From “Launching” to “Crime Junkie,” Podcast Merch has become big business

The business of merchandise podcasts, in particular, is booming as more listeners want to show their loyalty to their chosen podcast through a t-shirt, mug or hood. Marisa Morales, head of merchandising for Stitcher, a conglomerate of podcasts, said sales of merchandise associated with Stitcher programs like “WTF with Marc Maron,” “Sklarbro Country” and “Freakonomics Radio” double approximately every year. He compared the excitement surrounding, say, a recently released cup of “The Office Ladies,” a podcast about passing comedy, to the frantic hype about the release of Air Jordan sneakers. Hundreds of cups of coffee can be sold out in a matter of hours.

This fervent commodity market has no parallels in traditional media. Newspapers and periodicals still sweeten subscription offers with gifts; many of us have languid New York bags in our closets or own the fleece “ESPN the Magazine” that was heavily advertised on television during the big moments. But podcast merchandise works as an independent phenomenon that sees listeners drop $ 30 just for a t-shirt or $ 60 for a hoodie. As Ms. Morales said, merch appeals because it makes a listener’s connection to a podcast tangible.

In that sense, the closest cousin to the merch podcast are the band t-shirts. Dita Cordelia, 24, a freelance video producer and dedicated podcast listener in Los Angeles, compared her Scriptnotes t-shirt (which denotes her devotion to a weekly script podcast) to the Morrissey t-shirt she wore to the high school. In both cases, he said, the T-shirts emit a privileged message (some would say hipster) that says, “Oh, you don’t know anything about it … you have to listen to it.”

And, like concert t-shirts, the podcast team allows listeners to return to their favorite sources of entertainment. “He’s supporting something I’m interested in,” said Corey Long, 40, a contract coordinator at an University of Atlanta who recently bought a t-shirt from the “How Long Gone” podcast, presented by two bros millennia older. (In the case of larger shows with a huge audience, ad sales, not merch, usually keep the microphones turned on.) Mr. Long admits that, unlike buying concert t-shirts while surrounded by a Amateur group, buying a podcast is not a “shared experience.” You are at home alone, listening in isolation.

This privacy bubble is key to the appeal of a podcast. Ms. Cordelia of Los Angeles said last year she started listening to podcasts instead of radio to stay calm while traveling. The podcasts, he said, “made me want to listen to friends talking easily compared to Ryan Seacrest who told me at eight in the morning to listen to this rap song.” This intimacy offers an escapism that some listeners have especially enjoyed during the frantic past year. As it can be said, last holiday season, Mrs. Cordelia and her friends bought podcast t-shirts, instead of band t-shirts as in the past, reflecting their changing listening habits.

As for the design printed on a podcast t-shirt, “the more you joke, the better,” said Ms. Morales of Stitcher, the retailer where Podswag.com allows you to buy scratch-off t-shirts that say “Cheese Side.” Down ’or“ Don’t be an irony. ”Only listeners who download“ The Sporkful ”or“ The Murder Squad, ”respectively, will really laugh at these t-shirts.

The t-shirt that Mr. Long bought to riffs from “How Long Gone” in a cover design of an obscure punk record. The painful niche reference of the t-shirt helped him identify with the show’s hosts: “The podcast is of two aged hardcore punk types. And I’m also an aged hardcore punk guy. ” So far no one was able to send in the perfect solution, which is not strange.

Fostering a community through merchandise is certainly one of the goals of the program. “We want to build the‘ How Long Gone ’universe,” co-host Chris Black said. After tossing a pair of t-shirts and reference bags, he and fellow host Jason Stewart partner with Tinker, an Indianapolis-based coffee maker. to release a can of cold coffee called “Mudd,” the term Mr. Black uses when talking about coffee on the show.

This caffeine plan symbolizes how podcasts flourish in life marks in every way. “The Office Ladies” sells blankets, backpacks, frisbees, and a stapler appropriately (get it, “The Office”). “The Last Podcast on the Left,” a comedy show about crime, has launched an already sold-out cruise bike with New York’s Priority Bikes. And “This Podcast Will Kill You,” which focuses topically on disease and epidemiological concerns, has sold its own signature soap.

At first, not all podcast customers are engaged in linking. Unaware that he was connected to a program, 38-year-old Dan Christansen, who works in marketing in Philadelphia, recently received a bag he had seen on Instagram from the New York basketball podcast “Cookies Hoops.” (An ironic parody of the classic New York tote, the $ 35 bag shows Eustace Tilley spinning a basketball.) After appearing on the show’s site, Mr. Christansen bought a T-shirt, featuring Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid of the NBA caricatured as Beavis & Butthead and the phrase “Practice Sucks” on the front. While the t-shirt relates again to the topics covered on the show, Mr. Christansen sees it as an “independent piece” rather than as a “badge” indicating that he listens to the podcast.

Some podcasts are even pushing their market into the realm of luxury. In recent months, “Throwing Fits,” a cult fashion podcast of the year, has partnered with Italian shoe brand Diemme in $ 300 olive suede Chelsea boots and American shoe brand Blackstock & Weber in $ 295 bank loafers. Each of the shoe designs sold “hundreds of pairs,” said co-host James Harris.

Alex Green, a 21-year-old college student in Amherst, Massachusetts, was one of those who bought Chelsea boots. Given his budget, the shoes were an investment, but he trusted both hosts. “They’re great taste builders … They’re guys you turn to for advice on fashion,” he said. “And there aren’t many people to turn to for advice on fashion.”

For the hosts, choosing a tangible, exclusive product to sell surely required more effort than just barking a few hot exits. The co-hosts wanted listeners to be “satisfied with what they’ve spent their money on,” said Lawrence Schlossman, Harris ’crime partner. They considered different samples and tested the wear of the boots and moccasins for months before throwing them away. This process changed “Throwing Dresses” from a simple merchandise operation to something that came close to private label clothing. Mr Schlossman said: “When we are in handkerchief mode or we are in boot mode, it is as if I no longer feel a sheath. I feel like we’re a brand. “

Write to Jacob Gallagher to [email protected]