WTF are all these ads? Spangle, you swore you would never have ads on the We Are Libertarians Network!!
Longtime listeners have heard me say that many times over. And it was undoubtedly true. Advertising adds a layer of complexity and annoyance that turns off listeners… But then I discovered I need money to run a business (and We Are Libertarians has become a business over the last year). It turns out that income is very helpful when existing marketing channels die!
Our mission is to reach the politically homeless and give them a more gentle start than OD’ing on praxeology right away. (That has its place!) After social media stopped being a driver of growth for the podcast and our other shows, I had to pivot to find new listeners for this strategy to work.
So we have moved all of our shows to a new podcast host that allows us to do a couple of things:
1. We can run promos for each other’s shows. I recently had a meeting with the founder of Wondery, and someone asked him how they grew their network. He said it was all about cross-promotion! All 13 of our podcasts have different audiences, and advertising in these shows helps increase the overall audience. The Chris Spangle Show is in the top 1% of all podcasts in terms of downloads and, and I want to share that with libertarian creators I love to give them a chance to grow. I had the benefit of organic social reach, and new podcasters do not.
2. We will then take that new audience and sell ads to them.
“Ugh. Gross. Monetizing listeners feels dirty, you greedy capitalist bastards…”
Yeah, but that money is then going to buy ads on other podcasts. With companies like Spotify, Spreaker, and Pandora now selling ads like Facebook and Google, we can purchase ads for the We Are Libertarians brand in shows outside the libertarian space. How do I know this is a good strategy? The largest advertiser on commercial radio is now podcasts. Jordan Harbinger spends $40,000 a month buying ads on other shows and makes three times that back. Our Patrons give us the capital to run the network and to make all of this work. Thank you to them for being the backbone of this “blue ocean strategy” for libertarianism. Our recent ad buy of $500 in the past month was made possible by your contributions.
Our hosts and I are creating an institution in the WAL Podcast Network that will last generations like Reason or Cato. A decade on, WAL is the longest-running libertarian podcast due to the loyalty of our audience and the dedication of our hosts and co-hosts. Our hosts are incredibly talented and dedicated. They put hours a week into their shows for no pay, and when they make money, it’s invested back into their shows.
In a few years, we will have part-time or full-time employees dedicated to audio content that informs and entertains the fastest growing political movement instead of 20 of us working on this as hobbyists. That only happens if our audience continues to promote the shows to friends, by financially supporting us through Patreon and by supporting our advertisers.
If you have a business and want to reach our audience through ads, click here to see our sales deck.
If not, then check out ways to support the show here.
