How The Fantasy Footballers’ Podcast Grew Revenues To Help four Full-Time Creators

Andy Holloway, Mike Wright, Jason Moore, and Brooks Carmean live the creator’s dream.

They make a full time residing. All yr lengthy. From a podcast. About fantasy soccer.

As careers go, that’s a keeper if we’ve ever seen one.

They did it—partly—by deploying some tech wizardry to combine Patreon instantly into the content material of their WordPress web site.

The end result?

An incredible product, a dedicated following, a reliable enterprise mannequin, and income to help the present and themselves.

We sat down with co-founder Andy Holloway to get the small print of their journey.

In case you’re a creator—particularly a creator hoping to show your venture right into a full-time residing—you would possibly wish to take notes on this one.

What these guys did is a unbelievable approach to generate income—with out alienating your viewers within the course of.

How The Fantasy Footballers Monetize Their Podcast (With no Separate Membership Website)

In case you go to the web site for The Fantasy Footballers, you’ll discover an enormous library of knowledge.

Opinions, evaluation, breaking-news stories, suggestions.

Maybe as worthwhile as the rest on the location (for fantasy gamers), you’ll discover participant rankings:

It appears to be like like a normal chart you’d see on any fantasy soccer website.

Besides, it’s not.

Guests to this web page can browse rankings from Andy, Jason, and Mike for all of the fantasy positions—besides one.

The “Flex” rankings—a mixed listing of all out there gamers from the RB, WR, and TE positions—is simply accessible for members who help the present on the $5/month stage.

As a two-time workplace fantasy league champion, I can let you know the Flex place is by far essentially the most tough place to decide on each week.

Which implies, gaining access to an impartial rating of Flex-eligible gamers is big.

In case you click on on “Flex” on the rankings website, right here’s what occurs…

In case you click on that “Be part of Now” button, you’ll be redirected to The Fantasy Footballer’s Patreon web page and prompted to help the present:

Seems easy proper? A redirect to Patreon for individuals to help.

Don’t be fooled.

This proper right here?

That is the place the wizardry occurs.

Integration Powers The Fantasy Footballers’ Enterprise Mannequin

It’s one factor to have premium content material (like Flex rankings) in a patron-only membership part.

The premium Flex rankings listing will not be the one cause individuals be a part of the #FootClan, after all.

Some need the additional podcast the workforce places out each week only for members.

Others wish to play in leagues with different dedicated gamers—as an alternative of simply becoming a member of a generic Yahoo! League (the place seemingly half the gamers cease paying consideration after a couple of video games anyway).

You would put every kind of content material behind an built-in membership part. Simply to offer you some concepts, you might create:

1. Unique YouTube movies
2. Early entry to podcast exhibits
3. Bonus content material that accompanies your common content material (cheat sheets, procuring lists, coupons, and so on.)

Regardless of the content material, what makes a membership part work (or not) is the expertise for each you and the tip person.

When a brand new member joins the #FootClan, for instance, nobody from The Fantasy Footballers has to carry a finger.

As an alternative, three issues occur robotically:

1. The brand new supporter turns into a member within the Patreon system and might be charged month-to-month from that time ahead
2. The supporter receives a login for The Fantasy Footballers’ important web site—a WordPress website
3. The supporter receives a login for the #FootClan’s personal dialogue discussion board—which is hosted by Discourse

With 5,000+ patrons presently supporting the present, these integrations save the workforce numerous hours each month in help prices.

Which is time they will spend engaged on the present as an alternative.

Andy put it this manner:

“Am I going to spend 30 minutes a day having to create stories or authenticating individuals on the web site? Or do I get to spend these 30 minutes making a greater podcast that creates a greater product for the person? That’s why these integrations exist. To make the method seamless.”

How You Can Do What The Fantasy Footballers Did (With out Realizing Code)

Over the previous few years, Andy, Jason, and Mike custom-built these integrations between Patreon, WordPress, and Discourse on their very own—with some assist from our help workforce.

The fellows aren’t programmers by commerce, however all three labored for years at an organization that constructed Fb video games.

In comparison with most creators, they’ve distinctive technical abilities.

You?

You do not want the type of abilities Andy, Jason, and Mike should create comparable integrations between your content material and Patreon.

You should utilize the App Listing, Patreon’s new set of integration instruments for creators, that are designed to assist creators monetize their viewers utilizing the content material and web sites they already personal—with out having to arrange a separate membership website.

Observe: In case you haven’t signed up for Patreon but, you are able to do that right here.

How The Fantasy Footballers Acquired Began

For eight years, Jason ran an organization that made video games for Fb.

Each Andy and Mike labored for that firm, which was based mostly in Phoenix.

The corporate grew quickly in the course of the craze that was Fb video games—rising to 25 staff.

However by 2014, Fb video games had been fading quick, and the corporate was all the way down to “only a handful of individuals,” in response to Andy.

At that time that Andy determined to pursue one thing completely different.

Actual property, in reality.

“I really went and was engaged on getting my actual property license,” Andy mentioned. “That’s what I used to be doing once we first began the podcast.”

Andy and Mike launched the podcast in 2014 as a facet venture. Jason was additionally concerned as a contributor within the background. He joined the present as an energetic co-host in 2015.

The listener base grew rapidly, opening the workforce’s eyes to the probabilities of a year-round present.

“The best way fantasy soccer gamers are—they by no means wish to cease speaking about it, even within the offseason,” Andy mentioned.

They went “all-in” for the 2015 season.

The remainder, as they are saying, is historical past.

“I’m joyful to say I by no means needed to promote actual property,” Andy advised us.

Brooks Carmean joined the workforce as a full-time producer in a while.

At current, The Fantasy Footballers publishes 5 exhibits per week in the course of the soccer season plus an unique bonus present for #FootClub members.

Within the offseason, they proceed producing exhibits—two per week at a minimal—for a complete of round 150 exhibits per yr.

The present can also be produced fully independently from The Fantasy Footballers studio in Phoenix, Arizona.

It’s presently the very best rated fantasy sports activities podcast on iTunes.

Takeaways for Creators

Need to take your podcast, YouTube channel, or group to the subsequent stage and finally help your full-time earnings(s) just like the Fantasy Footballers??

Listed below are our massive takeaways from our dialog with Andy:

1. Spend money on Effectivity

It takes time to arrange integrations. However for The Fantasy Footballers, they view that point as an funding.

Will it take you many hours to setup up an automatic membership workflow for brand spanking new supporters?

Possibly.

However, after you have it arrange, will it prevent 30 minutes a day for the subsequent 5 years?

In that case, that’s completely an funding price making.

As a result of, once you spend much less time doing administrative duties (like manually organising logins for brand spanking new members), you’ve got extra time to spend as a creator.

As Andy put it towards the tip of our interview: “Effectivity accomplishes higher artwork.”

2. Create a Seamless Expertise

For The Fantasy Footballers, their objective has all the time been to make it as simple as attainable for listeners to develop into members and entry their premium content material.

Not only for the advantage of listeners—though that’s vital—however for greater conversions as nicely.

“We wished to have the ability to ship unique content material to listeners in essentially the most seamless method we may,” Andy mentioned. “It’s been very helpful in changing individuals who wish to seize our premium projections or flex scores or the opposite issues we now have behind the membership part.”

3. Set Your Guiding Rules

Lastly, any artistic venture wants a couple of guiding ideas.

For The Fantasy Footballers, their guiding ideas are the very first thing they discuss within the intro video posted on the present’s YouTube web page:

1. Good info
2. Leisure
3. High quality manufacturing

“We’re having enjoyable right here,” Mike says within the video. “We don’t need you to get slowed down within the spreadsheets. We would like you to be entertained.”

Clearly, they’ve achieved that—after which some.

Actually, with tens of tens of millions of downloads yearly and 5,000+ patrons, we don’t immediate replay on this one, as a result of the result’s clear…

These guys have created a winner.

Take a look at the New App Listing: In case you additionally wish to simply combine a paid Patreon membership tier to a characteristic in your website, just like the Fantasy Footballers have accomplished, take a look at Patreon’s new App Listing**. No coding expertise required, we promise.