This was a lively talk with Bill Burr about the entertainment business and Hollywood accounting.
https://youtu.be/eGsB7hE_cFo On Tue, Jun 2, 2020, 7:21 AM Adam Bowie <a...@adambowie.co.uk> wrote: > > On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 3:21 PM Tom Wolper <twol...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> >> I don't get why Spotify is making this deal because they aren't content >> originators and, unlike Stern and SiriusXM, I don't see how it will sell >> subscriptions. Still, in a world where NBC signed Megyn Kelly for $65 >> million with all of her baggage, this may not be such a shocking deal. >> >> > I think there's a two-part reason for this. > > Firstly, and most straightforwardly, Spotify gets a massive new audience. > For reasons that escape me (although that Atlantic article gives a good > explanation), millions listen. I assume a decent number of people will > continue to listen on the Spotify app even if they don't subscribe. From my > understanding Spotify isn't putting this behind a paywall, just forcing you > to use the app. But even if they don't get any new subscriptions at all, > Spotify can better monetise that audience than many others because they > have so much data on their users. They know your demographics (you tell > them when you sign up); they know when, where and how much people are > listening; they know all kinds of things that *regular* podcast platforms > don't know - podcast data is notoriously limited without all the tracking > data that most digital advertisers have on you. So Spotify can offer more > details to advertisers and more efficiently sell the podcast. Reports seem > to suggest that what Rogan gets paid will depend on hitting targets. So on > a purely commercial level, this may make sense for Spotify for those > reasons alone. > > But Spotify is also taking on the podcast industry. Their second motive is > to become closer to the default podcast platform. That helps their overall > business model - if you're listening to "free" podcasts, you're not > listening to "expensive" music. Somewhere around 60-65% of podcast > listening is currently via Apple podcasts despite Apple having 50% market > share of phones in the US, and less across the rest of the world. Spotify > wants in on that, and unlike Apple who hasn't been active in an area they > dominate, Spotify is spending a lot becoming a very solid #2. Exclusives > become a differentiator for them. > > I'm not a massive fan of this direction. If your podcast is not in my > podcast app of choice (Pocket Casts since you asked), I'm > significantly less likely to hear it. But I can understand the business > logic of it from Spotify's perspective. Up until now, I don't think that > there have been as many killer podcasts as podcasts businesses need. Many > podcasts are "replaceable." We've seen Luminary try this, with their > exclusive range of podcasts, but reports suggest that they're hemorrhaging > money. In part this is because you can probably find a sufficiently good > replacement for any podcast that moved behind the paywall, or otherwise > never heard their exclusives anyway. Serial might be an example of a killer > podcast. Or maybe The Daily. Something people would change behaviours to > still get access to. Even then, I'm not sure that the NYT would put The > Daily behind a subscription paywall when it's: a) profitable right now with > their listening figures, and b) acts a massive promotional tool to drive > those NYT subscriptions. They spread that messaging every single episode! > > Today there are more than 1,000,000 podcast series on iTunes. If my > favourite tech podcast moved behind a paywall, I might be a bit bummed, but > I could probably find a suitable replacement. Spotify is gambling that > Rogan's fans will follow him and there aren't a bunch of others like him - > or at least as "good" as what he does. It might work for him and Spotify. > But who else would it work for? I'm not sure. > > Disclaimer: I've never listened to him. I can't say that three podcasts by > *anyone* appeal to me. I only recently found out that he was the presenter > of Fear Factor which we did get in the UK. But I always found him the most > obnoxious thing on that, and that's saying something. Oh, and any podcast > that ever had or has Alex Jones on it, for any reason whatsoever, is not a > podcast I'm ever going to listen to. > > > > Adam > >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGDqcJPunqwBSr5CFENT6Gbmuf-60QHMHAkAwr3FOzF1_Q%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGDqcJPunqwBSr5CFENT6Gbmuf-60QHMHAkAwr3FOzF1_Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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