The Alberta Podcast Network (APN), launched in 2017 to build audiences and advertising support for Alberta-based podcasts, is winding down its operations.
APN President Karen Unland says the organization has reached “the end of the road” after distributing more than $125,000 to members in exchange for delivering ads over the last six years.
Launching with 10 podcasts and an initial investment from ATB Financial, Unland says APN worked “as a not-very-profitable but still sustainable business” when it started, but the network has reached a point where it can’t afford to keep going.
“So much has changed about the ad-supported podcast business over the past six years. Tweaks won’t save us. We would need to overhaul the business model to try to make it work, with no guarantees of success,” Unland, who is also the co-founder of Taproot Edmonton, told Broadcast Dialogue. “Good things end all the time. The network was started to help local, independent podcasters get enough money and attention to keep going. We accomplished that for quite a few people for quite a while. But we’ve reached the end of the road.”
While the network has been involved with over 80 podcasts since 2017, Unland says at its peak it would have been working with 40 active podcasts at one time. Final quarterly payments will go out to network members shortly.
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