Matt Belknap is the producer and co-host of one of the few financially successful podcasts, Never Not Funny with Jimmy Pardo. With thousands of hours of free online entertainment available at any given time, making significant money podcasting is an uncommon achievement.
Belknap spoke with Suite 101's Christine E. Taylor about creating and monetizing the highly respected comedy podcast.
Never Not Funny’s Early Days
Jimmy Pardo (a long time stand-up comic and former warm-up act for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien) and Belknap host the weekly show, which consists solely of the two men and a guest in a 90-minute unscripted conversation.
The team began recording Never Not Funny in 2006 – early days for this medium – with no idea where it would go. “We were excited by Ricky Gervias, whose podcast had come out pretty recently when we started, and I had been doing an interview podcast for aspecialthing.com [AST Radio],” says Belknap.
“I interviewed Jimmy [for AST], and it was a lot of fun to sit down and talk to him. We actually recorded that in his dining room, which is where we ended up doing the first season.” Season 1 also included Mike Schmidt as co-host with Pardo and Belknap. However, as that season drew to a close, Schmidt and Pardo parted ways. (Schmidt returned as a guest during Season 6.)
Developing the Comedy Podcast
The original concept for the podcast was to capture Pardo’s stage performance for a broader audience. “Jimmy was doing a live talk show at the M Bar [in Los Angeles] at that time, and I thought that people on the internet would like to hear that.
"So it was really as simple as: why don’t we record that show and put it online.” However, Pardo and Belknap realized that the AST interview format would be a better fit for their new podcast.
Profitability was not on the radar during that first season. “Beyond thinking that maybe it would help give Jimmy some extra exposure, and maybe bring more people out to his shows, we didn’t think that it would be anything that would generate money,” says Belknap.
“We thought, if it took off, then maybe we could get a TV deal out of it. We never thought that podcasting in and of itself would be something that you would be able to make money doing. We saw it as a means to an end, I think.”
Monetizing the Podcast
Belknap and Pardo enjoyed podcasting; but at some point, it had to become worthwhile to put in the time. “[Season 2] was the point at which … we didn’t feel like we could do it indefinitely without it leading somewhere,” says Belknap.
Enter an online lingerie company, the owner of which stepped up to sponsor part of Season 2 of Never Not Funny. Promotions for “SexyIs.com” were incorporated into the show, making for some tangibly awkward moments.
“We tried to have fun with the fact that it was a weird fit, but it was not the right answer for us in the long run.”
NNF’s Transition to Freemium Podcast
After two seasons podcasting for free, NNF switched to a freemium model in 2008. The freemium structure allows listeners to download the first 20 minutes of each podcast for free; they must pay for the full 90 minutes.
“We didn’t know what would happen, we thought it was a little bit crazy to get someone to pay for something that was free, and almost every other show out there is free. The response, immediately, was way more than we thought. We were bracing ourselves for 1% of our audience to be on board for this.” However, 25% of NNF’s audience signed up to pay for Season 3.
“We still do some ads in the free feed,” says Belknap. However, NNF’s primary income stream now comes from its thousands of paid subscribers. Approximately half of those subscribers pay an extra $5 per season for the podcast's video feed.
ITunes does not accurately reflect the show’s popularity. Most listeners subscribe to the show through NNF’s website and are not included in the iTunes ranking.
NNF Subscribers Represent More than Money
“It’s crazy to think that people love the show enough to pay for it," says Belknap. "It’s kind of moving, and it’s kind of unbelievable. Jimmy and I still get excited about that, not the actually money, but what it represents. To us, it's still sort of amazing, because we have always just done it for fun.”
As the show enters its seventh season, the number of subscribers continues to increase. Never Not Funny’s financial success is proof that people will pay for quality content.
Which writer/actress/comedian is Matt Belknap's dream guest for NNF?
Never Not Funny is available for download through their website and through iTunes.
Christine E. Taylor - Christine E. Taylor is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Christine is currently writing a series of articles ...
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