Well, it has finally happened. Subscriptions have reached an all-time high or all-time low, depending on how you look at it. Pretty soon, everything will come complete with a subscription button.
Subscribing to podcasts is nothing new. Heck, back in the early days, my co-host Big Mike and I sold exclusive episodes of our outlandish comedy podcast for $5.99. You received five episodes we claimed were “too outrageous” to put in our podcast’s feed. Fast forward twelve years, and there are “exclusive episodes” everywhere you look.
I’m not saying that premium podcasts are evil, or that there isn’t a market for these types of offerings, but I believe subscription fatigue is coming. Similar to when we clamored for the big cable companies to be brought back into reality when they offered their $100 plus packages, the a la cart entertainment subscriptions are now next on the list.
Over the past several years, I’ve narrowed down on my subscriptions by eliminating many of the recurring outbound payments I set up. Instead of having Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, YouTube Premium and Amazon Prime, I cut back. If I had a subscription to Netflix, that meant I needed to drop Hulu or another subscription. It’s far too easy to set up an account and forget about subscription costs.
Today, we have two guys in a basement telling fart jokes requesting the same amount of money as services that have thousands of hours of video content on them. Not that a good fart joke isn’t funny every once in a while, but if I’m waffling over paying $15 for a video service, will I be apt to pay a pair of basement bros $5 to $10 per month?
There are plenty of shows I would support, and some I currently support. However, this is a small subset of the overall number of shows I follow. Now more than ever, your podcast had better be polished and speak specifically to your target audience. Gone are the days of creating a show for everyone. Your podcast offerings must be highly targeted, and your supporters have to be downright fanatical about your content. If you think you’re going to buy crappy equipment and not master your craft but still somehow stand out in a sea of millions, you are sadly mistaken. If you aren’t sure if or when you are going to record your next podcast, don’t slap a price tag on that newborn audio baby of yours.
Only time will tell how this “pay for everything” structure will shake out. Needless to say, I have serious concerns about what the term subscribe means to podcast consumers these days. Last month, I would have told you I’d always use the word “subscribe” when asking potential audience members to have my shows automatically delivered to their podcast app of choice. Now, however, the term “follow” sounds better and better due to the connotation subscribe has taken on.
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