Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan is launching his left-of-centre news company in the UK after surpassing 50,000 paid subscribers in the US.
The Substack-based newsbrand launched in the US in April 2024 with the promise of “hard-hitting” interviews, “unfiltered” news and “bold” opinion via a newsletter, website, podcasts and Youtube videos.
It has more than 650,000 subscribers (up from 94,000 in March 2024), with between 50,000 to 100,000 of these paid, Hasan told Press Gazette.
Zeteo UK will produce “semi-regular” content and grow the team before its official launch, when it will start to publish daily, in September.
Hasan said the launch is driven by a “gap in the market” among “super dissatisfied” audiences in the UK.
“People are so fed up with the media,” said Hasan, citing left-wing supporters, Green voters, Muslims, and those interested in foreign policy.
He added: “The UK market is a market that is less invested in subscriptions than the US market, for sure, but… a lot of people, when I’ve mentioned I’m thinking of doing this, said, ‘please come here, we need alternative [media]’.”
He added that independent journalism has “exploded” in the US, reaching millions “who no longer defer to establishment media gatekeepers… There is no reason Britain cannot follow America’s lead”.
[Read more: Mehdi Hasan: Zeteo will be ‘all-singing, all-dancing media company’]
Two full-time staff to later double
Zeteo UK is launching with two full-time journalists, later increasing to four, to lead its editorial content.
Shehab Khan, who recently left ITV News as political correspondent and presenter, has joined as political editor. Khan will host shows and interviews for Zeteo UK after the official launch in September.
Becky Gardiner, former comment editor at The Guardian, has joined as head of opinion overseeing Zeteo UK’s commentary and analysis.
A number of prominent contributors are also signed up for the launch, including The Guardian’s Owen Jones and TalkTV’s Grace Blakely writing weekly columns and LBC’s Sangita Myska hosting a video postcast series.
“It’s a brilliant team,” said Hasan. “I’m going to be involved, but obviously I’m based in the US. I’m going to be dipping in and out of Zeteo UK as well.”
Zeteo’s US team is made up of 15 full-time staff, including three political reporters, and 20 “high profile” contributors.
Before his time at NBC’s Peacock streaming network and liberal network MSNBC, Hasan was a political pundit on Question Time and wrote for the New Statesman in the UK, and was a presenter for Al Jazeera. After the cancellation of his MSNBC programme in 2024, he became a regular columnist for The Guardian US.
‘Self-sustaining within a year’
Zeteo is aiming to be self-sustaining in the UK within a year, with its launch funded by revenue from Zeteo in the US.
“Obviously, we’re definitely investing, we’re spending a lot of money on this project because we believe it,” he said.
Zeteo will be a “standalone” company to the US iteration, with its own revenues and business model targets.
In comparison to more established, national media outlets, Zeteo’s advantage is being “substantially cheaper”, said Hasan.
Subscriptions cost £9 per month for subscriber-only posts, full archive access, unlimited access to exclusive content and live Q&As. Its annual subscription offers the same but at a reduced £5 a month.
Zeteo also offers the choice of being a founding member for a minimum of £300 a year which includes discounts and special events, and a bundled package of Zeteo US and UK for £8.25 per month.
“We’re coming in with a very reasonable price, even compared to other Substacks in the UK,” Hasan said.
The newsbrand launched its US edition with a focus on subscription revenue over advertising revenue via sponsorships of the title’s two podcasts We’re Not Kidding with Mehdi & Friends and Mehdi Unfiltered, as well as Youtube videos.
The UK edition will carry ads on its site and newsletter. Subscriptions will “dominate” as this is “much more sustainable revenue”.
‘Rising tide lifting all boats’
Zeteo’s launch comes amid left-wing title The Canary launching in print, journalists exploring independent working on Substack and former Observer journalists breaking off to launch The Nerve.
“It’s not about competition for me, it’s about a rising tide lifting all boats,” said Hasan.
“I think that all of us should be working together, because we were actually trying to provide alternatives.
“So, I actually look at the UK, I look at something like Novara Media, and I think they do amazing stuff. I look at even a Middle East Eye – that’s doing great work on foreign reporting. A lot of the non-traditional, non-mainstream source have done a great work, and we just want to add to that and raise that level of journalism.”
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