Terms

Before forming Big IP, a content studio that runs podcasts and YouTube channels including The John Campea Show, Pop Apologists and Kempire, Scott Porch was an attorney and journalist. "The most important thing I covered while I worked full-time as a reporter was film and television. I wrote stories for New York Times and Fast Company and Wired and Decider and some other outlets," he starts.

One of the themes that he researched was the way in which podcasting and YouTube media was gaining popularity around film and television. He wrote a piece about Game of Thrones recappers for the New York Times and spent increasing time on the topic, as well as meeting other individuals in the field. He and then he began producing his own programs for Starburns Audio in 2019. "I began by myself and increased my number of podcasts and YouTube channels to 14 or 15," the actor says.

Scott believes there are two factors that make a podcast successful in terms of creativity and reaching out to the 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 get a good podcast that is really good and sustain it over the course of a lengthy period."

He is of the opinion that it's important to be able to balance both of these components. "You need to create something people want to hear, and then you need the ability to go out and find that crowd to convince them to listen in the first place." As Scott discussed in conversation with Brian Morrissey when he made an appearance as a guest on The Rebooting podcast there are times when the podcast itself is an enterprise, and other times it's the marketing for the company.

Milestones

Success also depends on the size of the host which has been increasingly important for launches. Some of the most well-known podcasts, such as The Movie Podcast and How Did This Get Made have existed for a long time, so the hosts are well-known because of their show, but there is a lot of noise. "It's becoming difficult to cut past all the noise. It all depends on who it is," says Scott. "If Taylor Swift started a podcast on the horizon, she may monetize it on day one. If I started an audio show tomorrow, it would be an entirely different discussion."

It is contingent upon different levels of listening. "At 50,000 downloads an episode, there's a more extensive range of host-read advertisers that are likely to want to make an obligation to the show where you'll achieve a certain amount of cash. Even for shows that have 5,000, 10,000 downloads an episode, it's possible to begin earning money through the programmatic and membership revenue" he describes.

Pop Apologists one of the shows Scott works on, has 2,000+ paid members between Patreon along with the Apple Podcast subscriptions. The show has been able to increase the number of subscribers by doing it for many years, and they've been consistent with one show per week for members and one episode each week that is only exclusively for subscribers. Scott clarifies that, crucially the episodes have the same qualities. "If you love one show and you like it, then you'll love the next one."

Getting started with membership

In terms of membership specifically, how do you get started? "A majority of the shows that come from YouTube have a good understanding of the YouTube members program. There's a general awareness out there however in most instances, they've not taken that step since it's a matter in their to-do list that they didn't get to yet, or don't know the best way to go about the task," Scott says.

Perhaps the creator is already making so much content that they're not sure if have the time and resources to create more episodes on an expensive platform, or if the platform is likely make enough profit and if the premium platform will outweigh the free platform.

"A majority of this can be a source of confusion or an area that they aren't yet at and are in need of guidance" Scott says. "They require someone to tell them that there's money in the event that you choose to pursue and go after it'. If you're a creator in your enterprise, you're wearing many hats, and you have plenty to be doing. There will be people and or, at the very least, instruments and resources to aid you in building your business," he continues.

So, how do you choose the right tools and services are necessary to help your own business, particularly for membership? "A few things appear to have been pretty consistent in the marketplace over the past couple of years," starts Scott. "Number one is that people who listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos, have an affinity with creators. It's common for people to offer creators through recurring revenue - $4 a month, or $6 per month, or maybe even $10 per month. The reason consumers make this choice is not simply because they'd like something extra from the creator, but rather due to the desire to aid the artist for a profession and not as just side hustle."

The second pattern Scott has seen is that the consumers are platform specific. "When Pop Apologists began talking about Apple Podcasts subscriptions, they were already doing extremely great on Patreon. One of the concerns they had about Apple Podcasts is that it could eat away at Patreon and that they might have to pull the plug if we see a big increase in the amount of money flowing from Patreon to Apple However, that's not exactly what transpired. The reality is that Patreon increased in popularity while Apple Podcasts has grown every month since our launch."

Scott has seen this for numerous other shows and heard about this particularity from various people. "If consumers are on Apple Podcasts, they might be listening to 4 or 6, 10 podcasts, but that is where they're going to be listening to them. They're not on Patreon and YouTube. However, if you can put the content in front of users on Apple and they'll sign up to it."

A direct connection to your target public

Scott believes it's crucial that creators have the ability to communicate directly with their customers and cites a podcast company known as Luminary as a cautionary tale. "It was an approach similar to Netflix where they were licensing different creators to produce programs. It was possible to sign up for this platform and then pay."

Scott says that Luminary did not perform because the audience doesn't need an intermediary. "Consumers would like to know they're supporting the show directly and that their money of $7 per month or $50 per year goes directly to the creator and not to Luminary or Netflix or anyone else. The direct connection is crucial to creators, too. It made good consumer and economic sense to start Pop Apologists on Apple Podcasts in an effort to reach out to that market However, Scott and his team aren't sure who their people are. "We do not have the email addresses of those subscribers. We can't have a forum on Zoom every month to talk with those people. We aren't able to let them know when we're going to be present on another podcast or when we're going to be doing a live show. We have no specific information on these people," he explains.

Scott thinks that if you want to monetize, pick the platform that allows you to have that direct relationship. "If your business is growing slowly, you might want to launch Apple Podcasts subscriptions or Spotify subscriptions. However, I'd rather get the person's personal information than just have them sort of out there" Scott says.

Keep your eyes on the future

For budding podcasters, Scott offers advice about the future of your show: "Don't get insular with your listeners. Make your show to be a success for the 1,000th subscriber, not the first 1,000. Everyday, a new person listens to your podcast, but doesn't yet know about what format your show follows."

Scott says to focus on the beginning thirty seconds in your show. Scott asks: "Are you introducing yourself to a first time listener? Are you indicating 'This is the popular table and you don't get our jokes, you may want to go listen to something else as the group is already in place'.

He recognizes that it's possible to make a mistake because of the aforementioned directly-to-consumer relationship "You would like the club to exist. But you don't want it to be a club with no doors. The quantity of people is all you're ever gonna get," he explains. "You've to strike that equilibrium between offering your viewers what they're looking for but not being so insular that someone new listens to it and decides that they've already done their thing. I'm not going to get engaged. If each episode can't function in the same way as the very first one isn't working, you're telling the prospective listener that the show is not appropriate for them."

Scott is given podcast recommendations every day and is able to discern the recommendations within 10 seconds. "Give me 10 seconds telling me who you are and the topic of this podcast about, and then tell me what you'll talk about in the coming days. In the absence of that, I'm not a member of this particular club. I've missed it before' - there's too much history and 'in' vocabulary. It can be very difficult podcasts."

It's the same for advertising that plays in the pre-roll format. "Some shows I work with have pre-roll ads and we all make money from that," says Scott. "If they didn't do it, they would make less money. Who wants the first thing they listen to when they first watch your show be an advertisement for Volkswagen? I want the first thing they hear to be the host's voice."

In the end, Scott offers a tip about how to be resilient for podcasters who are new. "You'll discover that many podcasters make five episodes. They're not seeing any growth which is why they quit. If you truly want to use this to grow your business or simply a way to express your creativity, you're going to have be more patient than you think before you can feel confident that it's working.

The good thing: "You're gonna get a lot better at it during the initial 25,35 episodes. You're going to get feedback. You have to do it as you like it, and know it's going become an ongoing success. There are many shows that increase in popularity from 300th-400th episode. Are you committed? You're not going to get the 25,000 downloads you want right out the beginning unless you're famous.

What's the show that you want to watch? Are you watching longer playthroughs on? If it's something you really would like to pursue, then you'll remain patient and come up with a creative solution."