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But as Jamie MacEwan, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis pointed out, Substack only makes money by taking a 10% cut of its writers’ subscriptions, so it has no financial stake in a free newsletter whose sole purpose is to reach as wide an audience as possible.

“That eliminates some risk, but it’s no cast-iron guarantee – anyone could start a far-right newsletter, for example, and then it’s up to Substack to determine if it should be taken down,” MacEwan said. “Last year it faced a user backlash for refusing to demonetize newsletters that were publishing extreme right-wing views. These questions aren’t just going to go away, especially if Substack rolls out new personalization or discoverability features.”

“Economic slowdown or recession and reduced consumer spend would naturally impact ad budgets,” said Jamie MacEwan, senior media analyst at research group Enders Analysis. “[It] is a real risk because of the sheer scale of the tariffs and their impact on the actual flow of goods.”

He told The Media Leader that business confidence also “shouldn’t be underrated as a factor, because marketing plans are based on business plans and the uncertainty around tariffs will put some of those into a holding pattern”.

“Europe and the UK may look like more attractive regions for these businesses in light of US policies, but that still won’t make up for the wider economic turmoil caused by tariffs,” MacEwan explained.

Jamie MacEwan, senior analyst at Enders Analysis, previously told Business Insider he estimates that "almost half of Apple's revenue is exposed to China through direct sales and the supply chain."

“The bid won’t succeed, it’s not designed to succeed,” says François Godard, a market analyst with London-based Enders Analysis, who argues MFE would prefer to wait until Pro7 sheds some of its noncore assets — the company is trying to offload its ecommerce and online dating ventures — before buying the network outright. “But MFE will eventually take control of Pro7. At the European level, consolidation is inevitable.”

“Ad revenue can help subsidize lower subscription fees or bring a newsletter into profit,” said Jamie MacEwan, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis. “At the same time there’s never been more competition in the newsletter market, so there is pressure to remove restrictions any of these authors may be feeling, as we’ve seen with Beehiiv’s recent introduction of ads.”

“Newsletters may be a small part of the ads market, but they can provide an attractive option to up-market or B2B advertisers, as audiences tend to be more affluent and feel a strong connection to the author and the topic, which is presented in a premium context,” MacEwan said.

The move comes as altnets, whose networks now cover about 40 per cent of the country according to consultancy Enders, have stepped up their hunt for financing and deals. 

Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders, estimated that Connexin’s shareholder, asset manager Patrizia, would take a 1.5 per cent stake in CityFibre as part of the agreement. Patrizia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.