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In the past few weeks, podcasters started receiving a strange email with a bizarre link to register their podcast on Amazon Music & Audible.
Many feared it was a hoax or scam email and deleted the email, but a handful of adventurous people clicked on the link and were pleasantly surprised to find a portal that was genuinely from Amazon.
Though this isn’t Amazon’s first foray into the podcasting world, it indicates a seismic shift in an industry on the cusp of becoming as mainstream as cable TV.
Podcasting is huge right now, but it is still only in the early days. Between March 2020 and July 2020, a staggering 380,000 podcasts were launched. In May 2020, news broke that Joe Rogan signed a massive deal to host his podcast on the Spotify platform exclusively. The deal is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million to $200 million, the largest podcast deal to date.
Upon announcing the deal, Spotify’s market capitalization on the NYSE jumped by $3 billion. An indication that Wall Street believes exclusive access to Joe Rogan’s audience will positively affect Spotify’s revenues by increasing subscriber base.
While these numbers are enormous, they pale compared to what small business owners can benefit by listing and growing their podcasts on Amazon’s platforms. Here are a few potential benefits of launching podcasts on Amazon music & Audible.
Enormous Potential for Income Generation
Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform globally, and the thirteenth most visited website in the world with an astonishing 2.58 billion monthly visitors as of July 2020. The company generates over $280 billion in revenues annually and has a $1.58 trillion market capitalization. Amazon is simply a money machine.
Podcasts are intimate mediums where conversations in every niche and genre can build an audience of like-minded individuals. While the industry is poised for growth, unfortunately, 98% of podcasters rarely receive any financial benefit from their podcasting efforts. Deals like that of Joe Rogan, Howard Stern, and the Obamas worth millions of dollars are few and far between.
Amazon’s entry into the industry will help grow the conversational commerce space as podcasts hosts will monetize their efforts easily. Guests and listeners will also benefit as they will be able to share and recommend products and services quickly and earn affiliate income from their efforts.
Amazon perfected the art of frictionless commerce many years ago, and there’s no other company in the world that can figure out how to monetize conversions better than Amazon. With 2.58 billion monthly visitors, and a products and services list that is ever-expanding, business owners will be able to generate healthy incomes from their podcasting efforts.
Content Amplification on a Massive Scale
Amazon understands the importance of creating a content-driven business. Similar to how a 1957 infographic revealed a complex and interconnected web of strategic channels that made up Walt Disney’s corporate theory of business, I believe Amazon is operating under a similar strategic playbook.
By creating a directory of podcasts and luring podcasters over to Amazon music & Audible with a slew of mouth-watering deals, Amazon will discover popular content early and create an ecosystem of movies, tv shows, books, video games and more to amplify those messages.
This will create lucrative revenue streams for content creators and keep Amazon’s current and potential customers on the platform longer.
Improved Audience Discovery
The biggest challenge most podcasters face is how to grow their listener base. Podcasters typically rely on word of mouth, advertising, social media, or guest appearances on other podcasts as the primary means of building their audience.
But what if you don’t have to worry about that anymore, and you could focus on creating the best content in your niche and let Amazon’s recommendation engine do the heavy lifting of finding listeners for your show?
Amazon’s algorithm will make it easy for their customers to discover that relevant episodes of shows they will love and pair them with complementary books, audio programs, movies, courses, etc. This will help podcasters to build their email lists and increase the visibility to potential listeners.
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