This is Fin Dwyer, an archaeologist who overcame adversity to start and grow a podcast business. Here he explains how to make money from podcasting and why passions can become businesses.
The combined impact of recession and illness left Kilkenny-based archaeologist, Fin Dwyer with time on his hands and a need for something to do. His hobbies of listening to podcasts and history encouraged the creation of his own podcast, called ‘Irish History Podcast’, back in 2009. He recounts how his hobby has since transformed into a thriving podcast business –currently with over three million downloads, across the world.
The idea
I wanted to make Irish history engaging for people who had little if any prior knowledge, on a historical subject or topic. The aim was to create a podcast that was interesting, accessible as well as relating more to the stories of particular individuals – rather than the more traditional focus of dates and numbers. When I began, most people didn’t know what a podcast was, but that has changed.
“At the moment it provides an income stream of $2,000 per month and is growing at the rate of €100-$200 per month.”
Audience feedback
The first podcast that I released was on ‘Life in the Early Middle Ages’, and it took some months to finish and put together. In the first year, the audience grew rapidly as the format proved very successful. Initially, I found it a little daunting, getting used to the sound of my voice but I received very positive audience feedback which was encouraging and gratifying. Audience numbers are driven by content, and this became more evident when I began to cover major topics such as the ‘Great Famine’ which drew in new audiences from America.
“People tend to find out about the podcast by word of mouth or as a personal recommendation.”
Audience
