(I'm republishing this oldie but goodie from a few years back, as I realized I accidentally put it back into my drafts!)
Why do certain creators succeed at monetizing their fans on platforms like Patreon, Koji and Gumroad, but others fail?
A grossly over-simplified conclusion is that TikTok creators often have Gen-Z followings simply can’t easily spend $10 or more per month for exclusive content. While that might be a factor, it’s far from the only, or even biggest one. So let’s take a look what’s actually going on with the help of Graphtreon, a website that aggregates data about Patreon creators.
Podcasts are the clear winner, making up 58% of the top 50 Patreon creators..
Looking at the top 50 creators by number of patrons, it’s immediately obvious that for some reason, podcasts dominate the rankings, building vastly bigger paid, loyal fanbases than any other category. A whopping 29 out of 50 are podcasts, but if you’re thinking “great I’ll just do a podcast and the fans” come, then hold on, it’s not that simple!
Podcasts naturally lend themselves better to building a deeper connection to audiences because as a medium, they’re much closer to the listener. Literally (that airpod is in your head!). There’s been many reports that suggest that the active listening to a podcast creates attention and subsequent connection better than most other mediums (with the only true contender being streaming, e.g. on Twitch).
..but it takes a certain kind of podcast to build a fanbase
Let’s take a look at the current top ranking Patreon creator, True Crime Obsessed. True Crime Obsessed is a podcast that recaps True Crime documentaries and goes even deeper in the meta commentary. It takes a niche that many people are already obsessed about (true crime stories), and feeds their obsession with even more related content.
In other words, True Crime Obsessed allows fans of true crime to live and explore their fandom even deeper. They’re building on top of an existing fandom, going deep, creating content thousands love, as opposed to mainstream mush that millions kinda like, and on their Patreon, they’re giving paying fans significant additional value in the form of multiple monthly bonus episodes, bonus episodes that they say are so deep that they aren’t suited for the regular, public feed – a major pull for an already invested listener.
All of the podcasts in the top 50 have some combination of these characteristics that makes them uniquely suited to fan monetization:
- Builds on top of an existing fandom
- Goes super deep or very meta on a subject
- Wouldn’t get made by the networks (or is not suitable for the general public)
- Paid tiers deliver massive value (full bonus episodes)