10 Reasons Why Investing in Podcasters Pays Off
As a podcast producer and media professional who has been working in this space for over eight years, I’ve seen many evolutions of podcasting. One of the largest shifts in recent years is the discussion around how to effectively monetise your podcast if you’re not part of an established podcast network.
I’ve seen the rise in Programmatic Advertising, Host-Read Ad Reads, Patreon Communities, Discord channels and many strategies in between, but today I want to focus on why it’s great to invest in your favourite podcasts at the grassroots level.
Join me as I provide you with 10 compelling reasons why you should consider investing in your favourite podcasters.
1. Investing in Quality Content
In today's digital age, high-quality content is paramount. When you financially support your beloved podcast creators, you're essentially investing in the creation of the content you cherish. Podcasters put tremendous effort and passion into their shows, and your contribution empowers them to continue delivering exceptional content.
2. Elevating Content Quality
Many podcasters are one-person teams, handling everything from recording, editing and promotion. Limited resources can hinder their ability to acquire top-notch equipment or hire professional teams. By contributing financially, you enable them to enhance the quality of their content, providing a better experience for you and their broader audience.
3. Exclusive Content
Subscribing to a podcast often comes with exclusive perks. Podcast creators can offer additional episodes, early releases, or even exclusive Q&A sessions with their guests. These offerings engage and reward dedicated listeners, making your subscription even more worthwhile.
4. Ad-Free Experience
If advertisements disrupt your podcast enjoyment, subscribing can provide an ad-free experience. Creators can offer this benefit while still maintaining revenue through other avenues, ensuring a seamless and uninterrupted listening experience for you.
5. Community Benefits
Some podcasts foster a sense of community among paying members. Subscribers gain access to private forums, Discord channels, or other platforms, allowing them to connect with fellow enthusiasts and interact directly with the creators they admire.
6. Ensuring Sustainability
For a podcast to thrive, sustainability is key. Your financial support ensures creators can continue producing their shows, compensate their teams, and maintain high production standards. It's a critical factor in keeping your favourite content flowing.
7. Exclusive Merchandise or Discounts
Podcasters often offer special merchandise or discounts to subscribers. This can range from unique merchandise items to discounts on live event tickets, providing tangible benefits to loyal listeners.
8. Supporting Independent Media
In a landscape dominated by corporate media, independent creators bring a unique and authentic voice to the podcasting world. By subscribing, you champion the art of independent podcasting and support creators who may not have the backing of large media companies.
9. Prioritizing Your Values
If a podcast aligns with your personal mission and values, subscribing is a concrete way to contribute to a cause you believe in. Your subscription dollars directly support content that matters, making a real impact.
10. The Feeling of Contribution
Lastly, subscribing sends a powerful message to podcast creators. It conveys that you're not merely a passive listener but an active supporter of their success. This sense of contribution motivates creators and reinforces the value of their work.
Supporting your favourite podcast creators is a win-win situation. Your investment enables them to thrive, create better content, and strengthen the podcasting community. Additionally, you gain access to exclusive perks and a deeper connection with the shows you love. It's a podcasting revolution worth joining, and by doing so, you become a vital part of the podcasting ecosystem.
Happy Podcasting!
Transcript:
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[00:00:00] Brianna: Do you currently pay any of the podcast creators that you love to listen to? Do you subscribe to their shows or do you just follow their shows? And what's the difference? Today, I'm going to go through
[00:00:11] 10 REASONS WHYYOU SHOULD PAY FOR YOUR PODCAST LISTENING EXPERIENCE
[00:00:18] So the podcasting industry has been a really interesting one As far as creators feeling weird about asking their audience to actually help support the show. For a very long time it was just expected that you would be providing this information for free ad nauseum to no end and continue to give this free information Because it was doing some sort of other purpose for you.
[00:00:41] So it was a really great lead gen, a funnel into something else, growing your brand, your know, like, and trust, all that sort of thing. Which is still true, absolutely. But, I think we need to have a conversation about why it's a good idea to support your podcast creators, the shows that you know and love.
[00:01:01] And And if you're a podcast creator yourself, you're definitely going to get some tips in here around how you can look at crowdsourcing your podcast and actually ask your audience in a non sleazy way to help support your show. OKAY so straight off the bat, number one, the number one reason why I think that it's a great idea to support your podcasters is because you're supporting them to create the content that you love.
[00:01:27] your favorite podcasts are generally produced by people who put a lot of time and effort into creating this show for you. And yes, it's something that they inherently love to do, otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it. Thank you. But you're supporting them to continue to create that content. you're becoming an investor in their show, meaning it's a way for you to show that you really want them to continue. And a lot of the time, As a podcaster, you don't get a lot of feedback from your audience. [00:02:00] You know people are listening, you can see the downloads, you might get the occasional DM or comment on YouTube, things like that, but you don't get a lot of feedback.
[00:02:08] But if you are getting a small amount of money from your listeners, then that is a fantastic sense of achievement a way for you as the listener to support WITH NOT A LOT OF DOLLARS the next reason why it's a great idea Is it can lead to an improvement in the quality of the content that the creator is able to provide.
[00:02:29] when you have a creator that's completely bootstrapping it, they're doing it all themselves. Maybe they've got a little in house team. They have limited resources, which means that they may not be able to get all the equipment that they want to get. Or they may not be able to hire an editor. They may not be able to have a podcast production team like us behind them because it's expensive, you know.
[00:02:50] and so if you are seeing the value in a show and you really want to support them to grow and up level what they are able to provide, then giving them a little bit of money is definitely going to help them achieve that.
[00:03:01] NO. 3
[00:03:03] EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
[00:03:06] so, exclusive content is a great one because you, as the podcaster, can decide what you want to provide to your members.
[00:03:14] It's kind of like how Patreon works, where you can go, hey, if you subscribe to the show or if you subscribe to my Patreon, you're going to get X
[00:03:21] AMOUNT OF extra benefits depending on the tier of payment that you are giving. So in the podcasting space, what that can look like is that you could receive EXTRA EPISODES or releases before everyone else.
[00:03:34] This works especially well for like true crime podcasts and things that Uh, release centric is in your, what you're just waiting for the next episode. You're wanting to know what happens next. And if you have subscribers, then you can release that stuff to them before the general public, and it creates that extra hype.
[00:03:51] So exclusive content is a really good idea. If you've got a high quality guest on, could provide extra content that is only for [00:04:00] your subscribers, where a subscriber is able to ask a question and get that question answered by the person that you're interviewing or by the host of the show, where you normally wouldn't get, you know, so there's heaps of different ways that you can actually get exclusive content as a subscriber. And it's something to think about if you are a podcaster looking to add subscriptions to your show. What could you provide people that would really engage them?
[00:04:24] NO. 4 AD FREE EXPERIENCE
[00:04:30] so for the subscribers of your show, they can get access to your podcast episodes without ads. If you currently run ads in your show because you have sponsorships, which is all the power to you, like that's important for the sustainability of your show.
[00:04:45] You can say to your audience, if you subscribe to this show, you won't have the ads because that's the way to make money either way for you as a creator. And it still benefits you and the listener either way they want to play it.
[00:04:59] NO. 5 COMMUNITY BENEFITS So some podcasts offer a sense of community to their paying members. Maybe there's a private Discord channel or a Mighty Networks or a private community on YouTube.
[00:05:14] Things like that, that if you're a subscriber, you get access to, and it gets you that layer above, you know, that tier above the general listener and gets you closer to that creator that you are really loving.
[00:05:27] NO. 6 ENSURING SUSTAINABILITY
[00:05:32] if you love a creator, if you love the content that they're putting out, if you want to see them achieve more things, bigger things, and you want them to keep releasing, then you as an investor in the show are actually helping to ensure the sustainability of the show.
[00:05:48] If the podcast creator has some money coming in, it means that they'll be able to continue running their show, to continue paying their podcast production companies or their editors or their [00:06:00] in house team to podcast
[00:06:03] NO. 7 EXCLUSIVE MERCHANDISE OR DISCOUNTS
[00:06:10] so this is a really fun one in the crowdsourcing world, especially for podcasting. You might have, as a creator, some special merch. one of our creators, The Wholesome Show, they've got like a trucker hat that they have as their merch.
[00:06:22] And that could be something that's... Only for subscribers or that there's special discounts for the subscribers. So they get 20% off the merch that you have, or if you're running live events as a creator, then the subscribers get a special discount code or there's meetups, things like that. So that actual kick back as a person who subscribes to the show can be really valuable.
[00:06:44] NO. 8 SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT MEDIA
[00:06:50] this is a huge one. We have to remember that there are millions of podcasts at this point, and only a select few of them are actually backed by large media companies, large networks that have a slate of shows that they pump money into. Using subscription models and using lots of ads and all those sorts of aspects.
[00:07:12] There are so many podcasts out there that are just purely independent creators. Falling in love with the art of creating a show and putting it out there to the world. And from you subscribing to a show, you're supporting that independent creator. And that really feels valuable to me, feeling like you're supporting an independent creator, someone that isn't tied to anything, that can do what they want, and you're supporting them in doing that, creating that craft. That's the good stuff.
[00:07:44] NO. 9. PRIORITISING YOUR VALUES
[00:07:50] put your money where your mouth is. If you love a show and it supports your mission, it supports your values. Maybe it's a show on [00:08:00] sustainability and helping the planet. Maybe it's a show on health and wellness, business transformations, things that you feel really passionate about.
[00:08:08] If you put some money towards creative, that's helping bring awareness to that thing that you also love That's donating your money to something that is supporting a cause that you really believe in.
[00:08:20] NO. 10 THE FEELING OF CONTRIBUTION
[00:08:26] I had a webinar that I attended with Apple podcast subscriptions just recently, and they were speaking about how people that subscribe to a show are actually proven to listen to the show two times more per month than those that don't subscribe.
[00:08:42] And that further proves that once you're actually paying for a show, you're more invested in it. You feel like you want to contribute to it. You feel like you want it to succeed. And that's a really good way to let your podcast creator know that you're enjoying the content, that you love what they're doing, and that you want them to continue doing it.
[00:09:01] That's my wrap up today on why I think it's a great idea to pay for your podcasts. This helps our podcast creators not have to rely on ad spend so much, especially when the ads aren't aligned with the greater mission of the show. We want to keep things independent as much as possible.
[00:09:20] We want to keep things free speech as much as possible. And by feeling like you're contributing to a show, you're giving a higher sense of value to the creator and that is never a bad thing.
[00:09:33] If you got value from this episode, please hit the like and subscribe button over on YouTube. Put any comments in the YouTube comments. I always love those. And if you're listening on Apple podcasts I would love for you to follow the show there. Any links you need are in the description below my name is Brianna from Bambi media and thanks for joining me today.
