Canuckflack

Ricky Gervais – the first podcaster to make serious coin?

// February 20th, 2006 //

Ricky Gervais may very well be the first true crossover MSM star.

His record-breaking series of podcasts sponsored by Guardian Unlimited is coming to an end, and he has let slip that a further series of the show will be available on iTunes and Audible – at $6.95 for “at least four episodes”.

After all, co-stars Ricky and Steve are famous, and Karl Pilkington needs the money. Not a lot – he just needs “something more than nothing.”

The Guinness Book of World Records came round last week to take the trio’s pictures. Makes sense, since their podcasts averaged over 250,000 downloads a week DURING THEIR FIRST MONTH.

Still, at that price it’ll be interesting to see by how large a proportion his listener numbers will drop.

I continue to be shocked at how backward North America remains when it comes to ancillary revenues for artists. In Britain, the BBC has struck a royalty deal with the Writers’ Guild for ring tones or voice clips delivered to mobile phones served by Orange.

5.6% of the sales price (which can go up to 3.5 pounds) will be hived off for the artists – which means Gervais stands to make up to 15p for each sale of clips from his work on “The Office.”