Indie Ads on The New Disruptors

Hi, folks! This podcast is a labor of love, but it has hard and soft costs to keep episodes flowing: hosting, an audio engineer, my time, equipment, travel, and other expenses. So far, we’ve relied on a combination of advertising and patronage (collected via Patreon).

We have had an array of wonderful sponsors this year whose products align with things listeners are interested in. But because I vary the podcasts’ guests so much across areas of art, music, industrial design, production, commerce, and so forth, we’re not a perfect fit for sponsors who want to define and reach the same sort of person consistently, such as graphic designers or small-batch whiskey producers. This has led to fertile times full of ads alternating with fallow ones.

So we’re going to try something new by offering indie ads. If you’re an independent maker, creator, programmer, or what-have-you, you can get a 30-second ad on New Disruptors for $50 and a 60-second ad for $100 read during the main body of the podcast. I’m treating companies of 1 to 10 people as “independent,” and the goal by limiting the length is to provide enough detail to listeners and have the space for a few ads without filling up the show too much. (Our full-price ads run around two to three minutes for the “midroll” spots during a podcast.)

We have 5,000 to 15,000 listeners per episode within the first eight weeks after a show airs, and some episodes continue to rack up hundreds of listens months later.

I read all the ads and will work with you to craft copy that works and fits. These “live reads” provide the intimacy of old-time radio that listeners like, and give me a chance to explain in a natural voice why a given product or service is worthwhile.

To help make this work, Cards Against Humanity is buying a sponsorship slot on every episode that we devote to indie ads, which gives us the financial underpinning to make it affordable.

Who would this be good for? Anyone selling games, mobile apps, mobile services, or interesting designer-led products. I know from talking to hundreds of listeners that they’re passionate about things made by one or a few people that are guided by strong design and engineering principles.

You can contact me directly if you have questions, or sign up and pay by credit card (via Stripe) for a 30-second or 60-second ad via this form, in which you can provide all the details and I can follow up on timing and the content of the ad. (I can also accept alternate payment.)