How to create a direct sponsorship storefront

Direct sponsorships are an extension of the beehiiv Ad Network, giving you a powerful, all-in-one tool to manage newsletter sponsorships and book ads directly with advertisers.

With direct sponsorships, you’ll have full control over your monetization strategy, including:

• A customizable sponsorship storefront you can share with advertisers.
• A dedicated direct sponsorship dashboard to manage bookings, pricing, and ad placements.
• The power to customize direct sponsorship proposals for any of your partners. 

You can create products, group them into packages, and publish a storefront to showcase available sponsorship opportunities. Advertisers can book through your storefront, and you can insert ad placements directly into your posts.

To use any monetization features in beehiiv — including direct sponsorships — you’ll first need to complete Stripe Identity Verification. Once verified, you’ll be able to link your bank account to the beehiiv Wallet and get paid. For more info, check out our guide on Stripe account types.

This article starts with a short video tutorial showing how to set up your storefront, followed by step-by-step written instructions for creating a product, publishing your storefront, and building packages of your products.

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Watch and learn: How to create a sponsorship storefront in beehiiv 

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How to create a product

1. From the left panel dashboard, click Monetize > Ads.
   
   
2. Under Direct Sponsorships, click Overview to open to your Direct Sponsorships dashboard.
   
   
   

Set up the sponsorship product

3. To create a product, click New product.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. This will open the Basic details page where you’ll enter all the storefront-facing info about your ad placement. Start by entering a short, clear Product name; 3 words or fewer is ideal.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Enter a product Description. This will be the details of what the ad product includes. For example, a typical Primary ad might include a logo and a 400–500 word ad placement at the top of the newsletter.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Enter a Price for the product. This includes a flat $10 beehiiv service fee and Stripe’s payment processing fee. You’ll have the option to hide the price from your storefront later if you prefer.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tech Note: Your final payout for the advertisement is calculated as: Your price – Stripe processing fees – $10 beehiiv fee = your payout.
   The processing fees are set by Stripe and are calculated from the full transaction.

7. Under Booking details, you can include an optional booking message, which is a short note that advertisers will see when selecting the product.
   
   Enter your message in the Any message you’d like to share when booking this product? box.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. For the Product type, simply click the arrow to choose one from the dropdown.
   You can select from:

• Primary: A prominent ad near the top of your newsletter, typically with an image or company logo.
• Secondary: A smaller ad placed further down in the newsletter.
• Classified: A simple text-only ad, usually near the bottom of the newsletter. 
• Takeover: A full-page ad that takes over the entire newsletter.
• Job: An ad for job listing for open roles.
• Other: Any custom format apart from the options above.
  
  
  

9. After selecting a product type, click Next in the upper-right corner.
   
   
   

Set the frequency and availability

10. You’ll now be on the Frequency page where you’ll define how often this product can run and when it will appear in your beehiiv calendar.
    
    Choose a Frequency — Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly — and select a Start date using the calendar picker.
    
    
    Note: Your timezone will match your browser settings.
    
    
    
    
    
    Depending on the frequency you choose, you’ll see different customization options:

• Daily lets you set the number of placements per issue.
• Weekly allows you to define how many weeks between slots, the specific day(s) you send your newsletter, and placements per issue.
• Monthly lets you choose between specific dates (e.g. the 1st or 15th), multiple dates, or dynamic dates like the Last day of each month.
  • If you select the 31st, ad slots won’t appear for months without that date. To avoid this, choose Last day for a consistent monthly availability.
• Yearly allows you to set placements per issue, with the ad slot recurring annually on your chosen start date.
  
  Calendar Example: With Weekly on Sunday selected, advertisers will see an open slot on every Sunday of the month, and you’ll see those open slots displayed on your beehiiv calendar as ‘Available’ until they are booked or included with a proposal. 
  
  
  

11.  When you have finished selecting your frequency options, click Next in the upper-right corner to continue.
    
    
    

Define the asset requirements

12. Asset requirements let you collect everything you need from advertisers upfront, saving time and streamlining your workflow. Click the Add asset requirement button to get started.
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. Select the Asset type. You can choose between: Short Response, Long Response, Image, or Link (Text + URL). If you require more than one asset, you will have the opportunity at the end to add additional asset requirements.
    
    
    Note: Advertiser assets can be seamlessly added to your post. The asset type you select here helps beehiiv determine how the asset appears in the editor, where you can make edits if needed.

14. For text-based responses (short or long), you can optionally assign a formatting tag like H1 or H2. Click the dropdown next to Format as Text to make a selection.
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. Under the Prompt for the asset type, enter a prompt or instruction for the advertiser to see.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Pro Tip: If you plan to write the final ad copy yourself, use prompts to request messaging points and include sample text in your placeholders (like copy from a previous campaign).
16. For the Placeholder, type in an example or guide for the advertisers. Placeholder text provides examples for the response.
    
    
    
    
    
    
17. In the Maximum length field, set a limit for the response by choosing either Characters or Words from the dropdown menu.
    
    
    
    
    
    
18. For Image assets, set a Prompt for advertisers to see and specify the desired Width and Height for the image.
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. For any Link (Text + URL) assets, you can choose how they appear in your post. Select between Format as Link or Format as Button.
    
    
    
    
    
    
20. Enter the Prompt for the link text. This is the prompt or call to action that the advertisers will see.
    
    
    
    
    
    
21. You can also add a Placeholder for link text, providing an example of the expected response.
    
    
    
    
    
    
22. In the Maximum length for link text field, set a limit by choosing either Characters or Words from the dropdown menu.
    
    
    
    
    
    
23. For each asset, you can toggle the Required on form option to make it either mandatory or optional for the advertiser.
    
    
    
    
    
    
24. Each asset includes a live preview at the bottom, showing exactly how it will appear to advertisers filling out your form.
    
    For example, if you're using a Link (Text + URL) asset, the placeholder text (e.g. ‘Try now for free’) appears in the CTA field, and the maximum character count is displayed just below the input box.
    
    
    
    
    
    
25. If you wish to add additional assets, click on the + button at the bottom to add more.
    
    
    
    
    
    
26. You can remove any asset by clicking the X in the top-right corner.
    
    
    
    
    
    
27. When you’ve finished adding your asset requirements, click Create product in the upper-right corner.
    
    
    
    
    
    
28. You’ll be brought to your Products page where all your created products will be listed.
    
    
    
    
    
    
29. Click the 3 dots menu next to any product for the option to Edit product, Hide product in storefront, Duplicate product, or Archive product.
    
    
    
    
    
    
30. To check whether a product is currently visible on your storefront, view the Status column.
    
    
    

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How to create your direct sponsorship storefront 

1. From the left panel dashboard, click Monetize > Ads > Storefront builder.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Toggle on the Enable Storefront option.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. When prompted, add an email to Add contact email for partners to reach out.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Note: This email will be visible on your storefront page for prospective advertisers to contact you directly.
4. Click the Confirm button to enable your storefront.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once live, you’ll be able to access your Storefront URL. Click Copy to automatically copy the link to your clipboard.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. You’ll also see a box where you can update your Contact email. Any changes will be saved automatically.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Paste your storefront URL into a browser to see your custom storefront.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Additionally, you can add your URL to your beehiiv website navbar for easy access.
   
   
   

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How to create a package

1. From your Direct Sponsorships’ Products page, click the arrow next to New product, then select Package from the dropdown.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Use the Select products dropdown to choose the products you want to include. You can add multiple products if you’ve already created them.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tech Note: Products in a package retain the frequency and asset requirements set in their individual configuration.
3. Set the number of units for each product. For example, to create a monthly package, you might include 4 units.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. In the Package name field, enter a name for your package.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. (Optional) Add a Description to let advertisers know what is included in the product.
   
   
   
   
    
6. Set the Price for your package. You might offer a discount for bundling, such as 10% off for a full month of ad slots.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tech Note: Your final payout for the advertisement is calculated as: Your price – Stripe processing fees – $10 beehiiv fee = your payout.
   The processing fees are set by Stripe and are calculated from the full transaction.

7. In Booking details, add any notes or expectations you’d like to share with advertisers when they book the package.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. When you have finished adding your details, click on the Create package button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. You’ll return to your Products page, where your package will appear alongside your other products.