Riverside, the popular video and podcast recording tool maker, is expanding its platform to give users a new way to reach their audiences: newsletters. The update, announced in 2026, leverages AI to help creators repurpose their existing audio and video content into written newsletters—all without leaving the Riverside app.
A Different Approach to Newsletters
Riverside isn’t aiming to directly challenge established newsletter platforms like Mailchimp, Substack, Beehiiv, or Ghost. Instead, the company recognizes that its userbase already produces a wealth of spoken content. “Substack and Beehiiv start you at a blank page. But our creators and business customers are already producing rich, information-dense spoken content on Riverside,” said Nadav Keyson, Riverside’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview with TechCrunch. “For most people, speaking is easier and more natural than writing from scratch, and the ideas are already there, in the conversation. So instead of asking them to start over in a separate tool, we help them turn a recording they’ve already made into newsletter-ready content with far less effort.”
The platform’s AI-powered tool can automatically convert recorded videos and podcasts into newsletter drafts. Users can also create and send newsletters from scratch if they prefer, bypassing the AI conversion feature entirely. This lets content creators streamline their workflow, producing both audio and written formats from a single recording session.
Enhanced Recording Capabilities
Alongside the newsletter feature, Riverside is updating its recording suite to support multi-camera recording setups. This allows users to capture different angles or perspectives simultaneously, enhancing production quality. The update also includes the ability to add remote guests to recordings, making it easier to conduct interviews or collaborative sessions.
New AI Features for Post-Production
The 2026 update introduces several AI-driven enhancements:
- AI Drafting: Users can generate a first cut of a recording as soon as it’s finished, saving time on editing.
- Social Media Hooks: The AI assistant can create engaging hooks and content tailored for various social media platforms.
- Video Enhancement: A new AI video enhancement feature, trained specifically on conversational video podcasts, improves lighting, depth, and sharpness of recordings. This helps creators produce more polished content without expensive equipment.
Strategic Positioning in 2026
Riverside, which has raised over $60 million in funding (including a $30 million Series C in December 2024), joins a growing number of platforms exploring alternative publishing methods. By integrating newsletter creation directly into its recording tools, Riverside aims to reduce friction for creators, eliminating the need to juggle multiple apps. This move reflects a broader trend in 2026 toward all-in-one content creation suites, where AI helps bridge the gap between spoken and written formats.
As the creator economy continues to evolve, Riverside’s approach offers a compelling value proposition: turn your conversations into content—without starting from scratch.
via TechCrunch AI