Ricky Gervais podcast goes paid for
I’ve loved listening to the Ricky Gervais podcast, a good continuation of his genius xfm shows from a few years ago (the xfm radio station is where Gervais and Merchant met Karl Pilkington, the emergent star of the podcast and radio show.
It was fantastic to see them, embrace the format of podcasting, and you could sense some genuine surprise and pleasure in seeing themselves in control of the means of distribution.
The simplicity of the format, and the obviously low cost of production and distribution (underwritten by the Guardian) made it a world beating show and poster child for podcasting’s potential reach.
The Guardian sponsorship model was nice – good associative branding (not enough of it on the actual show however).
And now they’ve fucked it all up by making it a paid for product through Audible.
It’s a great show, but I only listen to it once. As the paid gateway kicks in, watch this show plummet in listenership, from the record breaking heights it once commanded.
Two things strike me – will people be willing to pay (in significant numbers) for something that was free (albeit ad/sponsor supported)? And how smart a commercial move is this? The production, time (it’s not scripted) and distribution costs are low, and Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington get a global audience for their ‘brand’. Sounds like smart marketing turned into dumb business.