#6: Not just a hobby: Podcasting as a business - Jillian Beytin & Julia Joubert

With more than a million podcasts and over 30 million episodes, podcasts have boomed in the last years. For many enthusiasts, it remains no more than a hobby. Yet, the global podcast market was valued at approximately 12 billion Euros in 2021. It’s serious money! Or maybe not?

To examine the business side of podcasting, we decided to talk to someone who turned podcasting into a business. Jill Beytin and Julia Joubert are the co-founders of Bear Radio, Berlin’s English language podcasting network, production house & school.

Jill is a podcaster, journalist and audio producer. Prior to founding Bear Radio, Jill worked at radio stations in her native California and New Zealand, as well as at NPR and Deutsche Welle in Washington, D.C.

Julia is the co-host and producer of multiple Bear Radio productions and has extensive experience training indie podcasters, radio hosts and corporates on how to create engaging and entertaining content. Julia is from Cape Town, South Africa. 

Not just a hobby: Pitfalls and joy of making podcasting a profession and a business
Jill talks about the importance of setting boundaries by moving from doing work as a favour to working for an income as an important step towards building a business out of a hobby. Valuing your own time is the first step towards getting others to value your time.

Striking a balance between creativity and customer expectations
Getting on the same page early on with a client is key to avoiding misunderstandings further down the road. As is often the case, budgets determine the degree of creative effort that flows into creating a podcast. Jill & Julia share their experiences in creating podcast content for corporate clients.

We also talk about the added value of community building where podcasters come together in order to share and exchange resources and ideas.