“There is no such thing as selling out; only the chance of selling out top cheaply.” That's a quote I first heard from Dave Slusher, one of the original OG podcasters with the Evil Genius Chronicles. 

Acquisitions and mergers have been a part of podcasting since nearly the beginning. In recent years, with an ever-increasing portion of ad spend allocated to podcasts and the continued increase in podcasting listenership, the pace has accelerated. It’s not out of the question that you might be approached with a money-bag-holder in the near future. 

Historically, podcast networks have been the entity responsible for most acquisitions, and it’s generally considered a Good Thing to at least be approached by a network. And if they’re offering to pay; even better!

I think we’ll see more ad rep firms start their own networks as they start commissioning and acquiring shows that make their business model work better by appeasing the needs of their customers -- the advertisers with money to spend. If they can build an owned-network of 10 different podcasts that get 1000 downloads a month, that's 10,000 downloads. Run multiple ad placements and that’s starting to approach viability.

Brands might also be interested in acquiring existing podcasts, especially if there’s a hyper-focused podcast that’s a perfect match to the niche the brand occupies. While the price tag to make a big-budget branded podcast is out of the cards for most small brands, they might find benefit owning a stake of an existing, popular podcast rather than trying to build something completely original on their own from scratch. 

Even a show that’s been “dead” for years might be attractive. I once joined and rebooted a show that hadn’t released an episode in six years but was still seeing 2,000 - 3,000 downloads of old episodes each month. Clearly, there was an audience hungry for the content! Luckily the owner continued to pay his hosting bill each month, else we’d have missed the opportunity.

There are now well over 1 million podcasts, and even though podcasting titles aren’t like domain names (there can be more than one), having a unique title is key to discovery. Would you consider a name-change to your show, knowing that your existing subscribers wouldn’t be impacted at all, if you were paid to give up your prior name?

Talent is another scarcity, and one that doesn’t scale. What do you do if someone wants to acquire you? What do you do if the offer is extended to a valued member of your team? 

.And then there’s the nuclear option, where someone wants to buy your show… and not you. What sort of price tag would it take for you to hand over everything about your podcast to someone else and never look back?

While some may actively seek out acquisition, others will be hit with a request out of the blue. Regardless, both of these paths start from the same place: Getting your ducks in a row. Ownership is the big question, so have an honest conversation with all of the stakeholders of your show so everyone understands who owns what.

But the bigger question is this: What’s it worth? If someone approaches you out of the blue, you’re in a great position of leverage, so don't jump at the offer. If you don't need it (or want it), then you don't need it (or want it). 

Because like Dave says, there's no such thing as selling out; only the possibility of selling too cheaply. 

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Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.