{"id":564667,"date":"2021-02-18T13:54:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T13:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/02\/18\/how-to-make-buck-off-a-podcast\/"},"modified":"2021-02-18T13:54:22","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T13:54:22","slug":"how-to-make-buck-off-a-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/02\/18\/how-to-make-buck-off-a-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"How to make buck off a podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

The podcast industry is still figuring out how to make a buck.<\/strong> While podcasting is the fastest-growing advertising medium, few are able to make a living running a show as the industry brings in less than USD 1 bn in ad revenue annually, writes Axios<\/a>. Meanwhile, consumer adoption continues to outpace monetization, with more than 90 million people in the US alone estimated to be listening to podcasts every month, according to a 2019 survey by Edison Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top 1% of podcasts account for 99% of downloads.<\/strong> Only a few big players are making sizable earnings, including the podcasting department at The New York Times, which made USD 30 mn in revenue in 2019. Vox\u2019s podcasting business has eight figures of annual turnover, and podcast host Joe Rogan recently signed a USD 100 mn exclusivity agreement<\/a> with Spotify.<\/p>\n

How is monetization done now? <\/strong>The podcast ecosystem was built in a decentralized manner via RSS feeds which deliver new episodes to podcast apps (like Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify). Some platforms including Spotify use \u201cstreaming ad insertion,\u201d to place host and voice talent-read ads within different podcasts. Others rely on radio-like audio ads that are automatically placed within episodes. As for podcasters themselves, monetization often means striking partnerships with brands to promote their products or services in audio form or through affiliate links. Less common methods of monetization include organizing events and meetups or selling merchandise, Entrepreneur<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

Consolidation of services is key to building an advertising market.<\/strong> Major companies have begun investing to expand their podcast empires by aggregating podcast firms together and creating an end-to-end supply chain complete with advertising, distribution and hosting. Spotify acquired<\/a> podcast advertising company Megaphone last year for USD 235 mn in a bid to make their streaming ad insertion technology available to podcast publishers themselves. Meanwhile, Apple last year<\/a> reportedly acquired Scout FM, a startup that creates radio-like stations for podcasts to offer listeners a curated selection of podcasts and Amazon acquired Wondery in December<\/a> after competing with Sony<\/a> for the podcast publisher. ss<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seeing examples of this in MENA as well:<\/strong> Sowt Podcasts<\/a> launched the Zamakan Podcast Network that aims to promote podcast discoverability and monetization for podcast producers, the platform said<\/a>. Zamakan will consolidate all production services including hosting, outreach and publishing, ad sales, and live events for network members. The project received funding from the Google News Initiative<\/a> under its Innovation Challenge fund.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re already making a buck on Making It: <\/strong>Our podcast about building a great business right here in Egypt has run for three seasons thanks to our friends at CIB, the United States Agency for International Development and EFG Hermes. We\u2019ve sat down with high-profile business leaders from industries including fintech, manufacturing, investment banking, diagnostics, retail, and F&B. We try to have episodes to meet everyone\u2019s taste, while exploring how the Egyptian economy fosters homegrown and multinational business.<\/p>\n

Pictured above is Edita CEO Hani Berzi at our studio <\/strong>\u2014 you can listen to our chat here<\/a> or check out episodes from season three:<\/p>\n