Why Legacy Media is Getting Podcasting All WRONG
Legacy media companies are floundering in the podcasting game — because they’re approaching it with the wrong mindset.
They’re stuck seeing podcasts as just another media asset — something to plug into their old, ad-reliant business models.
Whether it’s ARN, SCA, or Nine, these incumbents lean heavily on advertising revenue and their long-standing ties with media-buying agencies.
But this lens is not just outdated — it’s actively limiting.
History shows that it’s usually outsiders — not industry insiders — who reshape industries. People like:
- Daniel Ek, who reimagined music with Spotify
- Elon Musk, who reinvented space travel with SpaceX
- Jeff Bezos, who transformed publishing with Amazon
These founders didn’t tweak existing models — they rebuilt them from first principles.
So what happens when you apply first principles thinking to the podcast strategies of ARN or SCA?
You realize the fatal flaw: they see a podcast as content. But the best podcasters see it as a brand.
Podcasts Aren’t Media Assets — They’re Brands
Look at the biggest podcasts in the world today:
- Modern Wisdom (Chris Williamson)
- The Diary of a CEO (Steven Bartlett)
- Call Her Daddy (Alex Cooper)
- Uncomfortable Conversations (Josh Szeps)
These shows aren’t just feeding into ad networks — they’re building ecosystems. Communities. Businesses.
They’re monetizing in ways legacy media isn’t even considering:
- Premium subscriptions for exclusive content and access
- Live shows that fill thousand-seat venues at $100+ a ticket
- Merch that fans proudly wear
- Affiliate partnerships that drive performance-based revenue
- Consumer products like energy drinks and supplements
These aren’t side hustles — they’re central to the business model. And when executed well, they can generate 5–10x more revenue than ads alone.
The Wrong Hosts for the Job
Here’s the second big problem: most legacy media podcasters aren’t brand builders — they’re broadcasters, trained media personalities.
They may have the polish, but they lack the personal connection that turns listeners into fans, and fans into customers.
That’s why so many big-ticket talent deals underperform. These hosts are professional voices, not entrepreneurs.
But there’s a better option: independent creators.
Not the Instagram models and influencers with inflated follower counts. The real creators — those with loyal, deeply engaged audiences across wellness, relationships, music, sport, and comedy.
A creator with 300,000 followers will almost always have more engaged fans than a celebrity with 10 million. Why?
Relatability.
It’s why Gen Y left legacy news for Vice and BuzzFeed.
It’s why Gen Z flocks to TikTok.
It’s why creators are eating media’s lunch.
A Case Study in the Podcast-as-a-Brand (PaaB) Model
Take Boost Your Biology, a podcast I co-created with Australian wellness creator Lucas Aoun.
It only gets a few thousand downloads per episode — yet it generates an equivalent of $120 CPM via affiliate deals, almost generating more dollars than unique downloads. That’s 4x more effective than ads.
And Lucas recently launched a supplement brand, INB4, which generated over $100,000 in its first month alone.
To earn $100K from ads alone, the podcast would need 3 million downloads.
Now imagine a creator pulling 100,000 downloads per episode and tapping into multiple revenue streams.
Here’s how it could look:
This approach generates an order of magnitude more revenue than relying on ads alone does.
That’s the power of treating a podcast as a brand, not just a file in a media library.
The Sonny Vaccaro Lesson
When NIKE wanted to dominate basketball, they didn’t throw cash at NBA stars.
They went after the overlooked, underpriced talent: college and high school athletes.
Two of them just happened to be Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
The lesson? Place lots of small inexpensive bets on creators who fly under the radar but punch above their weight.
Give them the tools, the revenue share, and let them build.
The Future Is Already Happening
The smart money is catching on.
In the UK, Platform Media (merger of Listen Entertainment + Goldhawk) formed a podcast supergroup that generated eight-figure revenue with 70% YoY growth last year. They credit it to one thing: a 360-degree monetization model.
Here in Australia, SonicBoom is building this future — one creator-led, brand-first podcast at a time.
TL;DR
Legacy media’s ad-first, celebrity-driven approach to podcasting is broken.
The future belongs to creators who build trust, and treat podcasts like businesses — not just content.
The winners will be the ones who see that now, ahead of the next big wave of growth in podcasting set to 10X the size of the market before 2032.
