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How Much We Make From A Podcast With 3 Million Downloads/Month (#368)

From My First Million · Published Jul 5, 2023 · Watch on YouTube

TL;DR

My First Million (MFM) has ~1.255M podcast downloads + ~2.7M YouTube views (trailing 30 days), total ~4M reach, but zero direct ad revenue because HubSpot owns it. A comparable 7M-download/month podcast makes ~$10M revenue ($3M ads, $5M programs, $0.5M merch/affiliates) at 65% margin.

Key insights

  • MFM’s launch spiked to 50–60k downloads then declined to 5–15k before slowly building over years; acquisition by HubSpot (18 months ago) at 600k downloads/month, then unexplained growth to current lev
  • The show’s format was an accident: Sean’s guest didn’t show up, so he and Sam improvised a two-guy-banter style inspired by “The Fighter and the Kid.”
  • A hit podcast requires at least two of four uniqueness attributes: what it’s about, who it’s by, who it’s for, how it’s told. Most people fail by having only one (e.g., “podcast about gorillas” but no

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