Morten is CEO of Podimo — this interview has been lightly edited for style and readability
We spoke with Morten on Feb 24.
Morten Strunge: We’ve announced today that we’ve hit the milestone of one million paying subscribers. That’s pretty awesome, I would say!
Sam Sethi: Yeah, that is pretty awesome! I mean, Podimo was only started in 2019. So we’re talking of a very rapid six year growth. So tell me more about the way that users use Podimo and how they subscribe to Podimo.
MS: Yeah, we launched just over five years ago as a subscription service in Denmark and today we’re live in seven markets, and our proposition has evolved.
Podimo is a subscription service - around seven or eight euros per month (US $7.50-8.50), for unlimited access to exclusive podcasts that you can consume through our own app and the creator site - but also you get our app experience, which we put a lot of effort into building out in terms of helping discovery, bringing creators and listeners closer to each other through community features and so forth.
We’ve evolved since then. Our model has changed somewhat, in that we don’t just have a subscription service. We own studios in a lot of the markets we’re in, and we also own the advertising sales side. So we have a lot of content that lives on open RSS and is broadly available, to build listenership and reach, and we monetize that content through advertising. And then next to that, we have our subscription business where we gradually bring over the most loyal audience towards our subscription service. We’ve invested heavily, both through acquiring production companies, ad sales and networks, in order to become an even better partner for creators in terms of not just helping them monetize through a subscription, but also now being able to maximize their reach and maximize their monetization with both advertising and subscription.
SS: Do you also have shows that are totally exclusive, that you never let out into open RSS?
MS: Yeah, it’s a combination. It depends on the content type and the show. Some shows we have fully behind our paywall, some shows we window out onto open RSS. So say documentaries for example, you might get the first couple of episodes available broadly, but if you want to listen to the full thing straight away, then you have to sign up for Podimo. And then we also do, as mentioned, back-windowing, so content that we first release on Podimo, and then we window out to open RSS; and then we have shows that fully live on the open rss and not on Podimo, because that’s the best thing for that show - perhaps it’s not suited for subscription and it’s better to build listenership and monetization on open RSS. So, it’s a combination.
SS: Where does video sit in your strategy?
MS: Video has been part of our strategy for years. A lot of users prefer to watch video, but it hasn’t beaten the power of audio and there’s still a lot of audio listening. I think what’s exciting for us with video is that suddenly you go from consuming the content with your phone in your pocket, to having your phone in front of you. That plays really well together with our community features. Listeners can ask questions, they can engage in commenting, they can do emojis as you listen through, we see a lot more engagement on these community features. So there are many reasons for us to do video.
SS: So what markets are you in?
MS: So far we’re in seven markets. So we’re in Denmark, Norway, Finland, we’re in the Netherlands, we’re in Germany, Spain and then, lastly, Mexico. So there’s still a lot of growth to capture in the markets we’re in - both in terms of the existing verticals that we’re catering to in terms of content, but there’s also a lot of new verticals that we don’t have on our platform today that can unlock a bigger audience and a bigger growth potential for Podimo. So we’ll continue to invest heavily into the existing markets. We’re actually increasing investments in those markets. And then late this year, we’re beginning to look towards expanding into new territories again. I can’t say which yet, but excited that we’re beginning to expand again.
SS: You mentioned expanding slightly in content, so you’re talking about podcasting, you’re talking about video, talking about books, tv. The two that are missing in there are music and live events and ticketing within that. Is that within your remit to go into those areas as well?
MS: Music is not on the roadmap, but live shows is something that we’re already doing, and that we’re beginning to create more structure around. We have sold out theaters across multiples of our markets and some of the shows are selling out fully within hours after announcing live shows. So piggybacking on that strong commitment and that relationship between the listeners and creators for live shows is definitely very meaningful.
Fiction is a category that I have a strong belief in. I mean, fiction don’t exist in short form, really right. Why doesn’t it? I mean we spend an enormous amount of time consuming fiction when we turn on the TV or we open a book, but it’s because the ecosystem hasn’t been in place to allow for investments into those kind of content verticals.
SS: Are you going to be going acquiring more companies?
MS: Yes. It is part of our core strategy to do more M&A and it’s fully aligned with our board and our investors as well. We’ve done two acquisitions last year that have worked out really well and we’re trying to identify more acquisitions, both in the markets we’re already in, but also for launching new markets. It might make sense to get to scale faster through acquisitions. So both technology acquisitions within the field, but primarily production companies, ip and ad networks is something that we’re looking very much into.
I think where we’ve made progress is on the profitability side. If you want to grow faster, then you need capital to grow and to be able to attract capital, you need to show not just growth. You need to show there’s a clear path to profitability and that you’re actually operating a sustainable business model, and there we’ve made significant progress as well. We have three markets that are fully profitable, cash flow positive as well, and have two more markets looking to turn profitable this year. So in an industry that’s so early, demonstrating big steps towards profitability is a good cocktail to be able to also go out and get more capital on board so we can accelerate our growth even more and expansion as well.
SS: Morten, congratulations. One million, it’s a massive achievement, well done.
MS: It feels really good. Thanks a lot.
There’s more of this interview in the Podnews Weekly Review.