How we launched a podcast monetization platform

From nothing to product to business — in less than a year.

Services

Product, Brand, Business, Launch, Fundraising

Platforms

Web, Product, Podcast

Deliverables

A product and business

Interested?

Supercast

The brief

Our work with influencers revealed something obvious: It’s hard for podcasters to get paid.

We’ve found memberships to be the best way for content creators to get paid. But most products that offer this feature are “content creator” platforms that take a cut of ownership and profits without offering much value.

So we built the product we wish existed — a platform where podcasters could get paid.

Over 12 months, we took Supercast from idea to product to business.

After raising $2MM in investment, we transitioned Supercast to a new team and growth plan.

$2 million

Seed funding raised

$1 million+

Earned by podcasters using Supercast

3 months

Concept → launch

Supercast's private podcast analytics dashboard, usage alert and creator AMA tools

The idea: help podcasters get paid

Podcasters can have huge audiences, but serving them is difficult.

Understanding a podcasting audience through analytics is a nightmare. Depending on the platform, some podcasters don’t even get to see their audience data. And besides ads (which can be unpredictable, time-consuming sources of revenue that are hit-or-miss with listeners), there aren’t a lot of options for monetization.

Memberships are a proven model for online creators, but the few platforms that offer this aren’t crafted for podcasters. They take a lot of a creator’s revenue (10%+) without offering much to either the creator or the listener experience. Sometimes, the so-called premium experience is worse.

We built Supercast to fix this.

Podcasts using Supercast to deliver premium audio content to paying customers

"Supercast has transformed the profit potential of my podcast, giving me a new membership revenue stream in addition to advertising.”

Shane Parrish

Host of The Knowledge Project podcast

The product: add a paid membership to podcasts

Supercast is a creator-owned, listener-supported way for podcasters to monetize their content. Podcasters use Supercast to add a paid membership to their podcast and share exclusive content with paying members.

We worked with partner agencies Z1 and LiftOff to develop the initial Supercast product.

The first podcasters to move from Patreon to Supercast grew from zero to five- and six-figure incomes, with established shows multiplying their monthly revenue by over 5x.

Branding, messaging, and content created to launch and grow Supercast

"After 7 years on another platform and 1 year on Supercast, the results are clear: We're growing 3x faster with Supercast."

Jesse Brown

Founder of Canadaland, host of the Canadaland podcast

The growth: content engines bring customers

We developed Supercast’s launch to attract and educate initial customers.

We created a guide to attract and educate our audience.
We created a podcast to further educate our audience while showcasing our product.
We created a contest to prove our product’s value while attracting our ideal customer.

The Supercast Guide to Paid Memberships addresses the why and how behind a paid membership. Made up of all the lessons we learned helping podcasters launch successful internet businesses, this content helps convert potential users into customers.

The Supercast Paid to Podcast competition provides an incentive for podcasters to make the move to a paid membership. The contest attracts new customers to the product with a multiple incentives:

Podcasting celebrities (who act as mentors and judges)
Attention (distribution is difficult as a podcaster)
Access to Supercast
Cash (win money by making money with a membership)

We leveraged our network of podcasting clients and colleagues to find podcasting celebrities to feature on “Supercasters”, our podcast that expands on Supercast’s brand content to showcase the product’s listener experience. These individuals guided podcasters trying to build a business, establishing both community and social proof for Supercast.

Supercast's private podcast analytics dashboard, usage alert and creator AMA tools

The idea: help podcasters get paid

Podcasters can have huge audiences, but serving them is difficult.

Understanding a podcasting audience through analytics is a nightmare. Depending on the platform, some podcasters don’t even get to see their audience data. And besides ads (which can be unpredictable, time-consuming sources of revenue that are hit-or-miss with listeners), there aren’t a lot of options for monetization.

Memberships are a proven model for online creators, but the few platforms that offer this aren’t crafted for podcasters. They take a lot of a creator’s revenue (10%+) without offering much to either the creator or the listener experience. Sometimes, the so-called premium experience is worse.

We built Supercast to fix this.

How we launched a podcast monetization platform

The brief

The idea: help podcasters get paid

The product: add a paid membership to podcasts

The growth: content engines bring customers

The idea: help podcasters get paid

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