Alexander Zwerner

Kickback

 
 

Kickback

Timeline • Role

April 2022 - February 2023 • Personal Project

ProbleM

Currently, many top podcasts struggle to monetize their rabid fanbases. This under monetization has held back the entire industry for the last 10 years.

Solution

Through creating a NFT & Web3 based podcast player we can help hosts fully monetize their audiences and hyper grow their viewership through rewards.

Part 1: Understanding the problem

To delve deeper into the issue, I conducted extensive research into the podcasting landscape, analyzing how content creators struggled to convert their passionate followers into sustainable revenue streams. I also investigated the potential impact of integrating NFTs and Web3 technology into the podcasting realm through helping with a number of Web3 podcasts in the space. Through this research, I uncovered that the podcast industry faced a significant hurdle in terms of monetization, with many creators unable to fully capitalize on their dedicated fanbases.

Part 2: Coming up with ideas and solutions

In the brainstorming phase, the focus was on finding innovative ways to bridge the gap between podcast creators and their audiences, while leveraging the power of NFTs and Web3. A variety of ideas and solutions were explored to address the monetization challenge and boost audience engagement:

  1. Tokenized Listener Participation: We explored the concept of allowing listeners to purchase or earn tokens that could be used to unlock exclusive podcast content, participate in live Q&A sessions, and access behind-the-scenes material.

  2. NFT Collectibles: The idea of creating limited-edition podcast-related NFT collectibles was discussed, which listeners could purchase to show their support for their favorite shows and gain access to unique perks.

  3. Subscriber Rewards: To incentivize fan engagement, we brainstormed the implementation of reward systems that provided subscribers with NFT-based benefits, such as early access to episodes, special episodes, or even merchandise discounts.

  4. Fan-Host Interactions: A central aspect was enabling direct interactions between podcast hosts and their fans through token-based mechanisms, potentially offering personalized shout-outs or virtual meet-and-greet sessions.

Part 3: DECIDING + PROTOTYPING

After careful evaluation of the ideas generated, we narrowed down the features that held the most potential for solving the monetization challenge. The prototyping process began, focusing on creating a user interface that was user-friendly, intuitive, and seamlessly integrated with NFTs and Web3 technology. Visual mockups were developed to illustrate how the NFT-based podcast player would function and how listeners could interact with it.

Part 4: ROUND OF TESTING AND IMPROVEMENTS

To gauge the effectiveness and usability of the prototype, a round of testing was conducted involving podcast enthusiasts and content creators. Their feedback was instrumental in refining the user experience, ensuring that the NFT-based podcast player met the needs and expectations of both creators and listeners.

Through this iterative process, several key design choices emerged for the final version:

  1. Abstracting Web3: At the time it was pretty much unheard of to abstract away Web3 technology. However, with podcast listeners being primarily older I decided it was best if we abstracting away as much as possible. Ultimately this led to design choices such as - google log in, collecting episodes (instead of buying NFTs), and custodial rewards (instead of direct to wallet crypto rewards).

  2. Clean design: With Kickback we really just wanted the tech and audio impress the user for us. So to best do this we made the design as clean and minimal as possible in order to help get the design out of the way for the user.

Reflections

I learned a lot with this project. Ultimately the biggest takeaway I found from this project was that no matter what the tech may be (AI, crypto, etc.) we as designers should do as much as possible to just abstract away the complexities and make the value prop of the new tech shine through our designs.