How to make money from podcasting

In a society where men’s emotional vulnerability is frowned upon, a bromance between a lawyer and an entrepreneur enmeshed in friendship and camaraderie culminated in their love for the microphone.

Oscar Koome and Eli Mwenda, hosts of Mantalk.ke, have deciphered the code for making bank in the podcasting industry. With a digital reach of more than 200,000, the two make for riveting conversations and a more intriguing business strategy.

“Mantalk.ke is a podcast that is based on positive masculinity. We realised that there is a lot of negative discussions around men and how we live our lives. We sought to create a platform where men and women can interact in a safe space and share their life experiences in a way that adds context to both masculine and feminine perspectives,’’ Oscar Koome, a Lawyer by profession, described the popular podcast in an interview with the Nation.

Barely a month after Spotify launched in Kenya in February 2021, data from the international streaming service showed that Kenyans listened to a mixture of both local and foreign podcasts amongst the 2.9 million podcast titles available on the platform.

Passive listening

As Eli Mwenda, Co-host and Entrepreneur rightly put it, “We realised podcasts are the most effective way to share stories. Passive listening is an amazing way to consume content because nobody has time on their phones anymore,’’

The podcast was started two years ago with three overarching pillars; moral courage, emotional vulnerability and social development. Man-talk aims to break negative stereotypes and biases by allowing men to take centre stage in emerging social issues such as mental health, addiction and Gender Based Violence.

“Even though men are often silent consumers and are not as vocal as our female listeners, we still try to be an example of positivity. If someone looks up to you in any capacity, you need to show them something positive. A lot of times they are going to mirror those traits,” Eli Mwenda says.

At the inception of the podcast, the industry in Kenya was at its infantile stage. The hosts drew insights from international podcasts such as The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett and created a podcast that provides both social value and entertainment.

The podcast is run as an ecosystem of sorts with each integral part feeding into the final products released on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok. Eli and Oscar also act as the creative force behind Mantalk.ke, working cohesively towards managing the brand.

Eli Mwenda’s penchant for entrepreneurship informed his ability to set up frameworks that assist the podcast run efficiently. As such, he is the Creative Lead in charge of day-to day operations.

On the other hand, Oscar Koome leverages his legal training to ensure legal aspects of the business are in order. He also charts the long-term strategy of the brand ensuring the longevity and sustenance of Man-talk.

Top-notch quality

The podcast outsources independent contractors that are experts in their field to ensure the final products are of top-notch quality. This includes videographers, photographers and social media managers who pool their creative skills so that the hosts can focus on content creation.

Their monetisation model is based on leveraging intellectual property attributable to Man-talk. In order to do so, they adopted a three pronged approach where they ensure that Mantalk.ke’s brand is seen as not only reputable but also credible. This has attracted brands and sponsorships such as Artcaffe, ICEA Lion Group, Safaricom and Ginsomin.

Additionally, they have developed a clear agenda by which they can be associated with –Positive Masculinity. This assists the podcast to partner with like -minded brands and individuals that also champion social causes.

The podcast has cast a wide net with their content by tailoring their content to suit different social media platforms. YouTube carries their long form content, Instagram Reels and TikTok include short snappy videos that lure listeners to listen to the full version of their podcast on Spotify.

This diversification enables them to generate multiple streams of income from different social media platforms.

“What you are selling is time. These are optimum time slots whether in the beginning, middle or end of the podcast when audience retention is high. You can sell audio, visual or both to clients. You start making money when you have a high level of engagement across all platforms. Based on engagement on each platform, you can calculate and determine the price of each time slot,’’ Eli Mwenda says.

Mantalk.ke runs eight episodes in a season with 50 per cent of the episodes being guest-shows that align with their overarching theme for the season.

“We invite guests already thriving in spaces that would we like to have a conversation on. For example, the theme could be Masculinity and Relationships and Bien from Sauti Sol was a guest that we believe articulated himself quite well on that topic. We also leverage guests’ social media following to amplify our content,’’ Eli adds.

Sauti Sol Band

Hosting guests on their platform not only adds value to their audience but also builds the co-hosts’ networks, “The people that you meet and interact with are high impact individuals who are quite successful in their fields. You have members of the Sauti Sol Band like Bien and Fancy fingers, Over 25, TMI Podcast and the like. We as hosts have to equally work on our own self-development so that we can add value to the podcast,’’ Oscar says

Mantalk.ke has formulated a content calendar that gives guests and their production team flexibility in case of mishaps.

“You have to plan a month ahead because you don’t want to be scrambling for guests, production and location at the last minute. If you don’t plan beforehand, the consistency drops and the algorithm doesn’t favour you. You might find yourself putting in a lot of work creatively but still not getting the results that you want,’’ Eli says

In the beginning, the hosts covered the cost of production and when their audiences started to grow, they started to price in the value of their audiences.

“Over time you will be able to inflate your profit margin based on production costs and audiences across each platform. We have reached a point where we are able to tell how much it costs to produce an Instagram reel or an Instagram Post. Our rate card is therefore reflective of our production costs, profit margins and the strength of our brand,’’ Oscar says.

Man talk.ke now boasts an audience of 200,000 subscribers across Kenya, South Africa, United States and the United Kingdom. They also have an excellent engagement rate which highlights the vibrant and diverse nature of their community.

The podcast ensures that their audience is constantly engaged and part of the development of their brand through weekly lives.

“This is the highlight of our week, laughing and learning from our fans is the best thing about Mantalk.ke. We love them so much.” Eli says, “No Thursday like Toxic Thursday.” Oscar adds

Their podcast on Spotify averages 100,000 plays every month and is frequently part of the Top 10 most listened to podcasts in the country.

They have 62.1k followers on TikTok, 26.3K subscribers on YouTube and 35.2k followers on Instagram. This following is then harnessed to create an income channel of about Sh 100,000 every month.

The co-hosts also plan to introduce their own branded merchandise that will be introduced to their audiences in the near future.

Associated with

The bane of their existence is perhaps approaching brands that they would like to partner with as they are discerning about the brands they would like to be associated with.

“We are very selective about which brands to introduce to our audiences. We want to work with brands that can add value to our community,’’ Oscar states, “the market has begun to understand the value of podcasts. Although there is a lot of scepticism around podcasting as a business, the truth is that the person with the purchasing power is the consumer and if they understand what we are doing then it is much easier to make a sale,’’

Nonetheless, the hosts noted that they have been quite successful in securing clients and have recently partnered with Samsung in order to introduce the Kenyan market to the Freestyle projector.

Man-talk encourages other podcasters to register their Intellectual Property because IP assets are an easy way to monetise content as opposed to traditional tangible assets.

Eli also says that they have found a way around their busy schedules, “Time management is very important. We have to plan and dedicate time to podcasting. We also pre-shoot a lot of our content so that when both of us are busy, content is still being published,’’ he says

For people who would like to venture into the budding industry, the pair advises that consistency and sustainability are paramount.

“I don’t think you should aim for unattainable high quality content when you are starting out. Begin with what you can afford. A phone, a tripod and a ring light are enough for you to start sharing your perspectives. If you are consistent, you will attract business that will allow you to scale up ,’’ Oscar says

Like any other profitable business, podcasting can take some time to build into a sustainable channel of income.

“You have to be patient and consistent. It is going to take a very long time to build a reputation and audience that brands are interested in partnering with. People always want to start from the high end which should not be the case. One of the things about podcasting is that you can start from as low as Sh 10,000," Eli concludes

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