. Creators can control trial length, price, and billing cycle — for example, $1 for 30 days or $5 per month for 3 months.

Podcasts have exploded in popularity, and Beehiiv is betting that its new tools will make it easier for creators to stand out in the crowded space. Last month, the platform added native podcast hosting, allowing creators to handle everything from hosting and distribution to monetization. The company has seen positive results so far. It reports that 50% of existing users have migrated existing podcasts to the platform and 25% of existing users have launched entirely new podcasts.

Now, the platform integrates with AI analytics, giving creators the ability to dig into their audience metrics and ask questions about their data, like how an episode is performing or where listeners are coming from, and get answers without digging into dashboards. Creators must and can choose which AI tools to connect, including Claude and ChatGPT.

More features are coming. The company tells TechCrunch that it’s working on adding video support for podcasts, which is expected to roll out in the second quarter. Advertisements are also expected later this year.

Separately, Beehiiv is touting its first quarter results, which it calls the best quarter in the company’s history. The company said it reached 400 million unique readers, passed 50,000 active users and sent 10 billion emails. The outfit also said it surpassed $28 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) this month.