By Amit Doshi
What is a premium Podcast?
A podcast that is behind a paywall is what we would consider a premium podcast. There are several ways to make a podcast available behind a paywall. Platforms like substack, Apple podcasts, youtube, patreon among others that act as end to end solutions for subscriptions. Technical solutions to have shows only be available behind a subscription paywall. accessed and deployed these via podcasting apps people are familiar with like Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Castbox, pocketcasts etc. Podcasts created for private organizations, for their employees only.
Why a Premium Podcast?
Podcasting is a relatively nascent medium, in India and abroad. Given that it makes sense to diversify income streams as much as possible. Some shows will not work as premium, on the other hand some shows might maximise its potential being premium only, and yet others will be best served with a freemium model.
The Indian audience
According to the PWC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook study, India has the third-largest podcast listener base after the US and China. As this audience grows and evolves, listeners expect a higher-quality listening experience. The kind of listeners podcasts attract have demands and needs, which podcast producers need to build capabilities to cater to.
In the “How Indians Are Consuming Podcasts” report by IVM Podcasts in association with InMobi Pulse, we learn that podcast listeners are affluent (39% dined at a 5 Star Hotel in the last 12 months as per the report). Cutting across gender and age groups, the podcast audience has significant disposable income which increases their readiness to invest in experiences to explore and indulge in.
Readiness to pay
Listeners will opt for a paid subscription only if they see value. It is the job of a podcast producer today to figure out what kind of offerings make sense for each individual show. There is no one size fits all strategy that will work for paid subscription podcasts, but there is a necessity to analyze the audience, the category, the content itself and devise a strategy that will work.
What kind of podcast could be a premium podcast
Our hypothesis at IVM is that there are two considerations when it comes to deciding on a premium strategy.
Fandom: Dedicated fans are a must for a premium podcast to succeed.
Genre: Genres which are more likely to be work related e.g. finance, tech, business etc.
Freemium or Premium?
The freemium model has been popular on the internet when delivering services. It is defined as: a business model whereby basic services are provided free of charge while more advanced features must be paid for.
As more podcast producers/creators look to diversify their income streams, more and more will see freemium as a strong option. One of the biggest challenges with going premium without a free tier is that the audience is smaller than it would be with a free tier. Freemium is a way to combat this. There are a number of features you can offer paid subscribers, while keeping your free users engaged. These include:
- Ad free content
- Archival Access, i.e. full archives only available behind the paywall
- Early access
- Extra content
- Discounts on Merchandise
- Early access to live event tickets
- Member only activities like a private discord channel
- Member only events
In 2023 IVM has started 3 of our current shows on this model,(Cyrus Says, Paisa Vaisa, & Varta Lab) each of which has slightly different offerings based on the audiences. We have been seeing success on these three shows and will continue to explore the option for most of the shows we work on.
The author is the head of IVM Podcasts- Pratilipi