Monetizing Podcasts at Digital Hollywood
Last week, Digital Hollywood held a conference at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. For the first time, they included a podcast track as part of the conference. I had the opportunity to moderate a panel on monetization in the podcast space, covering not only ad-supported models but also branded content and premium subscription models. Joining me on stage were:
Steve Pratt, Co-founder, Pacific Content
Jeanine Wright, COO & CLO, Simplecast
Zachary Davis, VP, Premium Content, Himalaya Media.
Matt Turck, Chief Revenue Officer, MegaphonePods
Jason Baron, Senior Vice President, Direct Response, Warner Media, Ad Sales
Quite the group of experts, to say the least.
While there are quite a few differences between ad-supported, branded and subscription content, the group all agreed that education is key for new brands (and talent) entering the space. On the benefit of audio, Pratt said brands can “reach people where screens can’t” — And also spoke on the intimacy of the medium.
Wright, who focused on the efforts of Simplecast to learn more about the audience, said they are dissecting data so that creators can “use that data to make better content and most efficiently monetize”.
The 45-minute discussion brought up a lot of positives in the podcast space and highlighted just how much of a blue ocean there is for brands to connect with a highly engaged audience, and for creators to engage more by offering premium content.
The group also jumped into the question of 2020: Will podcasts get their fair share of political dollars? Certainly, with multiple daily political podcasts and more surely to come, the content is all over the 2020 election. This seems to be a big (or potentially missed) opportunity for candidates and sales teams, in my opinion.
To end, we all made some bold predictions for the audio world. Watch the full session here:
