Choose Mailchimp if your video newsletter needs segmentation, ecommerce triggers, and mature reporting; choose beehiiv if your goal is to grow a media-style newsletter around video content. Neither platform truly “sends video” inside the inbox in the way many people imagine. Most email clients block playable embedded video, so the practical workflow is a thumbnail, GIF, or play-button image that links to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, a landing page, or a hosted post.
TLDR: Mailchimp is stronger for video newsletter campaigns tied to customer data, product sales, and complex automations. beehiiv is cleaner for creators, publishers, and founders who want subscribers to read, share, and return to a web version of the post. For example, a fitness brand sending a 90-second workout clip to 40,000 customers may get more value from Mailchimp’s segmentation and purchase tracking, while a solo analyst growing from 5,000 to 15,000 subscribers may prefer beehiiv’s referrals and publication tools. In practical tests, teams often see video-click rates improve by 15% to 30% when they use a custom thumbnail with a clear play button instead of a plain text link.
What “video newsletter” really means
A video newsletter usually means one of three things:
- A thumbnail image that links to a hosted video.
- An animated GIF preview that links to the full clip.
- A newsletter post with an embedded video on the web version.
This matters because the inbox is not a video player. Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and other clients treat video differently. Some strip embeds. Some show fallbacks. Some break layouts. The safe option is still a strong image, a short caption, and a button that says exactly what the reader gets.
Mailchimp for video newsletter campaigns
Mailchimp is the safer pick for businesses that care about targeting and revenue attribution. It has been built for marketing teams, ecommerce brands, agencies, and service firms that need more than a clean newsletter editor.
For video campaigns, Mailchimp works best when the video supports a commercial action. That could be a product demo, customer story, webinar replay, course lesson, or launch announcement. You can segment audiences by behavior, location, purchase history, tags, engagement, and signup source. That makes it easier to send the right video to the right group.
For example, a software company could send:
- A two-minute onboarding video to new trial users.
- A case study video to leads who clicked pricing.
- A feature walkthrough to customers who have not used a key tool.
- A renewal reminder video to accounts close to expiry.
That is where Mailchimp feels serious. Its automation builder, audience fields, testing tools, and integrations are built for this kind of work. If your video newsletter is connected to Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, booking tools, or paid ads, Mailchimp will usually fit better.
The catch is that Mailchimp can feel heavier than it should. A simple campaign may require more clicks than expected, especially once you touch audience settings, permissions, tags, and reporting filters. It drives me crazy that a quick send can turn into a five-minute settings check if an audience is messy.
beehiiv for video newsletter campaigns
beehiiv is better if the newsletter itself is the product. It suits creators, newsletter operators, journalists, analysts, podcast hosts, educators, and founders who publish often and want growth features built in.
beehiiv treats the newsletter more like a publication. You can write posts, publish them to the web, build an archive, add referral programs, use recommendations, and grow through subscriber sharing. That is useful for video because many readers will not watch inside the email anyway. They click through to the web version, a video page, or a post.
If you publish weekly commentary, interviews, market updates, lessons, or behind-the-scenes clips, beehiiv makes that flow feel natural. The editor is clean. The web posts look polished. Subscriber growth tools are closer to the surface. You spend less time wrestling with campaign mechanics and more time shipping the issue.
Honestly, it feels like beehiiv was built for people who think in issues and audiences, not contact records and CRM fields. That is a strength, but also a limit. If you need deep branching automation, complex ecommerce triggers, or multi-step customer journeys, beehiiv can feel thin compared with Mailchimp.
Video presentation and design
Both platforms can support good video promotion, but the design rules are the same.
- Use a clear thumbnail. Faces, product screens, or bold titles work well.
- Add a visible play button. People should understand that the image is clickable.
- Keep the copy short. Tell readers why the video is worth two minutes.
- Use one main call to action. Too many links reduce clicks.
- Add captions on the hosted video. Many users watch without sound.
Mailchimp gives more control over branded layouts, content blocks, templates, and campaign testing. That helps larger teams maintain consistency. beehiiv gives a cleaner publishing experience and fewer distractions. That helps with speed.
If your brand team needs pixel control, Mailchimp wins. If you want a simple, polished editorial format, beehiiv wins.
Analytics and testing
Mailchimp has stronger reporting for marketing teams. You can track opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces, ecommerce revenue, campaign comparison, audience activity, and customer paths. Its A/B testing is also useful for video campaigns. You can test subject lines, thumbnails, call-to-action text, and send times.
beehiiv reporting is built around publication growth and reader engagement. You can see opens, clicks, subscriber sources, referral performance, post activity, and growth trends. For newsletter-first teams, that may be enough. For sales teams, it may not be.
A practical benchmark: if a regular newsletter gets a 3% click rate, a strong video thumbnail can push that to 4% or 5%. That sounds small, but on a list of 50,000 subscribers, it means 500 to 1,000 extra visitors. If the video promotes a paid product, those clicks matter.
Automation and audience targeting
This is one of the clearest differences.
Mailchimp is better for automation. You can build sequences based on user actions, purchases, dates, tags, form submissions, and engagement. That makes it fit for onboarding videos, abandoned cart clips, event reminders, and customer education.
beehiiv is better for growth loops. Its referral tools, recommendation network, and publication features help readers invite other readers. That makes it fit for video newsletters where audience growth is the main target.
Use Mailchimp if you ask, “Which customer should see this video next?” Use beehiiv if you ask, “How do we get more people reading and sharing this issue?”
Monetization options
Mailchimp supports monetization through ecommerce, lead nurturing, offers, and sales funnels. It is not mainly a paid newsletter platform. You can still sell through connected stores or landing pages, but the focus is marketing execution.
beehiiv is stronger for newsletter monetization. It supports ads, paid subscriptions, boosts, and referral-based growth. If your video newsletter is part of a media business, this is a real advantage. A creator could publish free weekly video analysis, then place longer briefings behind a paid tier.
Deliverability and list quality
Both platforms can perform well if your list is clean. The tool is only part of the result. Your sender reputation, consent practices, subject lines, and engagement matter more.
Mailchimp has long-standing compliance tools and list management features. That helps larger organizations. beehiiv is also serious about deliverability, but its audience is usually more publication-focused. In both cases, avoid sending large video-heavy emails. Use compressed images. Do not attach video files. Link out instead.
Pricing and value
Mailchimp can become expensive as your contact list grows, especially if you need advanced features. It may still be worth it if the campaigns generate sales or reduce churn. The value is in segmentation, integrations, and automation.
beehiiv pricing often feels easier to justify for creators and publishers because growth and monetization features are central. If your list is your main asset, those tools can pay for themselves. If you need CRM-style marketing, beehiiv may require extra tools around it.
Final recommendation
Pick Mailchimp for ecommerce, SaaS, agencies, education companies, nonprofits with donor journeys, and any team that needs video tied to customer behavior. It is the better choice for targeted campaigns and measurable sales impact.
Pick beehiiv for creators, experts, media brands, podcast newsletters, investor updates, and editorial video series. It is the better choice when publishing speed, subscriber growth, and reader sharing matter most.
The smartest setup is simple: host the video outside the email, use a sharp thumbnail, write one clear reason to watch, and measure clicks by segment. Mailchimp gives you more control after the click. beehiiv helps you build an audience that keeps coming back.
