Operation Tin Cup

Although there have been bumps and such along the way, EP is growing slowly, but steadily. Compare EP's traffic in December 2007 with December 2006 (at which time EP had been in operation for one year): Using the simpler, less powerful AWStats program (Webalizer, also running, is better but quirky), December 2006 set records for unique visitors (7,498), number of visits (26,615), and pages viewed (100,687). Webalizer suggests, by the way, that AWStats numbers should all be increased by about 25% but I'm using them as-is for the convenience of comparison. Roughly 500-plus podcasts downloaded each week — but this is a much softer estimate on my part. One other interesting number: average duration per visit about 10 minutes. In December 2007 EP again set records for unique visitors (17,211), number of visits (53,260), and pages viewed (161,266). Roughly 1,200 podcasts downloaded each week. The average duration per visit got slightly shorter (due to faster internet connections?), at about 9 minutes, but that's still a killer number in general internet terms. Overall, I'm extremely pleased!

Donations in 2006 totaled $1,085, from 20 donors. Donations in 2007 totaled $1,736, from 30 donors, making 41 donations. Quite a few donors carried over from 2006 to 2007. Donations do not cover costs, nor would I expect them to, but we could do better. In comparative terms, and although it's not entirely apt it's one of the best available, an average NPR station has about 8% membership among its listeners (though this seems to be slipping due to podcasts). As the average number of EP podcast listeners per week throughout 2007 has been about 800 (about 50% listen every week and 30% two or three times a month, according to the recent EP survey), an 8% participation rate for donations would have been about 64, or more than twice EP's actual donors. Looked at somewhat differently, 800 x 52 = 41,600. $1,736 ÷ 41,600 = 0.0417, roughly a nickel per person per podcast. I know I'm not so objective about this, but it does seem to me that even solely in terms of donations the EP podcast is worth more than that.

Remember, just a few donors are carrying everybody else. It would not be realistic to expect every listener to donate, but even a small percentage increase in donor participation among listeners would mean a large absolute increase in donations.

Things look a bit better seen in terms of costs. In particular, I really feel lucky that I picked BlueHost when I set up EP. Each year they've been increasing allowances for storage and bandwidth without increasing fees, and they did it again recently: We now have 600 Gigabytes of hosted space, and 6 Terabytes of bandwidth per month — that's incredible, and considering that EP used less than 2.5 Terabytes of bandwidth in all of 2007, provides plenty of headroom for growth. All along my main worry about growth has been when/how to switch from BlueHost to a commercial-type hosting solution, but BlueHost keeps pushing that decision off to an indeterminate future. I'm hoping, indeed, that (if ever, knock on wood) EP needs 10 TB or so per month (roughly 50,000 listeners per week) of bandwidth, that by that time BlueHost will be able to provide it. They are really a pleasure to work with and I want to stay with them as long as possible. Anyhow, this is not only the best quality solution for EP, but as far as I can tell it's the most economical of any out there: less than $100 a year.

The main operating expense is EP's international phone costs. Sixteen calls in 2007 cost something slightly under $2,000. I'd like to be able to make more calls than that in 2008 — depending on guest availability, perhaps up to 25 calls, costing somewhere in the range of $3,000.

While donations hopefully will at least cover international phone calls, there's also infrastructure.

In 2006 start-up costs for equipment and such were significant — I think over $15,000, though I don't remember exactly — now those are taken care of there are improvements to consider. This year I got a professional grade digital recorder (used, for example, in the outstanding Daniel Ellsberg public service podcast), a professional shotgun mic, and various accessories for a total of about $5,000. I spent an additional $500 for coding on the site and $250 for an upgrade to EP's blogging software. And there were miscellaneous costs for hardware items such as backup storage drives, etc.

Including both operating expenses and infrastructure, 2007 donations covered, roughly, something slightly over 20% of EP's costs. Which, indeed, is a great help and I couldn't have continued without you.

In 2008 I'd like to implement several hardware upgrades. First — and I've already set aside funds for this — to replace my aging and now twitchy Power Mac, a new Mac Pro (assuming a new model is released fairly soon) with bells and whistles, about $5,000. Second, a new mic. I already use a Neumann BCM-104, probably better than most mics out there being used for podcasts, but I'd like to step up to a true professional broadcast mic, a Neumann U-87-Ai, about $2,500. Third, a better pair of lavalier mics (for in person interviews), about $1,000. For software, an upgrade from the Apple Sound Track Pro package that I use to Sound Track Pro II, though I'm not sure yet which would be the better upgrade path to follow (either through Final Cut Studio or Logic Pro), $500. And lastly for hardware, to add a second pair of professional sound baffles that I can set up around my desk during recording sessions, about $350. With miscellaneous extras, about $10,000.

So projected operating expenses plus infrastructure = about $13,000. If donations could double, to somewhere in the range of $4,000, or more, that would be an extraordinary help.

Perhaps I should start doing the kind of fundraising other sites do, setting a particular goal and hammering away with pledge pitches until it's reached, but the sums we're talking about are so modest I think it's much too early to do that. Also, to be honest, this is not the right time of year.

So what I'm hoping for is general improvement. On one specific point, however, I would like to meet a particular goal. At the moment EP has one very generous donor who's automatically giving $50 a month. There's no minimum for such automatically recurring donations, and I'd like to see at least another five people sign up for them. Please get further information from the BlogPatron link on EP's donate page.

If EP can continue growing its audience (you) at the rate it's been doing, within five years or so we should have several tens of thousands of listeners per week. At least, that's the goal I'm aiming for.

At some point in the future, medium-long-term, I'd like to explore the possibility of switching from financing through donations to financing through subscriptions. My idea would be to charge a nominal annual fee ($10-20) which would allow subscribers access to the most recent podcast, but then after one week I would place all podcasts in a free, publicly accessible archive. That way those who want to listen for free can continue to do so, but those who might be inclined to donate but can't seem to get around to it get nudged into paying. Indeed, I very much welcome any comments regarding this (somewhat vague) idea, or suggestions how such a strategy might be improved.

If ever we reach that point, a regularized and much greater income stream from EP might make possible expansion that otherwise would be out of reach: renting a small office, setting up a small professional studio, bringing guests into the studio, perhaps also guest hosts, hiring some help (what a thought!), and perhaps engaging in various political activities.

We may never get there, but this is a possibility to keep in mind for EP's future. With your help and some good luck we'll make it a reality! Thank you.