Adam Shepherd gives a tip about monetising your podcast

Adam Shepherd: 00:00:01

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.