Discover how Andrew Huberman, neuroscientist and top-ranked podcaster, scaled from 6K to 1M subscribers using Kit. Learn his systems and email strategies for growing his audience on autopilot.
Dr. Andrew Huberman never set out to become the number one ranked health podcaster in the world. But when the Stanford neuroscientist launched the Huberman Lab podcast in 2021, he knew one thing for certain: he needed to own his audience relationship.
This is how he used Kit to grow from 6,000 to over one million email subscribers—building a powerful marketing machine that works around the clock.
“Before, almost all of our growth came from mentioning the newsletter on the podcast. So if Andrew doesn’t mention it, the list doesn’t grow. But now, because of our lead magnet automation and recommendations, we have continuous opportunities for people to discover us and join our community.”
— Ian Mackey, Vice President of Scicomm Media
The challenge: Owning your audience in an algorithm-driven world
When Andrew Huberman started the Huberman Lab podcast, his team faced the same challenge every creator encounters: platform dependency.
“We don’t own the audience on the other platforms,” explains Ian Mackey, who manages Huberman Lab’s email strategy. “We’re always mindful that algorithms change, distribution strategies change. We’ve seen that across YouTube and Spotify—they’re more algorithmic in how content is surfaced than other traditional audio platforms.”
With each Huberman Lab episode averaging 2.5 hours and generating 40-80 page transcripts, the team was sitting on massive amounts of valuable content. But they were at the mercy of platform algorithms to reach their audience.
The team also recognized the importance of meeting their audience where they preferred to consume content. “We want to meet people where they are—if someone prefers to learn and engage with our content through newsletters instead of long-form audio or video, that’s perfectly fine with us,” Ian explains.
The solution? Build an email list they owned completely.
The strategy: Automated systems that scale with your content
Rather than relying on constant promotion, Huberman Lab built automated systems that grow their audience while they focus on creating world-class content. Here’s how they did it:
1. Create an irresistible lead magnet that delivers real value
The center piece of their email automation strategy is the “Daily Blueprint” lead magnet—Andrew’s personal daily routine broken down in detail.
“We deliver on the promise when people subscribe,” Ian explains. “The Daily Blueprint that we have is novel. It’s only available if you subscribe. We put a lot of effort into it. You really don’t see that sort of content in that package anywhere else.”
How they use Kit to deliver it: When someone subscribes through their lead magnet form, Kit automatically delivers the Daily Blueprint PDF to them. This automation runs 24/7 without any manual intervention, ensuring every new subscriber gets the same high-quality experience.
The results:
- 580,000+ subscribers from the lead magnet alone
- 82% open rate on the welcome sequence
- 54% click rate on automated emails
“People are really interested in it,” Ian notes. “Andrew’s always mindful that the routines he follows are not prescriptions for what other people should be doing. It’s like, ‘Here’s what I do. Here’s what works for me. Pick and choose what might work for you.'”
2. Add newsletter signup to every page
After a website redesign, Huberman Lab made the newsletter signup form prominent across every page—homepage, episode pages, and the upcoming book page.
“On our old site, the newsletter signup was very hidden,” Ian explains. “Unless you were searching for it or we were directing you directly to it, it was challenging to find. Now we effectively have newsletter signup on every single page you land on.”
The team also A/B tested signup copy and built out multiple lead magnet incentives, creating a system that captures subscribers wherever people discover their content.
3. Use Kit Recommendations to grow your list with other creators
Despite initial skepticism, Ian became a convert to Kit’s Recommendations feature after seeing the results.
“I was a big skeptic of Recommendations for a long time,” he admits. “It probably took about four or five months to finally pull the trigger on it. I have been pleasantly surprised—I’m okay being wrong, so I was glad to be wrong in this case.”
Recommendations creates an organic referral loop where creators cross-promote each other’s newsletters, leading to high-quality subscriber growth without the typical costs of paid advertising or manual outreach.
The results for Huberman Lab:
- 72,000+ new subscribers through Recommendations
- High engagement rates from recommended subscribers
- Organic growth without constant outreach or paid promotion
“We only recommend people that make sense—people who have been on the podcast, or people that Andrew personally enjoys their content and has talked about,” Ian explains. “I think by taking the approach that we’ve taken, we’ve seen really good performance.”
The results: massive growth through email automation
This strategic approach to email automation has helped Huberman Lab build an engaged subscriber list, without needing to significantly scale content creation or resources.
The results:
- From 6,000 to 1+ million subscribers since joining Kit
- 580,000+ subscribers from lead magnet automation alone
- 72,000+ subscribers from recommendations
- 65% open rates on email broadcasts
Business impact
While Huberman Lab’s primary revenue comes from podcast sponsorships, the email list serves as a crucial business asset:
- Direct revenue from select newsletter sponsors
- Relationship building with long-term podcast sponsors
- Book launch preparation for Andrew’s upcoming publication
- Audience retention independent of platform algorithms
The philosophy: quality over quantity
What sets Huberman Lab apart is their commitment to value over volume—and providing multiple ways for people to engage with their content.
“Most of the time we hear from people, they want to hear from us more, which is a good problem to have,” Ian notes. “We only send an email when we have something important to share. People appreciate that we’re respecting their time and their inbox.”
This philosophy extends beyond frequency to accessibility. The team recognizes that some community members prefer reading newsletters over listening to 2-hour podcast episodes, and they’ve built their email strategy to serve those different preferences.
Why Huberman Lab chose Kit to power this strategy
But having great content means nothing if it doesn’t reach subscribers’ inboxes. That’s why the team chose Kit for its reputation for high deliverability and focus on core email features.
“At the end of the day, what we want is a good email experience from the authoring perspective and setup, and high deliverability,” Ian notes. “You want your emails being delivered and read by people. Kit delivers on that really well.”
Looking ahead: Email as the foundation for future growth
With Andrew’s book launch of Protocols approaching, the team recognizes email’s power to drive book sales—something they’ve witnessed firsthand with other successful creators.
“We’ve seen people like Sahil Bloom, James Clear—I could go on and on—find major success in book sales and pre-sales through email,” Ian explains. “That’s one reason why growing our list and increasing email engagement is a top priority.”
The team also plans to implement additional automations:
- Contextual welcome sequences for Creator Network subscribers
- Cold subscriber cleaning automation
- Advanced segmentation for different audience interests
How to apply this to your business
1. Automate your growth systems
Set up lead magnets, newsletter sign-up forms, and Recommendations that work in the background while you focus on creating content.
2. Deliver exceptional value
Your lead magnet should be genuinely valuable content that people can’t get anywhere else—not just repackaged existing material.
3. Respect your audience’s time
Quality communications build stronger relationships than frequent, low-value emails.
4. Build strategic partnerships
Use features like Recommendations to grow through authentic connections with aligned creators.
5. Focus on ownership
Email gives you direct access to your audience, independent of platform algorithms and policy changes.
Start automating your growth like Huberman Lab
Ready to create email marketing that works while you focus on what you do best? Kit’s automations, recommendations, and powerful integrations help you grow your audience on autopilot so you can focus on doing the work you actually love.
If you found this case study helpful, you can subscribe to the Huberman Lab newsletter at hubermanlab.com and listen to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
