Podcaster Luminary Seeks Fresh Cash To Buoy Struggling Business

Luminary Media, the money-losing podcasting startup, has raised more than $30 million in a new round and is seeking more funding as it tries to ride out the global pandemic, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. From the report: The funds were raised at a level below last year's $200 million valuation, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. The company, which is also cutting costs after struggling to attract subscribers, plans to use the money to fund operations and future programming. This current round of investment would bring Luminary's total fundraising to more than $160 million, comparable to the value of the entire company. Luminary, backed by investors such as Sinai Ventures, NEA and former HBO executive Richard Plepler, previously raised at least $130 million to build what it said would be the Netflix of podcasts -- a subscription service packed with top-notch, exclusive shows from journalists, TV hosts and celebrities. Its slate of original shows includes Guy Raz's "Wisdom From the Top" and "The Trevor Noah Podcast." But the app has struggled to find an audience since its debut in April 2019. Only about 80,000 people who tried the app have remained paying subscribers, said the people.

Podcasting

[moxrespawn]

All the functionality of free YouTube, except without the option of including video content.

When has podcasting been other than extremely niche?

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[Opportunist]

Well, it seem that it can at least float. Or keep struggling businesses afloat, rather.

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[moxrespawn]

Visuals are preferably illustrative, for most all contexts. [youtube.com]

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[Luthair]

Podcasts have a pretty large audience now, though I'm not convinced people would pay for them when there are plenty of free alternatives.

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[gl4ss]

there's an audience but no money and the audience doesn't want another app.

how they manage to spend so much money on the thing that is quite simple and with expenses that should scale with use I don't get. are they paying the ceo 1 million per year etc?

Re: Podcasting

[Provocateur]

He is probably getting the Lear jet first, before they make a profit. Straight out of the discarded We work playbook

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[Dixie_Flatline]

More to the point, why would anyone want this?

Listeners don't want to pay anything, or if they do, they'll subscribe to an individual podcast and get a special link or whatever. What does this service get them?

Podcasters certainly have no incentive to join that service. Less distribution than the normal podcast directory and a middle-man to take skim some of the profits. What a deal.

There's already so much good content out there that I don't really need to listen to some celebrities instead. The whole idea

Sorta Dupe

[LatencyKills]

We had a story yesterday about Quibi (Quibli? Quibo? - I can't be bothered to check) struggling to find an audience and blaming it on COVID despite the fact that millions of people are unemployed and in lockdown consuming content 16 hours a day. Much as someone commented yesterday, if your business in attracting eyeballs doesn't work now, you've got a business that will not succeed any better when we all go back to our lives and start consuming less content.

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[phalse phace]

Much as someone commented yesterday, if your business in attracting eyeballs doesn't work now, you've got a business that will not succeed any better when we all go back to our lives and start consuming less content.

The thing is, Podcasts don't require eyeballs.

With video, a person has to stare at the content.

With a Podcast, a person can perform other tasks while listening. You don't have to be looking at something to enjoy it.

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[LatencyKills]

I'm not sure this conflicts with my point. Would you prefer I said earballs?

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[supremebob]

Podcasts are great while commuting, since you can listen to them while you're doing a mundane activity like driving. Unfortunately, most of them really don't really hold my attention when I'm home. I find myself getting distracted by other activities going on around me like my kids or what my wife is watching on TV.

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[Gilgaron]

I think their model was content that could be consumed in short little bursts, while commuting or waiting in line at the coffee shop or whatever. Stuck at home you may as well watch a movie or binge a standard format series.

Podcasts aren't the problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

Podcasting isn't the problem, I listen to several every day. I tried Luminary - their interface is HORRIBLE and the content didn't make it worth it. The first few episodes of Re-watchables 1999 was good, but there were only so many interesting movies that year. Listening to a few podcasts without commercials (Conan for example) was nice, but not worth what they charged and not worth dealing with an interface that was worse than Stitcher, Downcast, or even the Apple Podcast app. Luminary's problem is the

I don't want to pay

[CohibaVancouver]

A few podcasts I listened to went to Luminary, but I didn't want to pay so I just stopped listening and moved on to something else.

One of them left Luminary and is free again (and ad-supported) so I went back to it.

I realize Luminary is only $60 per year or whatever, but it's a death by a thousand cuts - Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Disney and whatever else I'm forgetting.... I just don't want to add on yet another monthly charge. ,

Re:I don't want to pay

[Archangel Michael]

This!

Global Demand for "Subscription" services makes it much easier to cut the cruft and focus on the things that we're really valuing or otherwise can get elsewhere for Free. Even the bigger companies are looking to enhance revenue streams are having a hard time getting the economics to work right. Even YouTube is cutting ties with independent content creators to try to shore up ad revenues (lower supply).

The problem is that with a wealth of content being produced from high cost "production value" content to your average joe looking to carve out some niche somewhere. It is going to get even worse as we're more able to create "high quality" content for less and less expense. Processors can do so much right now, that we've got Deep Fakes running in Zoom Rooms all over the place, simply because "we can".

When the novelty wears off, what are you left with. A bunch of junk with a few rare gems mixed in. Podcasting has no real value, considering anyone can now produce 4K streams with off the shelf components. The Creators / Producers / Content Platforms / Publishers are going to have to come to grips that they are competing in an increasingly competitive market.

See also Quibi for exactly the same problem. And also why the elites don't understand they aren't elite any longer.

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[Sl1pStream]

For me it's not even a matter of paying. I have the disposable income and currently follow two Patreons that release podcasts. Luminary has several podcasts that interest me and even lowered their prices not too long ago. But the moment I'm told I have to use an exclusive app to access them I lose interest. I subscribe to too many podcasts already and can't be bothered switching between several competing apps.

Spotify's podcasts are all free, and I still seldom use the app to access their exclusives. If eith

Let me use my own Podcasting App

[DeAxes]

The main issue I take with Luminary, one of the main issues that sets it apart from a Patreon feed, which I do pay for, is the ability to use my own podcasting app. You'll find a lot of users are very loyal to their brand of podcasting app. In my case, PocketCasts.
Luminary needs to let up the reigns of control to allow users to use their own podcasting apps, likely with a dedicated feed like Patreon does.
Just my two cents.