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1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

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Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#81

Post by ryanbrunner »

rapind wrote: post #71
ryanbrunner wrote: post #37

I work for a company that's very much like Patreon for podcasters (Supercast). The people who will pay $1K a year to support a creator absolutely exist, but they are a small subset of the people who will pay $100 / year, which is itself a very small subset of the people who will listen to your podcast. Some rough numbers: - A podcast with an engaged fan base can usually get about 5% of their listeners to support them…

Podcast pricing is in it’s wildly crazy phase. As an example, Sam Harris is charging $15 / month. Good for him that he’s able to pull it off, but man, that’s more than most streaming services. Your supercast is charging $0.59 / month per sub going through your platform on top of stripe fees. So if you had a niche but interesting podcast you can’t just charge $1.00 / month and generate any revenue. These fees are a ma…

Yeah, $5 a month is really the minimum where it starts to make sense with Supercast.

I haven't run the numbers, but my gut tells me that supporters really aren't as price sensitive as you think. The conversion rates on a $5 / month podcast and a $10 / month one aren't all that different. Again, for a lot of podcasts, it's less about purchasing a product and more about supporting a creator.

Supporting super niche podcasts that want to sell for $1.00 a month unfortunately doesn't make much sense for us since our costs are fairly fixed per subscriber.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#82

Post by mattgreenrocks »

Existenceblinks wrote: post #15
tiborsaas wrote: post #8

This might be misunderstood as followers on social media, but a follower on social media does not equal to a fan. They address this at: > Here’s how it works: A creator can cultivate a large, free audience on horizontal social platforms or through an email list. Fair enough, but let's say the TrueFans™ are in the range of 0.1% - 1% of your followers. That translates to 10k-100k followers which is still incredibly har…

I really hate this building audience things in the past couple years. It makes me want to quit twitter.

Social media changed to be brand-centric pretty early on. It's only natural that users would respond by becoming brands themselves.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#83

Post by jabroni_salad »

esrauch wrote: post #34
wodenokoto wrote: post #17

I'm quite interested in learning more about what kind of things people are willing to pay 80-100 USD a month for on Patreon. The author also throws around some percentages of the growth of hig end payers on Patreon, but no hard numbers. Did it increase by 5 people? Are high paying patrons growing faster than low paying?

On Twitch people commonly give $100 for absolute nothing, just to be thanked by the creator live, which they would do for significantly less money as well, often just $5. I suspect the top tiers at Patreon must work the same, there's some benefit there but people are doing it because they are a megafan and want to show it. I'd be intested in how many of them are living in a false belief / parasocial relationship thou…

I only follow a couple streamers (as opposed to surfing more generally) and I notice the same names repeatedly doing donations like that. Most are one-offs but there are maybe 10 names that stick out in my brain because I see them so often.

I know parasocial is the popular thing right now, but I think it's just a more general 'microtransaction whale factor' that encompasses collectible card games, gachas, and stream donations. I leave realmoney gambling out of that because I think the chance to get actual money back makes the rationalization different, nobody who is whaling thinks they will get a dime back.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#84

Post by causi »

Akronymus wrote: post #41
tluyben2 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word 'friend' is really abused these days (guess because of Facebook etc) and people are somehow falling for it. Seems it's becoming quite common (in my circles anyway) that people use the term friend for basically everyone they ever talked or wrote to and 'good friend' for people they had a deeper than casual talk with. And then the drama after because these 'friends' probably didn't think the same about them (i…

I have been called old for using acquaintance a twice. Which feels really weird to me, as I am not that old. ('97) I'd say I have about 3 friends at MOST, altough, more like 1 that I consider to truly be a friend. And I agree, friend is completely misused. On steam, friend means someone you want to be able to contact. On discord its someone you trust (more than regular people) or one you allow to contact you at all (…

My personal definition of "friend" has always been "someone not in your family you would want to inform if you found out you had cancer." It's served me quite well.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#85

Post by mattgreenrocks »

0des wrote: post #61
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key to enjoying Twitter is to unfollow anyone who is clearly only Tweeting engagement and follow bait all day. It’s easy to spot. They all seem to follow the same pattern du jour, such as posting threads that feel like mad libs (“I talked to people who are passionate about . What I learned was surprising! Here are the top five takeaways. 1/6” is popular right now)

You forgot to drench it in finger pointing up and high five emojis

Much of Twitter is just people signaling to one another that they are relevant in what they say and how they say it. It is a tax on your brain for which you get little in return.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#86

Post by lozenge »

CosmicShadow wrote: post #77
ryanbrunner wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprisingly we don't have a ton of creators offering swag stuff, I'd have assumed that it would have been a bigger draw (Some of that might have to do with us not really offering any support on our platform, but it's not a common request either). If there's a "product" to sell, it's usually either the content itself, or access through things like community. But like I said in another comment, how much people spend i…

This is pretty interesting! I've been thinking about a platform for unique swag for podcasters, streamers, youtubers, etc. as I think there's definitely an opportunity to engage with fans there, but I imagine it's pretty overwhelming and expensive to figure out how to do it effectively if you are busy producing content. I sell an item that'd be perfect for those folks to giveaway/sell and I know how hard it is to fig…

This is what MCNs do. They're basically talent agencies for YouTubers, and they handle stuff like ad placement, sponsored content, and merch.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#87

Post by lozenge »

newaccount74 wrote: post #63

What the article is describing isn't "fans" as much as plain old "customers". Almost all the examples given in the article are people doing courses. If you sell a course for $1000, then the person buying it isn't a "fan" who just gives you money, the buyer is just a customer who buys a service. The only thing new about this is that it's happening online; offering courses for $1000 is not exactly a new thing, it's a b…

These aren't educational courses, they're self-help/improvement courses.

"Starts with the user's needs and pain points - motivated by self-interest - desire for improvement, transformation and/or exclusive access"

So, you need to get fit/get in shape! $40/month for my nutrition and exercise coaching! Go green and zero-waste with my advice! How to teach your kids! Yoga and meditation to improve your health! How to pick up women! Break into your dream career/TV writing/comedy! Be your own boss! Etc, etc. Some needs are never satiated.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#88

Post by 0des »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #85
0des wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot to drench it in finger pointing up and high five emojis

Much of Twitter is just people signaling to one another that they are relevant in what they say and how they say it. It is a tax on your brain for which you get little in return.

Much of life is social signaling in general.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#89

Post by ep103 »

rr808 wrote: post #57
cushychicken wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's encouraging if you think of it as a funnel optimization problem. What can I do for the $100 per year set? T shirts or other swag? Signed merch? What can I do for the $10 per year set? Stickers?

I'm not sure about creators, but I get swag and invites from charities and it annoys me. I'm donating to give them resources, if I want a T Shirt I'll buy one myself thanks, I dont need them spending money on me.

Two things:

1 - Them sending you a teeshirt is a form of advertising. They're hoping you will wear it and be an advocate for them in your social circle. This is a reasonable thing to spend money on.

2 - Engagement. They're trying to keep you engaged in what they're doing, this is valuable too.

Of course, you don't want them spending all their resources on this, but a certain percentage is absolutely a good idea. This is why you should care about non-profits statements about % of funds that go towards the charity vs overhead.

Re: 1k True Fans? Try 100 (2020)

#90

Post by oceanplexian »

Obviously this is HN and not r/Livestreamfail, but the vast majority of Super Fans are not buying courses or supporting the development of content.

The real Super Fans have an unhealthy obsession with an online personality and think they are going to buy a friendship, or a girlfriend, or some other reciprocity. I worked in this industry for a bit. A lot of times big donors will dump their life savings or steal a family member or relative's credit card (Which is why the rate of chargebacks is so high). The companies pushing this have all the data and know exactly what's going on, but market to this demographic anyway.

IMO it's no different than a Casino taking advantage of someone with a gambling addiction. It's not a "Passion Economy" it's an economy of exploitation and social dysfunction.

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