During class, I decided to visualize the earnings of podcasts’ Patreon pages.
It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive or definitive list, as many podcasts only show the number of patrons or nothing at all. Anecdotally, over half of the podcasts found through Patreon’s search feature did not provide a patron figure or monthly revenue. As well, I stopped adding new podcasts at the five page mark as there seemed to be a noticable plateauing of the amount of patrons.
In terms of tangible business or finance implications, I would say the following:
Podcasts can make serious figures! Major podcast deals such as The Ringer or Joe Rogan don’t detail how much revenue they generate, instead sharing the exclusivity price tag, but these podcasts which are smaller generate money from a not necessarily massive pool of patrons. At the very least it is another point of validation in the internet allowing people to serve the long tail.
The (gross) margins of podcasts are impressive! Patreon takes a 5-12% cut of subscriptions, so even defaulting to the high end leaves a lot of margin. The marginal value of a fancy studio or other major expenses is functionally zero, with many of these productions being set in a backyard or living room, as seen in The Yard or Fear & Malding. (Disclaimer: These are the only two podcasts on this list that I have listened to.)
Podcast earnings are top-heavy. This is the same as other established content platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Instagram (and to a lesser degree TikTok). It’s also probable that there is a significant overlap between the highest earning creators on each platform.
With the creator economy continuing to grow in relevance, from firms like Spotter offering financing to creators to D2C brands like Prime or Feastables or just a new form of advertising (Mr. Beast & Shopify, traditional adverts, etc), it’s helpful to ground trends in figures. And as being a “creator” continues to be an aspirational goal for many, the upper ceiling is quite lucrative.
It would be fun to do a similar analysis of other creator platforms, but unfortunately many are not as open. It does appear that Twitch subscription figures are public through a 3rd party plug-in, and that will be the next project. Thank you for reading!