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beehiiv has hired Ainsley Rossitto as Head of Podcasts as the creator media platform expands its focus beyond its core newsletter business into audio, per Variety.
Rossitto previously served as VP of Digital Strategy and Operations for Podcasts at Paramount and held roles at NPR prior to that.
The hire follows beehiiv’s April 2026 launch of native podcast hosting, which allows creators to host, distribute, and monetize podcasts directly on the platform at no fee. The service distributes episodes to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Castro, and other major platforms, and is included on every beehiiv plan with no download-based pricing, per-episode fees, or storage caps.
Rossitto said the platform’s newsletter roots informed her decision to join. “I watched what beehiiv built for newsletters; the parasocial relationship those creators have with their audiences is almost identical to what great podcasters have with their listeners, and the two formats are deeply complementary,” she said.
Her near-term priorities center on closing product gaps. “Year one is about building on the foundational podcast hosting product we’ve launched and layering in the monetization and analytics tools that creators actually need,” Rossitto said. “Those are the pieces keeping us from competing head-on with the legacy hosting platforms today.”
“We are really putting a lot of firepower behind podcasts, and it’s a big, big focus for 2026 and beyond. We think it’s a huge opportunity,” said Tyler Denk, co-founder and CEO of beehiiv.
Rossitto identified independent creators as an underserved segment. “There’s a huge tier of independent creators with highly engaged audiences who don’t have access to the ad tech, sponsorship pipelines, or first-party data the big shows and networks have,” she said.
beehiiv plans to extend its existing newsletter ad network into podcasting, which would allow creators to sell sponsors a cross-channel audience rather than advertising against downloads alone.
The podcast push positions beehiiv against Patreon and Substack, both of which support podcasts and take a percentage of creators’ revenue.
The announcement follows what Denk described as the company’s best quarter. beehiiv reported adding $4.5 million in ARR in Q1 2026, sent more than 10 billion emails, and surpassed 50,000 active users. The platform now hosts more than 150,000 creators and publishers, has surpassed 500 enterprise customers, including TIME, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and Hearst, and has paid out more than $50 million to creators across ads, boosts, and paid subscriptions since launch.
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
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