According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reid and Acosta have made their way to Substack where they're already getting a hefty following. In fact, the exodus from these "journalists" do Substack has been so massive that the platform has seen a sharp uptick in traffic: 

Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie tells The Hollywood Reporter that the platform has passed 5 million paid subscriptions. That is up from 4 million just four months ago, and 3 million a year ago.

A year ago, Substack says that half of its top 250 creators used audio and video as part of their regular content. Now that number is 82 percent, underscoring just how much audio and video content have transformed the platform.

“There’s been a large, big start of the year because of the political volatility. So there’s a bunch of people looking to make sense of what’s going on. There’s a bunch of either anti-Trump sentiment or pro-Trump sentiment that is driving people to look for new voices, and a bit of a shake-up from mainstream media institutions that are not doing as well as they once were,” McKenzie says. “That’s across TV, like Jim Acosta leaving CNN, Joy Reid leaving MSNBC, Jen Rubin leaving The Washington Post, Paul Krugman leaving The New York Times. And all of this has accelerated growth that was already happening, that’s probably brought forward that 5 million milestone a bit earlier than it would have otherwise.”

According to Acosta, he's already accumulated 123,000 subscribers, but he turned off the comments to this post, so take that with as many grains of salt as you can stomach. 

Joy Reid's numbers haven't been announced yet, but given the amount of people moving to Substack, including former WaPo darling Taylor Lorenz, we can assume that some of these people are getting enough to be comfortable. 

The question becomes, what kind of news environment is this going to create going forward? 

I wouldn't automatically dismiss the idea that people like Reid, Acosta, or even someone we haven't heard of yet would have a huge impact on how things pan out in terms of narrative creation and information dispersal. If you want to know how a subscription system might change things for news, then we can look at examples we already have. 

For instance, while it's free to watch him without a subscription, Twitch streamers like Hasan Piker have created something of a rabid fan base. While right-leaning streamers also have subscribers, and websites have subscription models (like this one) the left's mentality when it comes to subscribing seems a bit different. 

There seems to be a bit more of a parasocial relationship element to it. 

A parasocial relationship often develops online between an influencer and their fans, with some happening more deeply than others. OnlyFans stars have fans that are unforgivably loyal, giving up tons of their own resources and time to supporting their favorite creator. These subscribers will truly believe they're somehow in a relationship with that creator, while the creator has no such feelings or loyalty toward the fan. 

Think of the "the stripper actually likes me" mentality.

This can also happen in the political realm, but the right and left diverge in terms of how their fanbases are grown. 

For instance, Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, and Charlie Kirk's fanbases take a very anti-establishment view for their audience, as well as welcoming debate-style formats. Shapiro pushes a "facts before feelings" mentality that is adopted by his viewers, creating a more verbally combative fanbase. A fan of Kirk will happily engage with a leftist like Kirk does. 

Meanwhile, people like Piker base their entire personality around things such as moral superiority, creating a feedback loop of fans who think themselves better than others actually are, oftentimes pardoning themselves and Hasan for doing some uncouth things. 

Both can become overbearing, but in the realm of subscription services like Substack, things can get a bit more intense because subscribers tend to think they have some sort of personal relationship due to handing over money and sometimes having peer-to-peer conversations as you would a livestream with the creator. This creates a more personal connection to the creator, as you're not just talking with them, you're giving them money. 

Now, just picture what kind of person would have a heavy parasocial relationship with Joy Reid, then picture hundreds of them. 

Like PIker, there's a strong chance that people like Reid or Acosta develop a rabid audience that does not and will not listen to reason. They will see themselves as morally superior and become unwilling to listen to facts or common sense. 

While you may think this is just your standard, every day leftist, this kind of leftist will become a bit more tribal than the others, adopting their favorite creator's mentalities. No matter what is said or done by the creator, that person will go along with it, even defending it against all reason if it comes down to it. Think of Piker's audience defending him after he literally said someone needs to "kill Rick Scott." 

(READ: Streamer Hasan Piker Says Someone Should 'Kill Rick Scott' Over Medicaid)

Money, plus direct connection, can oftentimes lead to a parasocial relationship that can often turn into zealotry. Something to look out for going forward.