How Jared Newman built Cord Cutter Weekly, a TV streaming newsletter with 32,000 subscribers
A spinoff newsletter that gives tech advice has also grown to 1,200 paying members.
When Jared Newman launched his Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter in 2016, the streaming landscape looked nothing like it does today.
Netflix and Hulu existed, but most networks still locked their content behind cable subscriptions. Streaming bundles like YouTube TV hadn’t yet taken off. And for consumers trying to ditch cable, the experience was fragmented, confusing, and often frustrating.
For Newman, that confusion wasn’t just a coverage opportunity—it was personal.
“I was living in L.A. in 2008,” he says. “I had very little income coming in. And so that was my impetus for not having cable TV anymore. It was just sort of like a necessity.”
What began as a personal workaround evolved into a decade-long reporting niche—and eventually into a newsletter business with tens of thousands of subscribers and a six-figure revenue stream across multiple products.
But unlike many newsletter success stories, Newman didn’t build his audience through viral growth hacks or social media dominance. Instead, he relied on something far more durable: a steady freelance career, a well-timed niche, and a deeply practical editorial philosophy.
In a recent interview, we discussed his motivation for launching the newsletter, why his editor let him promote it at the end of his columns, and whether he ever wants to leave his freelance career entirely to just focus on growing his two newsletters.
From Freelance Journalist to Streaming Expert
Newman’s path into newsletters began long before Substack—or even the modern creator economy—existed.
After studying journalism at NYU, he entered the industry through local newspapers before transitioning into freelance tech journalism around 2008. Over time, he built a stable of recurring clients, including TechHive, PCWorld, and Fast Company.
“I’ve been self-employed pretty much my entire career,” he says. “Just racking up freelance clients and kind of building things.”
Streaming, in particular, became a natural beat. Not because editors assigned it—but because Newman was living it.