Paywalls, Podcasting, and Prejudice

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The decision to put content -- popular content -- behind a paywall is always an agonizing choice for any decent person. Podcasters included.

Let me address the criticism I’m sure to get for this episode head on: There are those in the podcasting world out there who claim that once a podcast goes behind a paywall it ceases to be a podcast. I'm not going to debate that pedantic (and dumb) claim. Plenty of podcasters -- successful podcasters -- are using paywalls for some or all of their content. It’s an option that’s in our industry, so pretending it doesn’t happen or trying to alienate those who make that choice isn’t helping to make podcasting better.

I’d much rather discuss all the nuances you’ll face when making that choice. At the risk of oversimplifying, it comes down to the choice between fame versus fortune. Both can get you to commercial viability, so they are both worthy options.

I’ve talked a lot about viability in recent episodes of the program. There's gotta be a get to your give for you to keep up the energy and effort it takes to keep podcasting as a viable output. And if that means commercial viability to you, then you’re looking for a money-flow. Once (if) your podcasting efforts bring in fame, you can sell ads and sponsorships as your primary and direct revenue source.

Or you monetize your audience directly by putting all or some of your content behind a paywall. That’s the fortune without the fame.

It’s not a binary choice. Nor is it a choice that any podcaster gets to make. Successfully implementing either is, for most podcasts, completely dependent on the size of the audience.

Here’s an easily busted myth: Every single person who currently subscribes/listens to your free podcast will continue to listen to (and therefore pay for) your content when you put it behind a paywall.

That’s categorically false. The question really becomes this; how many will, and how much can I make?

To help you understand that, I want to talk about an old co-worker of mine, Tony. Several years ago, Tony really got into making crepes; those little, thin, eggy, pancake-looking things that were (and still are) very tasty and popular back in the day. He became quite adept at making quality crepes. So adept that some of us in the office would buy Tony’s crepes.

As often happens, this influx of cash gave Tony an idea: Maybe he should try to sell crepes to other people. He was investing in more equipment and getting really good at this. Some people were paying him already. Should he make the switch from hobbyist crepe maker to paid professional, perhaps opening his own shop or food truck where he could ply his craft for serious money?

Ultimately, Tony decided it wasn’t worth the risk. Out of the hundred or so people in the office who were happy to enjoy Tony’s crepes during company functions and potlucks, Tony was only selling his crepes to maybe five or six people. And then only occasionally.

Practically, $20 or so a week wasn’t worth it. Mathematically, 5-6% is not a bad conversion (retention?) rate at all. You just need to scale it. If your podcast has an audience in the thousands, math starts to work in your favor.

How favorable? On average, you’ll be lucky to see 2% of the people who currently subscribe to your show for free switching over to the paid model. Sure, it can be higher. But it can also be lower. 2% is a good number from which you can do your projections.

Nota bene: Subscribing to a behind-the-paywall podcast isn’t any harder than subscribing to any other podcast, with the exception that (for now) these for-fee podcasts don’t show up in podcast apps or directories.

Let’s get back to that 2% number. If you have a thousand people listening to your episodes on a regular basis, you can expect 20 of them to make the for-fee switch. If you're charging five bucks a month for access, that's $100.

“Hey, I'll take a hundred bucks! That's more than I'm making my podcast right now. Evo!” OK, that’s likely true. But that’s not commercially viable, right? Also, think about the 980 people who are no longer listening to your show. Is that loss detrimental to you, perhaps evident in the intangible benefits of having a podcast? Remember, most people will not keep listening when you put all of your content -- or even some of your content -- behind a paywall. Are you OK with that?

There is no universal right or wrong decision to make here, so no one should be demonized for making that choice. Only, you will be. Sorry.

For me, going to a fee-based model doesn’t make sense for my podcast. I have roughly 300 people who listen to the episodes. 2% means I’d have six people paying. So, a paltry sum. But if I had 10,000? Or 100,000? I’d have to consider it.

But again, I’d need to carefully weigh other options and examine lost opportunities if I did put the show behind a paywall. At that scale, it might make sense to examine a hybrid model, a mix of paid and free content. But the decision would still be agonizing for me. As it should be for you.

If this episode has you thinking about paywalls differently, good. If it has you ready to jump on the paywall bandwagon, I’d advise caution and some math before you take the plunge. There are many, many things to consider. Choose wisely. This is something you shouldn't rush into.

My advice? Check with your podcasting friends. See if your fellow podcasters are considering this as well, weighing the size of their audience against potential revenue gains to determine viability. And discussing the potential (real, actually) outcry from current listeners if there were to make the switch.

Send your friends this episode and blame me for your bringing up the conversation. That way they can listen to a neutral 3rd party’s opinion and not bring the judgment hammer on your head. I can take the heat!

What do you think about this? Email me at evo@podcastlaunch.pro and tell me where you stand on the topic of putting some or all of your podcast content behind a paywall.

I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

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Eventually, many podcasters have to make a choice between fame, fortune, or famine. Okay. That last one is less of a choice and more of an unfortunate reality for the other two. There's always the paywall option. Should you consider it?

Hello and welcome to another podcast. Pontifications with me, Evo. Tara. Plus the the decision to put content, popular content behind a pay wall is always an agonizing choice for any decent person. Podcasters included. It's a tough decision to make. Now, early on, I need to address this right away. There are those of us in the podcasting world out there who will claim that once you take a podcast and put it behind a pay wall, then it's no longer a podcast.

Like, I'm not here to debate that pedantic stuff because that's dumb. Anyhow, I'm not debating it. Let's get rid of that. Push it out of the way because it's an option. It is an option. There are many podcasters who have chosen not to make their podcasts completely free of charge anymore and now charge money to access it.

Whether that's right or wrong doesn't matter. It's a dumb discussion. We're not having it here today. What I want to have a discussion with you is should you make that choice. Now. Why would you want to make that choice? Really, it comes down to fame versus fortune or famine, as I said earlier, but realistically for a podcast to be commercially viable or some other sort of viability, which I've talked about a lot in recent weeks on the program, Jason day's on the program.

There's gotta be a given to get you the podcast or put out the energy you need to get something in return to make it viable. And if it's commercial viability, you're looking for it's money. So how does that money flow? In lots of ways it can flow in, but the two most common ways, advertising, that's because you have fame.

We build your show large enough where you can sell ads and sponsorships on it to make a lot of money. That's the fame piece of that. Or. The other way to do it is this way, making it, putting it behind a paywall, either all or some of your content behind a paywall, hence the fortune. Which one of those should you do or should you do either of those?

It doesn't really matter, but let's, let's, I want to help you walk through the thought process today of understanding what it really means to make that particular choice. And I think to help illustrate that, I want you to think of your podcast for a moment. We know, look at the size of your audience, because in this decision, should you put it behind a pay wall or not, some or all of the content, a big driving factor of yours has to be the size of your audience.

It has to be you. You can't make this decision without understanding how big your audience is or how little your audience is, and then understanding the realities of math. Because while you think that every single person who's currently subscribes to your free podcast would continue to support you if you went to a paid only option, that's not true.

So we're going to walk it through that, but I think. To help you understand that. One. I want to talk about my friend Tony, my friend, my friend Tony several years ago, really got into making crepes in a little thin, eggy, a pancake looking things that are very popular or were still aren't someplaces. He was really in the making trips, made really good crepes, would bring grapes into the office.

Got to the point where he was bringing crepes to the office and selling them the people in the office cause he made really nice grapes. Tony was deciding whether or not he should actually quit his job and go into the crepe making business because he was making crepes. People were paying him for it and he was making a little money on the side.

So for Tony, the choice was pretty simple. How many of these crepes am I selling? How many could I think I could sell if I quit my job and made this a fulltime going concern? Well, at the end of the day, Tony decided to not leave his really high paying job and make crepes because he'd have to basically start all over again.

Tony's crate business was limited to the hundred or so people that we all worked with and he was selling them to maybe five or six people. Not really a good business model for Tony to keep going. If you wanted to try and make his hand at it. Now, maybe he could go start a restaurant and buy all the equipment and get out there and do it, but he would be starting from an audience of zero and that's, that's kind of a kind of a tough road to hoe as you will.

What does that mean to your podcast? Well, just like Tony had a potential audience of hundreds or a hundred or so and only got five, the same kind of thing happens with your podcast. Once your podcast gets to a certain point and you have thousands of listeners, math starts to work in your favor, but the math of that, and you can look at any of the different companies that help put podcast and content behind a paywall.

There's glow, there's super cast, there's lots to be named. They'll probably tell you if you can get somebody on the phone to answer a hard question, is w the percentage of people who currently subscribe to your show who will switch over to the paid feed is maybe 2% maybe 2% it can be a little higher, has to be a lot less.

So like 0.2%. It's not uncommon. So here's what that means. If you have a thousand current people listening to your episodes on a regular basis, a thousand subscribers, whatever number you want to use, you can expect 20 of them if you're lucky, okay? Or 10 of them. If you're more average to become a paying person on your paid for subscription, 20 people.

If you're charging five bucks a month, that's $100 it's 100 bucks. Hey, I'll take 100 bucks. That's more than I'm making my podcast right now. Evo. True, but is that commercially viable? It's just something you get for the 1000 people that you would not have listening to you anymore. Or even if you just broke off a portion of that content.

Some of them would stop listening because they are so incensed by the fact that you went. Behind a paywall for some of your content. That's what you need to think about. What happens to your existing audience? If you do that, does it pay itself? Does it pay for itself enough? I've nothing wrong with you choosing to go behind your content behind a pay wall.

In fact, it makes really good business sense. For a lot of reasons. So I'm not here to say that's a right thing or a wrong thing. I'm here to make you think about it or to help you think about a way to make it work. If you're doing a hundred downloads or 300 downloads like this show gets, that's the total number of downloads ICF for about 30 days of any given episode.

So let's say I've got 300 people listening to me. 2% is not very many people. So me putting this show behind the paywall doesn't make a lot of sense at my current audience. If I had 10,000 Oh, maybe it would, or 100,000 Hmm. Maybe it would. But what about the other opportunities? So I'm not here to to say it's the best thing ever.

There are lots of weird hybrid models with this where you can put some count on that, some content out for free, some content behind a paywall. It's gotten a lot easier. Now in 2022 subscribe to pay walled content. It used to be kind of hard to do that. Now it's not. Those solutions I mentioned make it a whole lot easier.

So it's something to think about, something you shouldn't rush into, headlong something you should do a little bit of back of the envelope math, figuring to see if it works for you. Check with your friends. See if your fellow podcasters are considering this as well. It's viable. It's okay. The world will be okay with it.

Probably. Maybe if you decide to switch payroll to behind a paywall, a lot won't. So again, have the discussion with your friends. Send them this episode. Tell them, Hey, I was listening to podcast pontifications and Evo brought up the option of us going behind a paywall. Is that a good idea for us? What are you doing on your show?

Send them a link because more people should be listening to podcasts. Pontifications I think if you think you will help me spread the word. What do you think about this? Email me Evo. Add podcast, launched.pro. Tell me what you're thinking about and I shall be back tomorrow with yet another podcast.

Pontifications cheers.

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