How to make money from a cycling podcast

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I’ve heard on the podcast airwaves, presenters musing over ways to fund their show, and show hosts admitting to feeling jaded and pondering whether the time has come to hang up their mic. I’m a cycling podcast addict, and want these shows to keep going, so here I list 10 ways to make money from a cycling podcast. I can’t call these ideas or suggestions, as they are all being used in one way or another, somewhere across the airwaves/internets.

1. Rely on goodwill
Like the Two Johns, Velocast or Fredcast, you can ask listeners to donate voluntarily. This may or may not get you very far. Scott Velocast’s ‘$1, which is less than the price of a coffee’ is a pretty good call to action.

2. Pimp yourself to the advertisers
Fredcast has it’s detractors, but it’s the most popular one out there (I’m guessing, without having access to the stats). To appeal to advertisers you have to have a lot of listeners, and David Bernstein achieves that. The downside (if you want to look at it that way) is you need to aim for a broad appeal. You also might feel more pressure to record a show more regularly, although Fredcast David still takes breaks when life intervenes.

3. Get into bed with retailers
Veloreviews has a premium members model, where for $35, subscribers get access to trade prices on cycling products.

4. Be part of something commercial
Cyclingnews, RTL-l’Équipe and the dreaded Guardian The Bike Podcast are offshoots of commercial news websites. Listeners to the show can be directed to the site, or at the very least be exposed to ‘brand awareness’, which may bring a few more hits to the main site, and thus stats for paying advertisers. Could an independent podcast sell itself to a commercial publisher without alienating the listeners? e.g The Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Op Velocast, or the Eurosport Real Peloton podcast?

5. Sell stuff
The Two Johns sell coffee and T-Shirts. Fredcast sells cycling jerseys (and other stuff I can’t remember). Velocast dipped its toe in the merchandise water. Merchandise would have to be promoted in the show and online, and I get the impression show hosts are a little wary to push stuff on their listeners. Don’t be! See it as a kind of donation, where the donater gets something in return.

6. Paid content
Charging for access to your podcast is not a good idea. Hardly anybody will fork out to listen to it. The Veloreviews subscriber system doesn’t fall foul of this though, instead offering additional content and benefits to paid-up members. Other podcasts spring to mind, such as the Lingua Networks series of Coffee Break Spanish/French/etc language learning shows, which offer PDF downloads, supplementary podcasts and other premium content. What’s worth offering as premium content? Audio interviews, video, photography, articles? The downside is the IT work needed to manage member log-ins and all that stuff.

7. Use it as a stepping stone
Using the podcast as a stepping stone to some sort of commercial gig, e.g a tv or online commentating job. You probably already need to be a famous name to make it in that business though. You might be a writer, a fitness coach, or a marketing person who could get a foothold into the cycling industry through your show. Two Johns’ John G is a local race announcer, although I doubt he makes much from that and would expect he does it for the love of the sport. He has worked on the Tour of Georgia though, a big race in the USA, doing TV interviews and things.

8. Get funding
The Bike Show is broadcast on Resonance FM which is funded partly by donations but also gets funding, presumably arts council or similar.

9. Be in the cycling business
In Will Fotherinham’s biography of Tom Simpson, Tom was a pioneer living and racing on the continent. He ran some sort of lodgings in Belgium and encouraged British guys to come over (If I Remember Correctly). More British riders in Belgium, meant more interest in cycling back home, which meant more interest in him, as the top British cyclist, and therefore more likely to get sponsors and contracts. More people listening to and participating in cycling podcasts, means more people cycling, or consuming cycling media, which oils the gears of the cycling industry.

10
I was already clutching at straws with 9, so I’ll stop there. You can make more suggestions…

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  • owen_p

    OK, I've thought of 10.

    “Put out good content and people will buy/send you things.” OK, so it's not making money, but secondary benefits are not too bad. Seems to have worked for Simon Lamb's Gazzetta della Bici.

    So- Velocast John G- do you want me to get you a ticket to Mark Beaumont? Let me know if you can make it and I'll be happy to oblige.

  • michaelshires

    In reality, for those of us who have a real job, and that includes most of the podcasters mentioned above, the only sure fire options of the ones listed above are numbers 2, with perhaps a dash of 3 involved, and number 4.
    To an extent the podcasters become victims of their own success. However that also means that they may have secured a big enough footprint to appeal to a certain type of advertiser. Nevertheless securing that backing, in addition to the day job, and the podcast, takes time and resource, and even the Fredcast has difficulty retaining sponsors on a regular basis.
    The commercial route seems to be the easiest way to secure backing. Ignoring the lumpen Guardian podcast, and the juvenile and amateur attempts from what should be a professional team at CyclingNews, more content from mainstream cycling media makes sense.
    The VeloNews TdF reports and podcasts were good. RTL and Europe 1 similarly ran podcasts during the Tour, which were taken from their daily radio roundup of events. The ITV Tour podcasts are generally excellent, and the forerunner, sans Boardman, of the RealPeloton. I can't see why, therefore, ITV would not want to contribute something to Messrs Boulting and Rendell, despite their financial problems. Given the eclecticism of the RP, it might appeal to Rouleur, even though the exclusivity of the brand may not appeal to the sensitivities of the podcasters.
    I presume Sky would consider a proposal, but as with everything related to the Digger, like his new Times Online site, we would have to pay for it, and it would have to promote Team Sky.
    The same would apply to a podcast produced by the ASO, although rival podcasts from them and the UCI could provoke some controversy. Although, if you have ever listened to a podcast from a sports body, UEFA, for example, these tend to be bland beyond belief.
    But, this is not just a problem for cycling podcasts, all companies who engage in social media and networking activities continually debate their commercial viability. Even media savvy companies like AOL spend hundreds of $millions on companies like Bebo, only to shut them down. The Twitter model is not yet a “business model”.
    I suspect this scenario will play itself out over the next couple of years, and we'll be left in our niche market with perhaps two or three global podcast brands, a few regional players, along with some niche activists.
    Until that time we'll have to continue donating our $s, €s,and £s to the podcasts of our choice, while relying on events such as the Tour de france or the Tour of California to create media interest in cycling podcasts once or twice a year.

  • http://monkeyphotomcr.blogspot.com/ John_the_Monkey

    IIRC a lot of the people working at Resonance give their time voluntarily too.

  • owen_p

    Thanks for taking the time to comment michael. Podcasters take note! RTL is now doing a weekly one: Carrement Velo. It's brilliant, review in the pipeline.

  • http://www.velocast.co.uk VeloCast

    Hey Owen
    I'll check my calendar. ;o) It's a problem we've struggled with and, as Mr Shires says, it's not restricted to cycling podcasts. Scott and I both listen to tech podcasts and the elephant in that room is the TWiT network owned by Leo Laporte. Even Leo, with viewing/listening figures that would make mainstream TV and radio sit up and take notice can't make the donation model work. His intention was to make that his sole funding but he's had to move to advertising supported 'casts. The simple truth is that only a tiny fraction of listeners donate. We're incredibly appreciative (and even a wee bit moved) when folk donate their hard earned cash to the Velocast, but it ain't putting Angus through Uni! Some months it barely covers bandwidth costs. ;O(
    Gear as payment? I've got enough gear, my wife would divorce me if I solicited more. ;o)
    I think that podcasting is a media that advertisers are still largely unaware of. There are a few savvy ones but given the current economic state of the bike industry it would take a fairly visionary company to devote a portion of their ad budget to 'casts when other, more proven, media are deep discounting ads.
    So, realistically, it's “just” a hobby. That may change as the upheaval that “old” media is presently going through plays out and advertisers/sponsors move forward, but for now that's the truth.
    The big problem with the “podcast as hobby” thing is that, even for a reasonably relaxed, informal 'cast like ours it's a LOT of work. It's probably fair to say that between Scott and I each 'cast takes two or three working days (hard to believe eh?)and both of us wouldn't be happy to put out something that we weren't satisfied with so that's unlikely to take less time as we move forward.
    Now, this is where the dilemma arises. That time has to come from somewhere and as both of us are family men it's hard to find and that's where the problems arise, what do you give up to make time for the 'cast?
    Just now though we love the Velocast, we enjoy talking to and with the (virtual) friends it's let us meet. In the future though, if time becomes an issue I think we'd both rather stop it than put out sub standard content, so don't hate us if that comes to pass! ;o)

    John

    p.s. Scotty would love to use it as a stepping stone. Me? I'm just a postman, I'm done chasing money. ;o)

  • http://www.velocast.co.uk VeloCast

    We would kill for the behind the scenes access CyclingNews has. We'd produce a podcast that would Kick Arse! Maybe we should pitch them, their current one's rubbish.

    Yours arrogantly

    J

  • michaelshires

    Yes. I forgot to mention Carrement Velo. I especially like the irascible Pierre Salviac. I can't remember if the podcasts from the TdF which featured Cyrille Guimard were RTL or Europe 1, but his comments were also suitably trenchant.
    The UK press generally covers sport well, so there's little room for a sports specific paper like L'Equipe, Marca, or la Gazzetta. It's papers like these that have the inclination and the funds to sponsor a podcast.
    Perhaps Eurosport would like to do it. Then we could have the joys of a weekly podcast with Duffers and Carlton Kirby. On second thoughts ….
    Maybe I'll twist the Editor-in-Chief's arm at Reuters. It's about time they gave up their sponsorship of F1!

  • michaelshires

    You can tell that there's a lot of hard graft been done to create the shows by how easy and natural sounding the conversation between the two of you is. Contrast this with CyclingNews, where it sounds, despite the fact that they have notes, as if the two presenters have never met before.
    As we set up the new hedge funds group at Reuters the marketing team are exploring a variety of social networking tools, internal and external, and are trying to evaluate their worth.
    As we get the results from these trials, I'll share some of them with you.

  • michaelshires

    You can tell that there's a lot of hard graft been done to create the shows by how easy and natural sounding the conversation between the two of you is. Contrast this with CyclingNews, where it sounds, despite the fact that they have notes, as if the two presenters have never met before.
    As we set up the new hedge funds group at Reuters the marketing team are exploring a variety of social networking tools, internal and external, and are trying to evaluate their worth.
    As we get the results from these trials, I'll share some of them with you.

  • http://www.velocast.co.uk VeloCast

    “Maybe I'll twist the Editor-in-Chief's arm at Reuters. It's about time they gave up their sponsorship of F1!”

    Christ on a bike, Michael! They don't need to give up their sponsorship of F1. I'm sure the change they lose down the back of the sofa would more than fund all the independent cycling podcasts out there!

    Scott.

  • owen_p

    you could quite easily take a few weeks out, or go monthly I think. as i mentioned in the main post- even Fredcast has significant portions of downtime. To have kept up your regular weekly broadcast so long shows dedication!

    Fredcast and Veloreviews seem to have 'leveraged' their own friends contacts in the bike industry to get advertising. It's surprising that manufacturers aren't more up on podcasts though- many of them have twitters and the cycling world is quite far ahead of the curve with social media.

  • http://www.velocast.co.uk VeloCast

    Fairly early on in the discussions about the Velocast Scott and I decided to treat it as a business just in case it became one, hence the commitment to sticking to schedule. If the curve moves towards sponsoring of, or advertising on podcasts you'd need to have a decent track record. Surely a company would feel more comfortable shelling out ad budget on a show who've got the discipline to stick to a predictable schedule.
    Monthly? You must be joking, it's hard enough pruning the show down with just a week's topics to talk about. A monthly show would eclipse even the 2Js as an endurance fest.

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  • owen_p

    RTL-lÉquipe features professionally produced, commercial ads this week (episode 5 or so) – it was your typical 30 second radio ad. To my ears these are preferable to the promotions seen on Fredcast and Veloreviews, which come across as a halfway house between a business partnership or a plug for a friend.

    France is a much different market to the UK and US though- you have to admit that mainstream advertisers will be more willing to spend on a cycling show. I'm sure many podcasts would be delighted to feature full-blown commercial ads if the companies were coming knocking.

    The ad was for Mercedes Benz.

  • http://thebikeshow.net Jack

    No programme-maker at Resonance is paid any money for their work, nor is the legion of volunteers who engineer the studio, run the website etc etc.

    There are only three (modestly) paid employees and the rest of the station's funding income is spent on rent of the premises and purchase and maintenance of studio equipment.

    In actual fact, The Bike Show is only available as a podcast because I do it myself. Resonance doesn't have resources to offer podcasts, just the FM broadcast and the internet live stream.

  • owen_p

    Thanks for commenting Jack. Obviously we appreciate the extra effort you put in. Maybe 'how to make money' is a bit of an overly commercial heading and 'how to fund' would have been better. I didn't assume that any of the podcasts I listen to were profit-making ventures actually, although some evidently to cover their costs, while others are clearly voluntary offerings.

  • Stop Selling Me

    Been listening to bicycling podcasts a few years now and have finally reached my limit with them.
    I know they need to make money but the overt marketing on all of them (with the exception of the cycling news podcast) is driving me away.
    I am tired of the clubby handling of poor products (Clean Bottle is a perfect example) being talked up as if they are the be all and end all when most of us know better.
    It’s the same tired products being pushed by the same tired people that run the circuit from one podcast to the next.
    If you really want to make money at this… push quality products.
    Twitter is bad enough with all of this junk.
    Does it really have to infect podcasts, too?