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Comment by jfengel | Hacker News Reader

I wonder how this will affect podcasting. I don't do Instagram but I do know some of the products in this article from supporting podcasts I listen to. I've even gone out of my way to buy some of their products. (Harry's makes fine razors that last too long for the company's own good.)

I've been shifting money to Patreon campaigns, but I don't know well that will work for them.

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I was wondering the same thing! I think you're right that subscription services are the future. I think it'll help Spotify consolidate more of the bigger shows under exclusive contracts (not all big shows, but more of them). On the flip side, more smaller shows, which never made much money from ads anyway, will finally be pushed into joining Patreon, which will ultimately be a good thing for them.

Sucker born every minute?

I don't know how much money it takes a podcast to support itself but I imagine it's still heaps cheaper than, say, your average billboard or 30-second TV spot.

I figure that a basic podcast probably needs around $50,000 per year to support itself, if a single full-time person is doing all of the research and engineering (including coordinating ads) and paying for the servers. That comes to about $1,000 per episode of a weekly podcast. Harry's would have to sell a lot of razor blades to justify $1,000 per episode -- or even $250 an episode, if there are four ad spots.

A higher-end podcast with a real engineer, research assistants, producer, etc. could easily double or quadruple that figure. Some podcasts are undoubtedly cheaper, being done in somebody's spare time, but most of the ones I listen to (and I listen to a lot of them) involve significant research.

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