Substack, Polymarket announce partnership: 'Journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets'

Publishing platform Substack and prediction market Polymarket announced a new partnership on Wednesday.

The new partnership will allow Substack users to integrate Polymarket’s prediction data directly into their content.

Substack said 1 in 5 of Substack’s top 250 highest-revenue publications started using Polymarket’s data to produce content focusing on current events like election timelines, shifting AI expectations, debate around economic policy and speculation on awards shows like the Oscars.

“Prediction markets are an emerging technology that aggregates real-time estimates of what will happen in the future,” Substack co-founder Chris Best wrote on the platform.

“While the stock market lets people trade shares of companies, and the price reflects an estimate of how much a business is worth, Polymarket lets people trade shares of future events, like elections, economic trends, and scientific breakthroughs. The price reflects a market estimate of how likely an outcome is to happen.”

Polymarket, in a statement of its own, said “journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets.”

The partnership comes as more states have questioned the legality of prediction markets, while Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig has said he plans to fight against state laws and litigation meant to impose rules on prediction markets.

A growing number of journalists and media professionals have opted away from traditional news outlets and media companies in favor of independent creator-driven platforms like Substack in recent years.