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Sports

We've got your team covered!

We're Also a Sports Network!

Shows with a narrow sports focus...all of what interests you and none of what doesn't

  • You retain the rights to your show. If you leave the network, you take your content with you. And, you can leave any time (with 30 days notice)

  • Keep 100% of revenue from any current advertisers you have before joining the network

  • Revenue sharing for new advertising, with largest share going to podcaster, and dedicated marketing budget to help grow the show

  • You focus on creating compelling content…the network handles commercials, intros, segues, and credits for consistent listening experience across the network

  • Network ensures professional-sounding audio, including editing, engineering, and mastering

  • Rise above the crowded podcast marketplace through network effects, including brand recognition and cross-promotion on other network shows

  • Professional targeted marketing to attract new listeners to the show

  • Significant benefits begin on Day One of joining the network (see below)

  • Assistance in booking guests, research, best practices, production templates and other items to help make the show compelling to listeners

  • Mentorship and advice from experienced radio/podcasting industry professionals

  • Advertiser-friendly consistency across the network, enhancing the show’s brand appeal

  • No costs to you for joining or being a part of the network

Sponsorships and Advertising Opportunities for Every Strategy, and Budget

Pre-Roll

Commercials before the show are a great way to tee up in-show messaging. Use your prepared ad content or our pro studio.

Mid-Roll

Network shows typically have 2 or 3 commercial breaks so mid-roll advertising mixes positioning throughout the show.

Post-Roll

The 3rd of the traditional ad types. Since the vast majority of listeners enjoy the full episode, post-roll ads are a great value.

Host Live Reads

Hosts have incredible relationships with their audiences, so host-provided live reads stand out with listeners.

Host Endorsements

A leap beyond live reads, hosts may be engaged to provide endorsements for products they believe in.

Segment Sponsorships

Certain recurring segments/bits are eligible for sponsorship. These work great across shows on the network.

Studio Sponsorships

Each PEN show comes to us from one of several studios. Sponsor the studio for multiple references per show.

Primary Show Sponsorship

One spot available as the overall show sponsor, including the most on-air references and branding on show artwork.

Cross-Show Advertising

The PEN network model provides convenient opportunities for one ad buy to cover many shows, reinforcing your brand message.

Demographic-Based Advertising

Make an ad buy appealing to specific demographics and we'll place the ads only on those shows with matching listener profiles.

Advertise During Premium Episodes

Select shows offer paid-only Premium Episodes with a particularly dedicated audience, great for CPM buys.

Special Guests

Regular advertisers have first opportunity to place spots during highly desirable episodes with special guests.

Network Merchandise Store

One opportunity exists to be the exclusive sponsor of the Network's merchandise store, with regular mentions on every show..

Show Listener Hotline

Sponsor the show's Listener Hotline where we help make listeners a part of the show. Multiple mentions per episode.

PEN Listener Club

One Network-wide sponsorship available for the affinity program for PEN listeners, with mentions on shows across the network.

Show Guest Hotline

Each guest interview utilizes the show's Guest Hotline, a perfect placement as guest are introduced by the show host.

Live Events

We build loyal listeners in part through live events, such as meet-n-greets and guest panels, with sponsorship welcome.

Deals & Promotions

Our loyal listener base can become your loyal customer base by offering show listeners special offers unique to the show/network.

Custom Ad Packages

Our Ad Sales team works with each advertiser to craft a program that best matches campaign goals and budgets.

Performance Analytics

Of course, all of this comes with comprehensive analytics to measure performance and continuously improve.

Podcast advertisements have 4.4x better recall than web display ads

Creating Multiple Revenue Streams

PEN looks to cultivate additional revenue streams beyond just 30-second commercial placements. As the listener base grows for a show these additional revenue streams become feasible. Most importantly, each of these revenue streams participate in the revenue-sharing model pursuant to the terms of the partnership among the Podcaster and the Network.

Traditional Commercials

15- and 30-second live reads and pre-recorded spots will continue an important role in podcast advertising. While the listener base is small, we may use 3rd parties to help ad fill rates supplementing our Ad Sales Team. A great benefit of the Network is brands can advertise across shows...so you don't need a huge listener base for your show alone.

Sponsorships

Similar to traditional commercials, brands reach listeners with their message. Different, in that it's more subtle, good for reinforcing other advertising. We provide segment sponsors, bit sponsors, studio sponsors, and even full-show. Think "This Day in History, brought to you by Geico" or "The Great Day Today podcast from the Pepsi studio."

Subscription-Based Shows and Premium Episodes

Some shows might make sense to be subscription-based, where customers pay to listen. Other shows may be "traditional" but then also offer a paid, "Premium" episode with special guests or for a special event. Sponsor revenue may still work for these shows too.

Merchandise Store

On Day One we add your show to the PEN Merch Store, powered by Threadless. Listeners can order over 25 products featuring the show logo. Nearly every week there is a special discount you can offer your listeners, and, like each of the revenue streams, the rev-share applies to Merch Store purchases.

Endorsements

Different from Live Reads, Endorsements imply the host recommends a product. In addition to the ad placement, the brand pays a fee for the endorsement itself. Think along the lines of "I sleep on a Casper mattress and it's the best sleep I've ever gotten." A large and loyal listener base helps get endorsement deals.

Events & Appearances

A great way to create show ambassadors and influencers is through events and appearances. The Network helps achieve this goal through networking and working with both brands and event planners. Paid appearances supplement revenue while rallying enthusiasm for the show.

67% of podcast listeners remember the ads they hear on podcasts

The Big Question - How Does the Money Work?

The Network operates using a revenue sharing model, with the Podcaster receiving the largest share of revenues. Several streams of revenue are possible (see above) and each utilizes the revenue sharing model.

Part of the revenue sharing includes investment in a dedicated budget to promote the show. Marketing the show is vital to increasing the listener base, which attracts more advertisers, which drives both more revenue and even more listeners, in a virtuous growth cycle.

If you have any existing advertisers when joining the Network, they can continue advertising on the show, and you keep 100% of that revenue.

All revenue streams are audited by an independent third party so you can be assured the money is handled properly.

Shows joining the network at this time receive 50% of the revenue share, with an additional 20% invested in promotion. It is envisioned that as the Network continues to grow, new shows joining – not those who join now – will receive a slightly smaller share, as the value of any one additional show is smaller in context with the larger Network. In other words, now is the best time to join the Network!

54% of people pay MORE attention to podcast ads than other medium

2,000,000

existing podcasts

48,000,000

existing episodes

How will your show stand above the crowd?

Sample Network-Wide Ad Campaign

In this example, DTC brand targeting women, 25-34, college educated, HH income >$75,000

Campaign notes: specific shows appealing to women, 85% of podcast listeners have "some college" or more education, 39% are 18-34, 41% of listeners have HH income exceeding $75k, and 104 million people in the U.S. listen to a podcast at least once per month. Resulting target audience size ~12 million. Campaign Objective: reach potential audience at each stage of company's sales funnel

With this campaign the objective included “soft” frequency cap of 8 brand exposures weekly. It also was crafted to reach the target audience at different stages of the sales funnel, with 30% of budget allocated for Awareness, 30% for downstream Purchase, and the rest around Evaluation and Intent, which is why we specifically included Host Endorsement as an element of the campaign. Based on the size of budget and duration we are able to include comp ads in addition to the paid ads, though most campaigns do not include such opportunities. For more information, please contact the PEN Sales Team at advertising@podcastentertainment.com.

Of course, most ad placements do not involve the complexity of the campaign above. We make it simple for you to match the ad campaign to your brand goals. sdsadsadsa

You focus on creating compelling content...we handle the rest

The PEN approach to mastering podcast episodes allows you to focus on the most important part – creating compelling content – while we handle the rest. We do this to provide a consistent user experience for the listeners. They know it’s a high-quality production when it comes from PEN.

Publishing each episode simply involves submitting each episode segment. We then provide the intro music, transitions into and out of commercial breaks, the commercials themselves, the show credits/disclaimers, and out music.

Of course, you’ll know each of these supporting elements for the episode so the collaboration is seamless…all while allowing you to focus on the most valuable – and interesting – part of doing a show!

$2.2 Billion

<--- PwC forecasts podcast advertising to nearly double over the next two years

Edison Research says 93% of people listen to all or most of a podcast episode -->

93%

Shows for Every Interest

Steps to Joining the Network

It’s easy to join, but we should both be deliberate in making such an important decision. If you like what you’ve read so far, let’s talk. Then if there’s mutual interest, we’ll get into the details and get started prepping the show for launch and beginning our path towards more listeners, greater revenues, and an exciting journey!

Download the Podcast Entertainment Network Media Kit

FAQs - Here to answer all of your questions about joining the Network

Two reasons, really. One is to provide a consistent listening experience across the Network, so each show feels “familiar” to the listener. Radio shows and podcasts have loyal listener bases because of familiarity. The other reason is so we can do all we can to make it easy on the Podcaster to focus on creating great content. All the effort in the world to attract and retain listeners isn’t going to work unless the content is great.

Largely, the answer is “no.” It’s your show. But, to ensure consistency and an advertiser-friendly environment, each host is required to adhere to a Personal Conduct Policy. You wouldn’t want a different show damaging your show’s brand, and neither do we. This isn’t the place for conspiracy theories, misogyny, racism, or amateur medical advice. 

Beyond the Personal Conduct Policy, Network producers and mentors may make recommendations for the show or make guests available, but it’s your call whether to incorporate this into the show.

No. We will seamlessly transition the show to our hosting platform, with a redirect from your prior feed so the current listeners won’t be forced to re-subscribe.

They stay with the show for as long as you and they want to. And, you keep 100% of the revenue from all advertisers who were already part of the show.

Sure you can, so long as it isn’t confusing to listeners of other Network shows. We try to make sure there is space for a show to grow, without a different show overlapping with their format-content combination. 

One of the benefits of the Network is brand recognition among potential listeners. As such, all show logos are visually complementary. But, we’ve designed the show logo template to be plenty flexible, with varying colors and a marquee focal point. We’re confident we can design the logo to meet both the Network consistency and stay true to your show…and you have approval authority of the final logo.

The biggest risks are really risks to the show, whether it’s part of the Network or not. If the content isn’t interesting, the Network isn’t going to be able to save it. So, if you’ve got a niche passion that has a minimal potential audience, it isn’t going to succeed. Similarly, if episodes aren’t created in a timely, consistent manner, the listeners are going to move on and the show will not succeed. This is the single biggest limiting factor to show success – the inability to adhere to an episode schedule.

Good for you! We love that you dream big. Since our interests are aligned, we’ll do all we can to help you reach the top of the charts. At that point, when advertisers are beating down the door to be a part of the show, you probably don’t need the Network. You’re free to go (with 30 days notice), can take the archived content with you, and we’ll buy the champagne to celebrate the success, happy knowing we played a part in helping you achieve your goals!

It doesn’t cost you anything to join that you’re not already spending to produce your show. And, it can even cost you less, since we handle hosting, distribution, engineering, and more. You may already be paying a co-host, for studio access, or equipment. Those costs will continue, unless you can take advantage of any Network resources available. You will not have to make any payments to the Network.

There are currently over 40 shows either “live” or “in development.” Some of these are actively looking for hosts. The vision for the Network, protected by copyright, is to have a “Show for Every Interest.” There is probably plenty of room for your show in a wide breadth of pop culture, movies, music, television, sports, business, politics, and more.

Beyond the show topic, what we’re really looking for are compelling hosts who keep an audience engaged. They’re called “Talent” for a reason.

If you’ve read through the info here and are feeling comfortable, let’s schedule a call to get to know each other. We’ll prep for the call by listening to an episode or a demo of the show. If there’s mutual interest, we’ll get the contract signed, develop a show schedule, and prep for launch. We request having 3 episodes “in the can” prior to launch, so start to think about your topics for these first 3 episodes!

Since one of the main goals is to attract advertisers, it’s imperative that each show conducts itself with a level of professionalism and in a manner such that advertisers feel comfortable. All advertisers. It doesn’t mean we’re prudes, or there’s no profanity allowed. It simply means that your conduct shouldn’t alienate advertisers nor position the show such that a brand wouldn’t want to partner with it. Similarly, the Network and each of the shows has an obligation to one another not to damage any of our brand reputations. You wouldn’t want the conduct of a different Network show hurting your show, nor would they. So, we all conduct ourselves in a way that we trust each other, brands feel comfortable, and we all prosper together.

We’re really just getting started. We’ve spent the better part of two years putting the infrastructure together, creating templates, and defining processes so that each show hits the ground running. Now it’s time to run. 

Not really. We believe the model we’ve put in place is extraordinarily fair and beneficial to the Podcaster. Whenever we discussed a specific item our guidepost has been “what’s the absolute most we can do to help the Podcaster while still making it work for the Network.” Most importantly, we don’t want to create an environment with infighting among the shows because someone got better terms than someone else.

That said, if you have a suggestion to changing something, we’re all ears. Our paradigm for considering it is whether it works not just for the Network but for all the other shows as well.

A lot! First, there’s a dedicated promotion budget from the rev-share. Right now these funds go into targeted, digital marketing aimed at people most likely to be interested in the show. At the early stage, we’re looking for the low-hanging fruit – people who already listen to podcasts regularly who best align demographically with your show. Further, we can target people based on their interests, so if your show focuses on rebuilding cars, we’re going to initially constrain marketing efforts to car enthusiasts, in the age/income brackets for the target audience, who already regularly listen to podcasts. Think of it as concentric circles, where we go for the bulls-eye first, then expand as the show grows.

Beyond the rev-share funds, your show will be promoted on other shows, through social media, press contacts, the PEN website, and as many podcast directories as we can find (19 currently!). And, as warranted, we’ll offer to book you as a guest on other shows as a great way to introduce you and the show to the other show’s audience. In short, everything we can to help promote the show. As the Network’s interests are aligned with yours, we both win by helping to grow the show!

Only if you want listeners, and the advertisers who want to reach them. A report from Edison Research shows that 62% of podcast listeners found new shows to listen to from recommendations of other podcast hosts. This is the Network Effect in action – “I like Show Host A, she says she likes Show B, so I checked it out, and I like it to.” Further, 66% say they discover pods from friends/family. Now this listener tells another, and so on…all because the first Show Host recommended it. That’s the beauty of the Network!

Thank you for considering the Podcast Entertainment Network...We Look Forward to Working With You!

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