Ricky Gervais done with (free) podcasting
As many of you know, the beginning of this week means the end of Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant, and Carl Karl Pilkinton’s free podcast. They promised and delivered on a free series of 12 podcasts, which have been frequently hilarious.
However, they announced they will continue the podcast next week, but it won’t be free. He said there will be a “small fee” to download the future episodes. No word on what the cost would be, but that it will be available through iTunes.
How much can they charge per podcast for this to remain successful? How many of you will continue to listen to the show now that it’s not free of charge?
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I’ll definately be buying any future podcasts, so long as the fee isn’t as ’small’ as Karl’s round head. Not an iTunes user though, so I’ll have to find out how else to source them.
Luc on February 20th, 2006 11:28 am
hmm i love the show but i’m noz going to pay. makes me sad.
Alexander on February 20th, 2006 11:45 am
I have paid for the subscription to the next series. At least 4 more episodes and it cost me £3.50. Check out his website www.rickygervais.com
As far as Im concerned you cant argue with the price. It’s a quality podcast and will keep you smiling. Priceless.
Daniel on February 20th, 2006 12:04 pm
They’ve put a link up at rickygervais.com. It’s coming from Audible.com and will be $6.95 for at least 4 episodes. Bummer! Not paying.
MattM on February 20th, 2006 12:27 pm
I would buy them. Except my ear-drums no longer work after hearing Ricky’s laugh!!
Colin D. Devroe on February 20th, 2006 1:39 pm
i just wonder what will evolve to be the best method when dealing wiht micropayments and podcasts.
monthly subscriptions, paying per episode… etc.
caleb on February 20th, 2006 6:54 pm
I have paid for it already too. It is sad though. I don’t mean the fact that they are charging for it, I find that quite wonderful actually, direct artistic capitalism, you pay the artists (almost) directly, they have complete control of the content and take the vast majority of the profit, no advertisers, no media corporation, no bullshit, and the price is very reasonable for such a heaping spoonful of entertainment, I mean you pay twice the monthly podcast fee to see one film. No, what is sad is that I don’t have the choice of paying for the podcast or not, I’m simply addicted to it like smack so I have to do it.
aaron on February 22nd, 2006 1:19 am
That seems like a fair price, and hopefully they will go above and beyond the four episodes like they are hinting. I might just have to suck it up, Dilkington is just too damn funny.
Chris Fehnel on February 23rd, 2006 6:03 pm
Pay Per Podcast (Ricky Gervais)
I heard recently that Guardian Unlimited | Ricky Gervais | Ricky Gervais podcast will soon become a paid download.
Nick Mailer, web host for the Ricky Gervais podcast: “Podcasts are to radio what blogs are to newspapers”.
There was a st…
Cloudlands on February 24th, 2006 7:28 am
fans of the podcasts might not know that theres a whole heap of ricky steve and karl available on XFM website. all for free.
season 1 and 2 are downloadablw but the early years archive has to be listened to on stream. u can hear when the guys first met Karl and from week to week he becomes more confident and integral to the show. its more natural and much funnier.
somwe of the stuff that seems spontaneously said on the podcasts is already said on these sesssions. Hours and hours of fun. here Ricky ‘Burst’ with laughter at a genuinely idiotic karl.
sundance on February 27th, 2006 12:20 pm
Thanks sundance for the XFM tip.
Does anyone know where I can get episodes 1-7 of the show. All the links I have found all point to the official site and it looks like episodes 1-8 have been taken down. Anyone know of another source?
Steelguin on February 28th, 2006 1:23 pm
I love the show, but to be quite honest, although its a reasonable price, I simply can’t afford it, when it comes to other things I need. It’s a shame, Ricky…
Tadgh Bird on February 28th, 2006 7:12 pm
Whether it’s $2, or 2¢, the problem is not that Ricky is charging, the problem is that it begins to set a precedent for any podcast that comes along with mild success to charge listeners. This will of course, be based on Ricky’s download numbers in the future.
The cash model should be left to Satellite Radio and not begin to worm it’s way into this medium.
The simplest advertising model was already explored in the last few episodes of the free Gervais show — with Karl and Ricky both doing ad spots for night British TV. It would seem to be the best, yet largely untested, means of making cash through a podcast.
The ‘charge-per-download’ model is very dangerous in the realm of podcasts. It will be the first step to government regulation of the medium. You can count on it.
Dave on March 1st, 2006 5:20 pm
I bought the first episode of the podcast in Audible’s “MP3″ quality thinking it would probably be the best, but it turns out the quality is only 32kbps mono! The fact that The Guardians FREE podcasts were 56kbps AAC mono, not much higher bitrate but much better quality.
I will certainly not be paying for any more.
James.
James on March 2nd, 2006 12:22 pm
Steelguin : here are the first 12 episodes of the free podcast…
Episode 01 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IU8OVNFQ
Episode 02 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RI4LUPKI
Episode 03 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CUMU8M3X
Episode 04 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DP3CWA9L
Episode 05 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NR2EITDK
Episode 06 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KX484SHM
Episode 07 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H4OOJRNW
Episode 08 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2BQM03AI
Episode 09 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4Q4STXEJ
Episode 10 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BO9LMFRP
Episode 11 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UUSR1IEY
Episode 12 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9345EXBO
Robert on March 5th, 2006 3:40 pm
Has anyone heard any of the latest podcasts and were they worth the money?
Chris Fehnel on March 10th, 2006 11:17 am
Not all the megaupload links above work. This site has some that are more reliable: http://yabanip.blogspot.com
malcolm forbes on March 12th, 2006 4:06 am
Hey, can anyone update the new ones on the web or this website for free? Is that possible….
Cheers
Kenaldo on January 17th, 2007 4:53 pm
download limewire for free and you can download pretty much any episode for free… even series 2 and 3.
FREEBIES on February 28th, 2007 12:13 am