Terms

Before forming Big IP, a content studio which manages podcasts as well as YouTube channels like The John Campea Show, Pop Apologists and Kempire, Scott Porch was an attorney as well as a journalist. "The main thing I covered while I worked full-time as a reporter was TV and film. I was a writer in the New York Times and Fast Company as well as Wired and Decider and some other media outlets," he starts.

One of the themes that he researched was the way in which podcast and YouTube media was gaining popularity with regard to film and TV. He wrote a piece about Game of Thrones recappers for the New York Times and spent more and more time around this topic and meeting individuals in the field. He before deciding to produce shows for Starburns Audio in 2019. "I went out on my own, and I've grown from a handful of podcasts and YouTube channels up to 14 or 15 channels" He adds.

Scott believes two components are what make podcasts successful in terms of creativity and the reach of your audience. "There's an interplay between these two things," he says. "It's difficult to grow a podcast that's not very excellent, however it's difficult to take a quality podcast and maintain it for the course of a lengthy period."

He believes that you need to have both elements in place. "You must create an idea that people would like to hear. You also have to be able to go to find the crowd to convince them to be interested in it in the first place." Scott believes that, as Scott discussed with Brian Morrissey when he made an appearance in The Rebooting Podcast, there are times when it's the podcast that's part of the business, while other times it's the marketing of the business.

Milestones

The success of a podcast also comes down to the scale of the host - this has become more important in launches. Some of the most well-known podcasts, such as The Movie Podcast and How Did This Get Made have been around long enough that the hosts are well-known because of their podcasts, however this is an extremely crowded market. "It's becoming difficult to cut through the clutter. Much depends on the artist," says Scott. "If Taylor Swift started a podcast tomorrow, she could start monetizing it from day one. If I launched a podcast tomorrow, it'd be a different conversation."

It is contingent upon different levels of listenership. "At 50,000 downloads an episode, there's a more extensive range of host-read ad companies that are going be looking to sign up for an initial commitment to the program where they'll make a certain amount of cash. But even for shows with more than 10,000 or 5,000 downloads per episode, it's possible to begin making money incrementally through membership and programmatic revenue," He describes.

Pop Apologists one of the series Scott produces, is home to over 2,000 members who have paid for Patreon and iTunes Podcast subscriptions. They've managed to expand this membership through doing it for many years and have been consistently with one show per week for the public, and an episode a week that's for members. Scott clarifies that, crucially that the two episodes are of the same quality. "If you enjoy one of the episodes, you'll like the other one."

Joining a membership is easy.

For membership, specifically, how do you get started? "A majority of the shows on YouTube have a good understanding of YouTube's members program - there's a general awareness out there however, in many cases, they haven't made the decision to join due to it being a task on their list they haven't gotten to yet or aren't sure the best way to go about it," Scott says.

Maybe the creator is making so much content that they don't know if they have enough time to do additional episodes on an expensive platform, or if the platform is likely bring in enough money or if a premium platform is going to outweigh the free platform.

"A lot of it can be a source of confusion or a place on their trajectory they haven't gotten to yet and need guidance," Scott says. "They need someone to say, 'There's money there if you want to go and go after it'. If you have a creative business, you're wearing so many hats and have plenty to be doing. There will be individuals and at the very least, equipment and support services that will assist you in building your company," he continues.

If so How do you select which tools and services you need to support your own business, particularly in terms of membership? "A number of factors seem to be pretty consistent in the market over the last couple of months," starts Scott. "Number one: those who consume podcasts or watch YouTube videos, form an affinity with creators. They are willing to pay creators by generating recurring income - $4 a month, $6 a month, or maybe even $10 per month. This isn't just because they want something 'extra' from the creator but as a way to help the creator in that as a career and not just as a side gig."

Another pattern Scott has observed is that the consumers tend to be platform-specific. "When the Pop Apologists started talking about Apple Podcasts subscriptions and their success, they already did really well on Patreon. One of the concerns they had with Apple Podcasts' was that it would cannibalize Patreon"We may have to shut down the subscription when we notice a significant drain from Patreon to Apple - but that isn't what happened at all. What happened is Patreon has continued to increase in size and Apple Podcasts has grown every month since our launch."

Scott has witnessed this on various other shows and learned about this particularity from others. "If people are subscribed to Apple Podcasts, they might be listening to 4 or 6 or 10 podcasts. But this is the only place they'll go to be listening to these podcasts. They're not on Patreon and YouTube. However, if you can put it before them through Apple then they'll be able to subscribe to the service."

Connection direct with your public

Scott believes that it is essential that creators have the ability to communicate directly with their customers with a podcast, and has cited a startup known as Luminary as an example of caution. "It was an approach similar to Netflix that was licensing other creators to create shows. You would subscribe to this platform and then pay."

Scott remembers that Luminary failed to succeed because people don't want an intermediary. "Consumers want to know that they're directly supporting that show and that the $7 they pay per month or $50 per year goes directly to the creator rather than to Luminary or Netflix or someone else. It's a direct link for the creators as well. It makes good business and economic sense to start Pop Apologists on Apple Podcasts to go after that audience however, Scott and the team don't know who those people are. "We don't have the email addresses of those subscribers. We can't have forums on Zoom every month to talk with them. We can't let them know when we're going to be present on another podcast or when we're going to perform a live event. We don't have any details about them," he explains.

Scott believes that if you are looking to make money, you should choose an option where you will be in direct contact with. "If your growth is only incremental, it might be time to start the Apple Podcasts service or Spotify subscriptions - but I would much rather have that person's direct information rather than having them just sort out there," he adds.

Focus on the future

If you're a new podcaster, Scott offers advice about the future of your show: "Don't get insular with your viewers. Make your show to be a success for the 1,000th subscriber and not just the first 1,000 subscribers. Every day someone new listens to your podcast who doesn't yet know about the format of your show."

Scott advises you to concentrate on the beginning 30-seconds of the program. Scott asks: "Are you introducing yourself to a first time listener? Or are you signaling "This is the most popular table and you're not a fan of our jokes; you might prefer to listen to something different since there's already a group of us'.

It's not difficult to default to that due to the directly-to-consumer relationship "You do want the club to exist. But you don't want it to become a club that has no doors, where this amount of members you've got will be all you'll ever get," he explains. "You've got to find that equilibrium between offering your viewers what they're there for, however, not becoming so secluded that a new person listens to it and decides that they've already done their thing. I'm not interested in being in the mix. If each episode doesn't work as the first episode isn't working, you're telling the new listener the show is not appropriate for them."

Scott gets podcast suggestions every day and is able to discern the recommendations within 10 seconds. "Give me ten seconds telling me who you are and the topic of this podcast about, and then tell me what you'll talk about today. Otherwise, I think 'I'm not a member of this particular club. I've been missing it for a while' - there's too much background and "in" vocabulary. It can be very difficult podcasts."

It's the same for pre-roll ads. "Some shows I'm working with feature pre-roll advertisements and we make profit from them," says Scott. "If they did not do that, they would make less money. Who wants to be the first thing listeners to the first time they tune in to your show to be an ad for Volkswagen? I want the first thing that they hear be the voice of host."

In concluding, Scott offers a tip on resilience for new podcasters. "You'll discover that many podcasters make five episodes. They don't see the progress which is why they quit. If you truly want to pursue this idea, whether as a business growth tool or simply a way to express your creativity You'll have take longer than you anticipate before you can feel confident that it's working.

This isn't necessarily a bad issue: "You're gonna get a much better at it in the first 25 to 35 episodes. You'll get feedback. You have to do it as you like it, and are aware that it's likely to be an incremental success. There are a lot of shows that increase in popularity from 300th-400th episode. Are you truly committed? It's unlikely that you'll get the 25,000 downloads you want right out the beginning unless you're famous.

What's your favorite show you would listen to? What episode do you see longer playthroughs on? If this is something you truly want to do, you're going to have to have to be patient to find a way to do it in a unique manner."