Lex-Sized Hole

Because Lex Friedman went to work at The Mid Roll, there’s a hole in the market the size of Lex’s old company Podlexing.

The Mid Roll works with popular and established podcasts, while Podlexing worked with smaller and newer podcasts.

It’s a business opportunity. Not for me — but I hope somebody picks this up.

I asked Lex if he minded if I blogged about this. He not only said he didn’t mind, he also added some advice for anybody who might run with this. He wrote:

The small shows should roll up together. Selling them one off doesn’t make sense, and you’re blind to pricing, and it’s hard to figure out where to price yourself vs. everyone else. Are you overcharging? Are you undercharging? Ack!

My advice is that someone should do The Syndicate for podcasts. Roll up small shows, and charge on a CPM model. (Small-reach tech shows should think $20 for pre-rolls that are shorter, and $30 for mid-rolls that are longer.) Insist that all shows measure downloads in the same way (SoundCloud?), roll-up the rates accordingly, and take a 20% cut. Pay shows on a percentage basis according to their downloads.

And feel free, unknown podcast entrepreneur, to contact me for advice.

Lex knows this business and is willing to provide advice. Go.