Swoot is now Podhero, an app trying to help podcasters get paid

Podhero was launched last week, on 4th of June, and the app has the mission to help podcast creators get paid. Subscribers pay $5.99 per month, and the subscription is divided and shared among the shows they choose to support. Before Podhero, the app was called Swoot, and it was social app for podcast listening.

Podhero says it will ask listeners to support Podhero for $1 per month ($4.99 for podcasts + $1 for Podhero), so it will not take a cut from the $4.99.
Podhero is now working with over with 1,000,000 active podcasts from more than 30 countries. If a podcast gets support from a listener, Podhero says it will email the podcaster.

Podhero is trying to solve a problem: it is really hard to make money. Pete Curley, cofounder of Podhero, wrote that 97.2% of Active Podcasts Make $0. He says that podcasts usually make money with advertisements or listener support, and that only 1.4% of podcasts (14,000 shows) have ads or sponsors, as 99% of podcasts are too small for ads.

A problem that Spotify is trying to solve with Anchor Sponsorships and Podcast Ads, or AdsWizz, by launching automated host-read audio ads.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, IAB and PwC US forecasted that in 2021 the podcast ad market will surpass $1 Billion in revenue.