Now, rather than produce 100 individual videos, creators could simply film a podcast or shoot a live-stream, then cut that source material down into 100 clips. The latter requires far fewer resources but offers the same odds of virality. It also turns the process of production—the filming itself, the live-stream—into a product, effectively yielding two deliverables for the price of one.
The result is a content supply chain with monetization at every link.
Imagine a podcast creator who hosts a ticketed show, live-streams the event, captures the programming as a video and audio podcast, shares photos of the event on social, transcribes the text into a newsletter, and posts it online. Not only have they translated one moment into five different mediums—they have also monetized each one, each step of the way.
For creators, turning podcasts into live-streams adds another source of monetization, distribution, and discovery upstream of the actual product they set out to produce, a low lift with a potentially large benefit.
This reality has begun infiltrating the podcast landscape. According to Tom Webster, a partner at the podcast trade organization Sounds Profitable, bigger publishers are already starting to test the waters with live-streaming, as it brings engagement to a channel that has historically been one-directional.
“A lot of this stems from how much consumption is now taking place on the living room TV,” Webster said. “Bill Simmons is already doing the live to live-stream to podcast to social pipeline.”
Of course, on some level this emerging trend simply closes a loop: Just as streaming-service bundles are recreating cable, live-stream video is simply live television with worse unit economics.
But such a comparison glosses over the key insight at the heart of this transformation, which is that when faced with an abundance of dubious content, audiences will gravitate toward what they can trust.
Talking Heds
Permutive Permutations (Exclusive): The publisher data platform Permutive named Dave Rosner as its first chief marketing officer earlier this month, according to Permutive CEO Joe Root. Rosner was previously the chief marketing officer at Audigent, where he helped pioneer the practice of “programmatic curation,” which effectively enables supply-side platforms and their publisher partners to use their first-party data in private advertising deals. Permutive has lately made curation a major focus of its business, a key factor in bringing Rosner aboard is to help promote those efforts.
“I’m a strong believer that curation has opened up a new wave of innovation across the industry,” Rosner said. “I saw that at Audigent, and we’re seeing a new chapter open up at Permutive.”
Starter Story Sold (Exclusive): On Monday, the media arm of the enterprise software firm HubSpot acquired the media startup Starter Story, adding the founder-led publisher to its growing stable of YouTube-centric media titles. Financial details were not disclosed, but Starter Story is a profitable three-person outfit with a seven-figure revenue, according to founder Pat Walls. The tie-up is notable because it is another proof point of the growing role of YouTube as a media incubator. Starter Story, which has 800,000 subscribers on the platform, saw its business take off when it began treating YouTube as its home base. For HubSpot Media, the platform has also become a valuable source of customer acquisition: Last year, YouTube-driven lead generation grew 68%, while newsletter-driven leads increased 53%, per its vice president of media and content Jonathan Hunt.
