Make Money from Podcasting with David Spark
everyone wants to get paid for their passion. After all, it is one’s time we are talking about here – the essence of life. We all need an income, and ideally it should come from our personal expertise. Alas, maybe only 20% of the population gets to fulfill their dreams in such a way; the rest of us work day jobs that we are proficient at, but that aren’t our first loves. So the 80/20 split plays itself out yet again – a rule that takes on axiomatic truth the more one looks for it.
Podcasting is such a passion. Many such people would never have made it in the world of radio, especially with the topics they discuss. They may seem esoteric, borderline, or just plain indulgent. These voices would never have been heard in a previous generation. But with digital tech, we are all now broadcasters unto the wider world. Such wonder.
Podcasting has been in existence in its currently recognisable form for about 5 years now. Let’s say the beginning of 2005, when some company tried to trademark the term “podcast”. These short five years have seem an explosion of rapid creativity – with various ‘forms’ going under the moniker of podcast. Basically, a podcast is any audio segment that is posted on a regular basis. It could be a university lecture, a real radio show, two guys talking, a music mixtape, an audiobook published in chapters, or whatever. Basically, if its audio it can be turned into a podcast.
so how to monetize a podcast? Here David Spark, media consultant, does a series of audio interviews with those that have succeeded in making a living from their podcast ventures. There are various approaches, of which I will summarise a list here. There have been 11 interviews thus far, and there is a blog post accompanying each. I have no personal affiliation with any of the following material.
David Spark Interviews
Never Not Funny (Technique: “Partial show for free – full show paid”)
basically a try before you buy model. The first 20 minutes of the podcast are free, you pay to hear the rest. The guy offers a ’season pass’ model.
Pregtastic (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
a sponsor is more than an advertiser: they buy a piece of the business. Here the podcast truly plugs the sponsor, talks about them, involves them. They ‘own’ the show basically.
Elsie’s Yoga Class (Technique: “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
the classic upsell technique. The podcast is free, the iphone app costs you $4. Here the app gives you convenient graphic info on the yoga postures discussed. Clever approach.
Mac OS Ken (Technique: “Give away five shows for free, make them pay for the sixth”)
a simple fan model. If you are truly a fan of a podcast, you are unwilling to miss ANY show. So you run 5 regular shows for free, then charge for a special, feature-packed sixth show. Your listeners become believers.
Alaska HDTV (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
Chase the relevant companies yourself, and organise a mutually beneficial financial agreement. Long term relationships are key.
Duct Tape Marketing (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
this guy used his podcast to interview famous people in marketing, and thus made inroads into the industry. All about who you know.
ScreenCastsOnline (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
this is a weekly video tutorial for Mac users. Every second show requires a paid membership to watch. Prove your expertise, then charge for it.
Izzy Video (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
same as above. The key here is to build up a back archive of highly valuable content. If you want to access just ONE episode, you pay for a full 6 month membership. It looks appealing because half the content is unavailable to the free user.
Personal Life Media (Technique: “Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
one individual podcast may struggle to attract advertisers, but a band of podcasts can exert some clout. The ad network sits as an umbrella branch, sharing revenue with federated member podcasts. Interesting model.
Slate Gabfests (Technique: “Integrating sponsorship with the show’s editorial”)
this is where the line gets murky: when it’s hard to tell the show from the advertiser. Special ’segments’ are always dubious when they are not clearly distinguished as such.
Premiumcast.com (Technique: “Build an audience and sell premium podcasts”)
these are basically ‘how-to’ guides; information that comes at a premium, and thus can be charged for. You need to have a brand first before you go down this route.
some interesting approaches!
Thanks for the write up on my “Making Money from Podcasting” interviews. I’ve got a few more coming up plus one giant summary article as well. All will be published within the next few days. In fact, I have another one I just published, “Manager Tools (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”). http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=1037
I would argue with your comment about the Slate Gabfest podcasts integrating their editorial with their sponsors. If you listen to the show you will see there is absolutely nothing murky about the sponsorship. It is extremely clear that Audible is a sponsor of the show as they make a clear break from their programming to introduce it. But at the same time, Audible’s content is very much in line with the show’s editorial so the sponsorship can actually fit in nicely with the rest of the show’s programming.