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0 pointsscriptkiddy7y ago0 comments

The ads may be annoying, but consider that ad reads in podcasts are a much more ethical and sustainable advertising model than almost any other model out there. In addition, ad read time takes up at most 5% of the total run time of your average podcast.

People who do podcasts as a living or companies where podcasts are their primary revenue source need to make money somehow.

Take How Stuff Works for instance. They have some great informational podcasts like "Stuff you Should Know", "Stuff to Blow your Mind", "Stuff they don't want you to know", and "Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe". These podcasts cover very interesting, and sometimes, very important topics. How stuff works makes their money from selling ad reads in their podcasts and ad space on their blog. They are providing a valuable service and paying people to literally do nothing but research and produce podcasts. These people need to get paid.

My point is, while nobody actually likes ads, the model which podcasts employ is at least tolerable; especially when compared to something like ads on Youtube.

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mrweasel7y ago

The most inspiring form of monetization in podcasting currently comes from Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak. Their No Agenda podcast is "value for value", where the fans contribute. They have actually been debating the Gimlet purchase, and have apparently turned down a similar offer.

I think both Curry and Dvorak are right when they say that you can actually hear the distaste for reading the ads, and that only very few people are able to do it well.

The concept of value for value put forward by No Agenda is fantastic, there's no fixed price, no paywall, but you are encouraged to donate. I can't explain it as beautifully as Adam Curry, but the gist of it is: What value did you derive from listing? Was it $5, $10 or maybe $100 dollars, then please donate that amount. I also think there's a point to his idea that people love being mentioned during the donation segment of the show.

It not clear how much Curry and Dvorak make from No Agenda, but I have the feeling that it much more than they care to admit.

Sort of an aside: The audio quality of No Agenda is in my opinion the very best in podcasting. Even much bigger productions, with more resources and better equipment sound much worse.

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