Making money as an Indian Podcaster in 2019
If it feels like everyone’s listening to podcasts these days, you’re not imagining it.
2019 is going to be the year of podcasts, with a burgeoning share of podcasters and the podcasting audience. We are, in fact, thrilled to see the kind of support podcasters receive and the way this industry is emerging as one big community.
However, one question that looms big is how do podcasters make money? Producing a show takes real work, and if you want to keep your show running, you’ve got to find a way to make it work for you.
Before we go into the monetization models, a quick point to put things in perspective.
As you might know, Chinese podcasting industry is 23 times larger than the podcast industry in the United States.
Conor from @theHustle sees a major difference in the way podcasters are packaging their content in the two countries. American podcasts are packaged as entertainment and earn their money from ads and sponsorships. Chinese podcasts, on the other hand, pitch themselves as educational tools and make money from donations and paid subscriptions.
If Conor is right, it’s amazing to see how such a small difference in approach can spiral an industry to a size that is 23x as large. Talk about the butterfly effect!
The examples from China and the US are akin to two ends to a spectrum. Either you fund yourself entirely from businesses and don’t charge your listeners at all. At the other end, you make all your money from your listeners.
In India, the podcasting industry is at a pretty nascent stage and people are still trying different business models. It’s the Wild Wild West, if you will.
Now, let’s see what are the revenue models out there that you can flip and flop for your podcast to find your happy middle. You can pick and choose the models, based on what value you think you are delivering.
You have people’s attention: Advertisements
Right now the industry is young and rich with early adopters. People who are listening to the podcast are ACTUALLY listening. They are hyper-engaged.
It wasn’t a surprise then when Apple Podcast Analytics reported that the vast majority of podcast listeners listen until the end.
Tell any marketer that people are hooked to your content. He or she will smell an advertising opportunity. Now, you might hear that advertisers don’t want to look at small podcasts with fewer than 100,000 listens a month.
But that’s kind of changing. Especially if you look at advertisers who are testing podcast advertisements as a channel. Here’s an advice from @rebekahbek at AHrefs to her fellow advertisers:
“They (Podcasters w/ a small audience) may not have the crazy impressive reach or download statistics to show you, but they’re often more affordable, more passionate, more willing to work with you and most importantly, generally have a super strong personal connection with their audience.”
So if you have a small, but a loyal fanbase in your niche, use this advice to hook in some advertisers for your show :)
You can help brands stand out: Sponsorships
Talking about a small audience in a niche, there is another way for you to make money. This needs you to reach out to companies that you think your listeners will love to know about and offer them a chance to sponsor your podcast. In some cases, you can leverage the brand’s team and expertise in their niche for fresh content for your podcast.
The important point is that the brand should be on board with your style and choice of topics. Also, you should be reaching an audience that the brand is interested in. If those two things check out, sponsoring your podcast is almost a front row seat on the success ship you’re building :)
Alex Blumberg did this famously with his podcast, called the Startup where Squarespace appears as a regular sponsor on season 1 and 2.
You make something people love: Listener Support
Patreon jumped on this opportunity a few years ago in the US. Now Gigsy is offering Indian podcasters the opportunity to ask their listeners for supporting the podcast. In turn, the podcaster can offer ‘patrons’, or ‘champions’ in case of Gigsy, the access to ‘behind-the-scenes’ content. Some creators choose to create unique pieces of content available only to subscribers.
The model works particularly well for non-fiction, educational and news podcasts.
Sam Harris, for his podcast Making Sense, depends entirely on Listener Support. Hear him making the case for ‘Why advertisements don’t make sense for his podcast’.
A related form of listener support is in the form of tips, donations, and crowdfunding. If you are touching a raw nerve for your listeners, they are more than happy to come forward and support your podcast. As I write this, Eesha Bajaj is running a fundraiser for season 2 of her podcast Good for Construction and has already raised 64% of her goal.
You are educating people: Sell products or courses
Another interesting way to think about podcasts is as a gateway to your blog or website. You can leverage your shows to generate traffic on your websites, which can, in turn, help you sell online courses or offline workshops.
This method particularly works well for authors, and also for promoting businesses that organize events. In fact, you can also conduct your own offline workshops and generate ticket sales through your podcast.
Bijay Gautam from the Inspiring Talk and Chhavi Sachdev from Sonologue are using this very model.
Your endorsements matter: Affiliate Income
Using this model, you can make money in the form of commissions. Help your listeners discover products or services they might like on the podcast, and offer them a link to buy the product if they like.
This is particularly useful if you have a website, where you can post detailed show notes that have the affiliate links. If you’re promoting products available on Amazon, the company’s affiliate program is worth looking at. On the other hand, in case you’re working with brands directly, you can usually get a unique coupon for yourself.
Take, for example, advertisements that Joe Rogan or Ben Shapiro read on their podcasts. After telling you about the product, the host usually suggests going to a web URL that ends with /SHAPIRO, or /ROGAN.
You are a ‘Kanye West’: Merchandising and Events
If you can make anything you do seem cool, then you can totally consider making money from merchandises.
No Such Thing As a Fish does that. They give away their podcast for free. But make money on their merchandise. Another interesting thing that they do is to regularly go on tours and host sold-out events.
So, we see that there are plenty of interesting ways to earn while you follow your passion for podcasting.
In this Wild Wild West World of podcasting, you can make one or more of these models work for you. As long as you can be authentic to yourself and your audience while doing that.
Figure things out. Be creative. Make things happen.
