The Future of Podcasting is Social: And Everyone Can Make It Profitable
55% of the US population listens to podcasts. 155 million people.
But as of today, only 1.7M podcasts exist. Globally. That’s a huge gap in the market.
Courting the millions of people who listen to podcasts but have never recorded one will mean democratizing the industry and making it for everyone.
Tom Webster, senior vice president at Edison Research, wrote in an essay posted on Medium that the industry has to get out of its bubbles “and understand the real bottlenecks to the growth of podcasting.”
The industry has become a community talking to itself.
We need to make it social.
If the evolution of online video shows us anything, it’s this:
“What Instagram Stories is to YouTube, predicts what Social Podcasting will be to Podcasts.”
Just as Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a company call back in 2019. “There is a massive opportunity here for audio to evolve into a more personalized, more immersive experience, much like how the video industry has evolved.”
The evolution of online video can be used to make big predictions about audio monetization, too.
YouTube was built on the backs of independent creators, but now many of the world’s top video creators have abandoned the platform for fan-subscription services like Patreon, Twitch and OnlyFans that allow creators to earn a living directly from their fans, cutting out the middle man.
Patreon sees 9.3 million monthly money pledges from fans to creators, paying out $20M+ to creators each month. OnlyFans is seeing an average annual growth rate of 304%, with 60,000+ creators earning an average monthly revenue of $250 USD.
The business model for podcasts will follow this evolution, too. As of today, there’s no easy way to make money from your podcast. Spotify does not pay out royalties for streams of your podcast, instead acts as a “distribution” platform for your content. Creators must haggle for deals directly with sponsors or read out commercials in their recording.
Companies such as Stitcher act like traditional media-buying agencies, connecting podcast hosts with sponsors hoping to reach a particular audience. These podcast ad brokers sell commercials for just $25 to $50 per 1,000 downloads. This is not a sustainable business model for creators.
So, companies like Stitcher are starting to bet on fan-subscription models for exclusive content in 2021 and beyond. For $4.99 a month, the Stitcher Premium app offers subscribers exclusive podcasts — the ones that attract audiences rivaling those of TV shows or Netflix series.
But across the 1.7M podcasts currently available, the median audience for a podcast is just 130 listeners, according to hosting site Libsyn.
While Spotify is busy signing multi-million dollar deals with the world’s top 2% of creators, there is a huge opportunity to democratize the industry and build a platform that gives a voice to the other 98% of people.
Just like Patreon did for YouTube, Logcast™ aims to democratize the audio industry and disrupt Spotify’s approach to podcasting as it stands.
Logcast™ is the world’s first social podcasting app, a platform that allows users to record, publish and discover short-form audio updates and conversations from friends, brands and creators.
On average, it takes 8 hours to script, record, and edit a podcast. Spotify can then take up to 10 days to get your podcast channel live.
With Logcast™, creators can use the app’s unique “one tap” podcasting technology to record, edit and distribute their audio content on the platform almost instantly.
The company will also soon launch their first monetization features, with users able to pay to unlock extra features, subscribe to private channels, join live-talk rooms, and support their favorite creators.
Logcast™ is currently in the hands of 100 high-profile creators ahead of its public launch later this year.
Are you a creator and interested in joining the Founding Creators Program? Get in touch with us at crew@logcast.io
Apply for early access to Logcast™ by joining the waitlist at logcast.io
