Audiobooks Versus Podcasts

The Law of Business Model Distribution

There are two fundamental questions to ask here:

First, why do these distinct formats emerge in the first place? Second, why do they ultimately converge?

The answer to both is what I refer to as The Law of Business Model Distribution . It states: Formats are defined by available business models. And business mode

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And so why do we continue to delineate between the two formats of audiobooks and podcasting, and how much longer will that delineation survive? In response to that question about the future of the formats, my response typically went something like this: “In the future there won’t be audiobooks or podcasts. There will just be audio.”

The forced separ

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Content only survives and proliferates if creators are able to generate meaningful revenue. Feature films can justify their production costs because theaters can charge the price of admission. YouTubers can justify their production costs because of the ability to generate ad revenue. Content that cannot unlock monetization at scale cannot survive (

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Now we get to the second part of the law: Business models need distribution. Without the ability to reach an audience, a business model cannot unlock demand and therefore fizzles out. There’s survivorship bias here; the only content that we know about and can pay for is that which has managed to reach us as consumers. Business models needs distribu

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