How to make money on a fan podcast (using Harry Potter fan podcasts as an example)
Let’s say you and your friends are huge Harry Potter fans and have a very popular podcast with thousands of other fans tuning in every week. How do you make money from this? The obvious answer might be to sell Harry Potter book and DVDs. But let’s be realistic, your fans already have those items or have put them on back order on Amazon. It’s a tough sell to sell something they already have. What’s a entrepreneurial witch or wizard to do?
The key is to think of yourself as a gateway. You have a large, intense audience that’s really into something and that something has characteristics that make them a unique target for certain things. The first step is to figure out some things that make them different than any random group of people on the Internet.
For starters we can assume:
- They really, really love Harry Potter more than the millions of us who just bought the books and saw the movie.
- They probably really, really like magical fantasy that has a romantic and real world bent.
- They listen to podcasts and spend a lot of time on their computer.
The next step is to look at who might want to market to your audience. Here are some starting places:
- Convention organizers who put on Harry Potter themed conventions.
- People in your audience who have things they think your fans might want (custom clothes, memorabilia, their attention).
- People who create content specifically to that audience (there’s a whole genre of Wizard Rock bands that make Harry Potter inspired music).
The thing to keep in mind with most of these groups is that they’re doing this because it’s fun and not because it’s a lucrative business.
Wizard rock
A wizard rock band isn’t going to spend a lot on promotion of a CD, but they might spend something. Here are a couple options:
- Charge them a fee (like $50) to do an on-air spot for their CD.
- Work out a revenue sharing deal with them where you promote their songs and sell them on your site as digital downloads. You can use an affiliate system for e-delivery so everyone is kept honest.
Selling their content in digital form on your site could be the most lucrative option for wizard rock. It gives you a consistent source of revenue that you can plug on every podcast. It gives them a no-cost way to get their music out there and make money.
I’d recommend releasing and selling the songs on an individual basis and keeping the price in line with iTunes $.99 per song pricing. The split is between you and the band to decide.
Conventions
Potter conventions are put on by people who are passionate about Harry Potter who hope at best to break even. There’s not a huge budget for them to spend on marketing. But every registration puts them closer to breaking even and making a profit.
You have two options:
- Sell them a podcast spot to promote their convention.
- Do revenue sharing with them.
This is another group where it probably makes the most sense to do a revenue sharing deal. In exchange for promoting them on your podcast and pointing to a special sign-up page you get a cut of everyone who registers. A way to really make this work is to promote signing up through you as a way to get in on a special event for listeners of your podcast at the convention. This creates extra incentive for people register and to do it through you.
The cut you ask for depends on the cost of the registration, but it wouldn’t be out of line to ask for something like $20 per person you sign up.
Fan crafts
The trickiest part about this is that this group has the most narrow of markets, no real advertising budget and are the least attractive to do revenue sharing with. While there’s a market for handmade wands, clothes and other wizardware, it’s very hard to predict what will actually sell.
One way to service these people is to offer a lower cost podcast spot. To protect your pricing for these spots, this could be sold as a “podcast classifieds” spot that’s shorter and comes at the end of the podcast. Several 15 second $10 spots in a row could comprise your “podcast classifieds” section.
On your website you could also have a classifieds section that you direct podcast listeners too. This should be way more lucrative than Google text ads.
Where to find advertisers
A final suggestion and probably the best one of all is a way to find potential advertisers for your podcast. One approach is to see who is advertising on similar sites and podcasts. But to grow the market and not just fight for advertisers, look in other places for people who want your audience. Ideally you want a list of people who are willing to spend several thousands of dollars to reach an audience just like yours.
What’s the best place to find that list? Find out what vendors bought booths at prior and upcoming Harry Potter conventions. Market to them. They really, really want your audience.
Have any thoughts or suggestions? Want to add some ideas to the list? Email me at andrew [at] andrewmayne.com
