Startup Business Idea #10 The Billion-Dollar Radio 2.0 Industry: Podcasting
Right from humming along to melodious tunes and listening to daily talk shows, to following the live cricket match score and gaining knowledge about areas with heavy traffic, the generation of baby boomers and some millennials too have truly enjoyed the glorious period of radios.
However, with the increasing number of music apps and radio shows being riddled with advertisements, it’s safe to say that the radio business is not at its prime. However, the need to listen to ‘something’ hasn’t been satiated entirely, especially because today’s generation doesn’t have the time to continuously watch something. While commuting from one place to another or simply to take a break after a long hectic day, having something nice to listen to is in high demand.
Hence, picking up from where it left off, podcasting, also known as Radio 2.0, is the next big thing.
Podcasts come in many multiple types, right from motivational talks to interviews with prominent personalities. However, this variety is one of the main reasons behind its success. In fact, currently, there are over 850,000 active podcasts and more than 30 million podcast episodes.
There’s no doubt that the industry of podcasts is on the rise, however, like every industry, there is scope for improvement and growth.
In this article, we will go over the market potential of podcasts and find a gap that can result in a billion-dollar idea.
The Market Potential
There’s no doubt that podcasts are on the rise. Many people are preferring to tune into podcasts instead of radios as they get to choose which subject interests them the most.
A survey conducted by the Reuters Institute, which was published in their latest Digital News Report, states that 36% of the respondents from across the world have listened to a podcast in the past month.
Moreover, what makes podcasts even more effective is the influence it has on a consumer’s buying decisions. For instance, a survey stated that 69% of respondents agreed that podcasts made them aware of new products and services, and 54% of podcast consumers say they think about buying an advertised product.
Hence, it goes without saying that multiple brands are rushing to advertise their products or services on podcasts as they have become a huge contributor toward increasing revenue.
The Gap
There are multiple benefits of downloading and listening to podcasts, and while they have gained a considerable amount of popularity in the past year, there is still scope for improvement.
For example, not all companies are seeing the benefits of podcasts, and hence are moving to other ventures to increase their revenue.
The Wall Street Journal reported that BuzzFeed shut down its podcast products as they weren’t able to find a big audience. Instead, they focused on individual projects and creating teams to work on these projects as and when needed.
This announcement came at the same time as when Panoply, a prominent podcast media company, released a statement that they were leaving the podcast content business. They chose to focus on hosting and advertising services, instead. Moreover, Audible, the audiobook company that is owned by Amazon, too announced that they were going to scale back on their original podcast production.
The changes seen in prominent players in the podcast industry like BuzzFeed, Audible, and Panoply has led to another important question; how can the podcast industry be improved to garner more listeners and users?
The answer to that question will surely result in a billion-dollar idea.
The Opportunity
The growing popularity of podcasts can be greatly attributed to the fact that it has an extremely low barrier to entry. There are multiple platforms and portals that allow you to stream your podcast at minimal costs. Hence, entering the podcast industry is fairly easy, the difficult part, however, is making money from it.
Now, there are multiple ways to make money and build a successful and thriving business through podcasts, some of them are:
- Sponsorships
- Networking
- Affiliate marketing
- Direct downloads
These are some definite ways to make money from podcasts. However, to actually see them through, you need one thing in abundance – loyal listeners. Only if you’re able to attract thousands of users to listen to your podcasts and download them, will you be able to make money from you podcasts. And, that’s where most podcasts often fail. Either they target too many audiences or are too niche, and fail to garner a steady download rate.
However, accomplishing this feat is not that tough. All you need to do is follow some basic ground rules, some of which include:
Tip 1: Don’t just create content for the sake of it. Consistently create and deliver valuable content for your listeners.
Tip 2: You need to sound like a professional every time when it comes to audio and production quality.
Tip 3: Make it easy for users to subscribe to your content in a couple of clicks.
Tip 4: Be a valuable contributor to online communities to expand the reach of your potential podcast audience.
Tip 5: Promote your podcast through social channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get traffic back to your podcast.
So, with just a few simple steps, you can ensure that your podcasts stand apart from the rest, thereby garnering maximum loyal audiences. What are you waiting for? Start working on your billion-dollar podcast today!
For more billion-dollar ideas or tips and tricks to being a successful entrepreneur, keep reading The Money Gig!
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