Netflix is reportedly considering a move into podcasting, with the streamer looking to further boost its increasingly dominant market position.
According to a new Business Insider report, the company is looking to capitalise on the video podcast boom by hosting them on the platform.
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Podcasts could join the company’s original TV shows, movies, live sporting events like WWE Raw, and video games.
The report says Netflix has been engaging with talent agents about “tapping podcasting talent to host a talk-based video show, after previously expressing skepticism that the format could work on the platform.”
The potential goal? To add more content without spending a butt load of money. Podcasts are notoriously cheap to produce, don’t require a lot of pre-or-post production, and offer a regular stream of highly contemporary content. For subscribers who pay a cheaper monthly rate to tolerate a certain number of advertisements, the podcasts could generate a significant ad revenue, as it does for rivals like Spotify and YouTube.
One talent agent who spoke to Business Insider with the condition of anonymity said: “More recently, they are exploring: Is this doable? Which one would make sense for us? They ask about specific names.
“It’s a way to get an amazing volume of content at a fraction of what they pay for scripted and unscripted budgets.”
The main cost is the talent itself and, according to the report, Netflix has already attempted to snap up the ‘Call Her Daddy’ star Alex Cooper. He ended up signing with satellite radio provider SiriusXM.
Netflix recently raised prices in both the UK and the United States under the proviso of improving its content offering.
Bet your bottom dollar
As soon as I read this report I thought “yeah, this is absolutely going to happen.” It’s actually a surprise Netflix hasn’t done this already. Netflix is about volume rather than prestige TV so investing a significant sum in acquiring podcast talent seems like an easy win and a way for the company to peel viewers away from YouTube, which dominates the video podcast space.
