Never Not Funny: Making Money from Podcasting

September 18th, 2009

This interview is part of a series “Making Money from Podcasting” (read summary “9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting”) where I interview podcasters who are actually generating revenue from their podcasts. There are many techniques, and here’s one person’s tale of how they’re making money from podcasting.
Matt Belknap, producer and co-host of Never Not Funny podcast

Partial show for free – full show paid

Matt Belknap is the co-host and producer of the “Never Not Funny” podcast starring comedian Jimmy Pardo. The show is an interview show where Pardo and Belknap invite comedians in to talk about whatever, and it’s very funny.

I knew Jimmy Pardo back in Chicago when I was doing stand up comedy and I was a big fan of his then, and I’m a big fan of the Never Not Funny podcast as well. What I’m really impressed with is their business model which is to offer the first 20 minutes of their program for free and then if you like the show and want to hear more (the full 90 minute show), you need to pay to subscribe ($19.99 for a season of 26 episodes on audio, $24.99 for a full season of 26 episodes on video). The model has proven very successful as Belknap estimates that 35% of their total audience has converted to paid subscribers. That’s a number that’s grown from about 20-25 percent, said Belknap.

Interview (Time: 12:20)

Download MP3

But they didn’t always charge. When they started, Belknap and Pardo produced 100 shows for free just to grow their audience. Once they had their audience, they made the switch to the partial show free or full show paid model. Not only are they generating revenue from subscribers, but audiences are coming to see Pardo’s stand up afterhearing him on the podcast, plus the podcast got an amazing gig on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” Listen to the show to hear the story.

More episodes of “Making Money from Podcasting”

Personal Life Media (Technique: “Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
Pregtastic (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
Elsie’s Yoga Class (Technique: “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
Mac OS Ken (Technique: “Give away five shows for free, make them pay for the sixth”)
Alaska HDTV (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
Duct Tape Marketing (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
ScreenCastsOnline (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
Izzy Video (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
Slate Gabfests (Technique: “Integrating sponsorship with the show’s editorial”)
Wizzard Media (Technique: “Got audience? We’ll get you sponsors. Or, get sponsors on your own and we’ll insert the ads” PLUS “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
Premiumcast.com (Technique: “Build an audience and sell premium podcasts”)
Manager Tools (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
ESPN (“Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
Mevio (Technique: “Motivate your audience”)