Adam Shepherd:
Hi, I'm Adam Shepherd and I'm Editor of the British Podcast Awards.
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And today I'm going to be giving you
a tip about podcast monetisation.
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I'm also Head of Podcasts for Haymarket
Media's marcomms publications,
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which means that I basically
spend all of my time talking to
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podcasters of one kind or another.
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And part of my job is helping
them to shape their strategy.
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So I first got into
podcasts as a journalist.
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My colleague and I wanted to start a
podcast for the brand that we worked
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on, but there was no budget for that.
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Uh, so I basically nagged the business
into setting up a podcast network
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with centralised support and backing,
essentially so that we didn't have to
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pay for any of the hosting ourselves.
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So after that, we spent several
years making podcasts and I sort
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of accidentally became one of the
go to people for podcasting and
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podcast questions within the company.
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Uh, kind of through no conscious
effort on there on my part.
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So one thing that I love about
podcasting is the diversity of
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different styles, different approaches,
and different sort of ideas.
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It is a hotbed of relentless creativity.
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And what I find really refreshing is that
you can find a podcast for absolutely any
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sort of niche or interest or specialty.
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There will be
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at least one podcast, probably
multiple catering to that.
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And often in vastly different
ways and different styles.
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It really is so sort of rich in
terms of that diversity and in terms
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of that sort of breadth of content.
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And it means that there's so much room
for experimentation for those of us
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that are actually creating podcasts.
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You know, there is no right way to
make a podcast and the, the freedom
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and the flexibility that gives one as a
creator is absolutely fabulous, I think.
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So my big tip is around
podcast monetisation.
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And I think for most of us in podcasting,
particularly in the sort of independent
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space, it's very tempting to feel like we
don't meet the threshold for monetisation.
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You know, we don't have enough listeners.
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We're not famous enough.
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We're not polished enough.
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The show isn't good enough.
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And that eventually, if we keep working
and keep making it better, then eventually
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we'll get to this invisible line
where we'll be worthy of monetisation.
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And that's simply not the case.
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You can monetise a show at
any level of listenership.
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And some of the most effective
ways to do that are through
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effectively non podcast means.
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A lot of podcasters have experimented with
things like subscription models through
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platforms like Patreon or SupportingCast,
which has been very effective,
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particularly for smaller shows who have
built up a dedicated core audience.
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There's a quote by the comedian
Stuart Lee that gets thrown
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around a lot in relation to this
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conversation, which to paraphrase is
essentially, 'you only need to have
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around a hundred people giving you,
I think, five or ten pounds a month,
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and that is a sustainable career'.
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And the same is true in podcasting.
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You don't need a large audience.
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You need an audience that contributes
regularly and engages with you regularly.
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And that can be the basis for
a sustainable financial model.
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And then you bolt onto that,
things like live events.
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And again, you only need 20 people, let's
say, in a room that are willing to pay
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to be there and to come and see you.
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And from there, that makes it a lot
easier to reach out to advertisers and
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say, 'hey, look, I have this engaged
audience who are willing to, you know,
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pay money, leave the house and come
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and see and engage with my podcast live.
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Would you like to be part of that?' And
reaching out to advertisers on a proactive
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basis can be super, super effective.
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Particularly smaller advertisers
and smaller companies.
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You know, reach out to
businesses in your local area.
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You don't have to ask for much.
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And if you're not asking for much,
then you've got a much bigger chance
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of finding someone willing to sponsor.
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And from there, you can build that out and
staircase out your revenue strategy until
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you're reaching sort of the financial
goals that you've set for yourself.
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You can find more from me and more
about the British Podcast Awards at
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britishpodcastawards.uk and you can
see all of my links in the show notes.
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Thank you so much for
listening to podcasting people.
