Cash, Laughs, or Ads – NOBODY LISTENS FOR FREE!
When Tom Leykis announced on Monday that he was quitting the
show if listeners didn’t rally to keep him afloat he received a $6,000
injection from fans. Leykis fans don’t want another multi-year stint without
their fix of the BlowMeUpTom show.
But Tom was serious about shutting down the New Normal
Network. He said, “if we don’t make a profit, even one dollar, we are going to
end the show.” Now he struggles with the decision about how to adjust the show
so that revenue outdistances expenses. If Tom offers a premium tier at $3 a
month and only converts 10% of the current listeners he would generate enough
revenue to continue the show for quite some time.
Many Internet propositions have faced these tough decisions.
Newspaper revenues from web traffic usually fall short of the bandwidth costs
associated with achieving those revenues. As the traffic grows from success so
does the cost. Success can be expensive. Podcast shows also pay for the
bandwidth they use. This makes adding more listeners very expensive. With
Leykis’ show advertising, so far, has not proved to be the top source of
revenue.
Tom has too many listeners that freeload. 98.5% of all of
his listeners are listening for free adding to his cost structure and failing
to contribute any revenue to support the show. To mitigate this he is seriously
contemplating putting the show behind a pay wall. That would limit the amount
of content created by his detractors calling in and being minced by Leykis. Fans
love to call in and join in the fun of taking their shot at Tom’s haters. Tom’s
army is very effective in taking down his opposition and very entertaining.
Currently Tom is leaning toward creating three tiers of
service. A live show that is broadcast for free; replays would only be accessed
by people that sign up for premium services. The three-dollar a month version
would allow listeners to hear repeats with commercials and the 10-dollar a
month version would allow listeners to tune in commercial free. Another scenario
involves a barker channel that broadcasts a live stream to tease potential
subscribers encouraging them to subscribe. A barker channel only provides a
snapshot into the content instead of providing all of the content for free. Whatever
Tom decides it doesn’t seem like Tom is going into early retirement.
Fans have been calling in all week to express their support
and revenue is going to continue to pour in.
You can listen live to Tom Leykis for the next four months, Monday - Friday, from
3pm to 6pm Pacific Time, free at www.blowmeuptom.com.
After that you may have to pay.
Monday’s are called Money Mondays where Tom gives advice
about how to achieve wealth.
Tuesday – Bonus hour with Adam Sacks
Wednesday – Be Funny
Thursday – Leykis 101 where listeners are instructed about
navigating treacherous dating waters.
Friday – Wide Open Calls – WOP
To support the show currently you can subscribe for $11 a month,
buy beers, or support the advertisers.
