DOWNLOAD SHOWS ARE NEW CASH COWS
1 THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE: £21m MY FAVOURITE MURDER: £11m
RICKY Gervais is earning more from his podcast than he did from The Office.
As we reported yesterday, the funnyman, left, charges listeners £10 to tune into his Absolutely Mental series, in which he and neuroscientist/philosopher Sam Harris discuss topics such as why we laugh.
It seems podcasting can be a very lucrative business, as NADINE LINGE reveals with this list of highest-earning
shows...
The decade-old podcast is No1 in the world and the US comedian and UFC commentator has as many as 190m downloads per month. He’s interviewed everyone from Mike Tyson to Elon Musk, top, right, who smoked cannabis during the chat – and nabbed a Spotify deal.
2
With the tagline Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered, true crime enthusiasts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark get 35m downloads per month and have a loyal “Murderino” fanbase who flock to their live shows. They’ve also penned a best-selling book.
3
THE DAVE RAMSEY SHOW: £7m You might not have heard of this veteran DJ but 13million tune into his podcast every week for personal finance lessons and budgeting tools.
4
ARMCHAIR EXPERT WITH DAX SHEPARD: £6.5m Married to Kristen Bell, US actor and director Shepard interviews celebs such as Gwyneth Paltrow about their lives. Earlier this year, he bagged an exclusive deal with Spotify with ex-us president Barack Obama next to appear.
5 THE BILL SIMMONS PODCAST: £5m
American sports expert Simmons also founded sports and pop culture site The Ringer. Featuring celebrities and athletes, it’s the most-downloaded sports podcast of all time.
6
CHAPO TRAP HOUSE: £1.5M This radical left-wing political pod started in 2016 and has four hosts, meaning they need to split the profits. Most of the money comes from patrons – fans who pay to support their favourite productions.
7 SMART PASSIVE INCOME: £1.2m
Former architect Pat Flynn hosts this pod. After the financial crisis of 2008, he was sacked and forced to create his own online business
– he helps others doing the same in his show.
8
SH*GGED, MARRIED, ANNOYED: £1M The UK’S highest-earning podcast, this is presented by comedian and Strictly star Chris Ramsey and his wife Rosie. The duo chat married life, annoyances, parenting and rows. They’ve notched up 90m downloads so far.
9
TRUE CRIME OBSESSED: £900,000
Another delve into the world of true crime,
it also looks at conspiracy theories and celebrity mysteries with episodes including an examination of Ted Bundy, the Zodiac Killer and even Britney Spears. Chrissy Teigen is a fan and earlier this year joined hosts Patrick Hinds and Gillian Pensavalle to record an episode. LAST PODCAST ON THE LEFT: £500,000 This began in 2011 as a conversation between friends who love horror movies, with the name inspired by The Last House On The Left. It covers conspiracy theories, aliens, cults and serial killers.
10