Monetizing podcast application in numbers

As known to readers of our blog on GT , we understand the topic of acoustics not only in text form, but also share our knowledge in the Sound podcast - a program about devices, components, formats and technologies used in the audio world. A lot of experts took part in the recording of our podcast, and last year we told the story of the recording of the first 18 releases.

Today we decided to talk about what results an independent application developer can achieve on the example of what Marco Arment is doing: he recently launched an application for listening to podcasts. We highlighted the highlights and achievements of Marco.
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The topic of earnings of independent developers remains quite acute: few people want to talk about money, but there are also brave ones. For example, the following developers who published income information:

• Unread
• Dash for mac
• Monument valley

Marco Arment, who developed Overcast , decided to join them. This application is for listening to podcasts on iOS.

Work on the project took 15 months. As a result, the application was published as free with in-app purchases for users. At the time of release, IT journalists supported Marco: there were dozens of excellent publications, thousands of tweets, and even a second-level banner in the App Store.

During the calendar year 2014, we managed to achieve the following results:

• 318,996 downloads. Approximately 200,000 registered account;
• 46.940 in-app purchases (14.7%);
• $ 164,134 was earnings after deducting Apple’s share of 30%, but before taxes were paid;
• $ 85,715 only earned in the first month.

The costs were relatively small: total server and hosting costs were $ 750 per month (by comparison, my family’s health insurance costs twice as much). In 2014, the agreement on the simultaneous use of similar trademarks to use the name Overcast turned out to be the biggest waste.

It cost me about $ 12,000, and I believe it was worth it (all other names were lousy ). Then I officially registered Overcast for a few thousand dollars to keep the title and use it according to the agreement.

The biggest mystery of the App Store: what happens after launching the application is solved. Marco is very pleased with Overcast earnings. He works in a cozy home office, where he always has his favorite coffee at hand and the opportunity to take a nap after lunch. He may be at home and present when his child grows up. For Marco, this is success.

With our podcast on the topic of audio, you can find here and here .