Harry Potter and the Podcaster's Stone

Posted on September 4, 2006

17-year-old Andrew Sims has become a podcasting star with his weekly Harry Potter podcast called MuggleCast that reaches 45,000 weekly listeners. The article quotes Ted Demopoulos, Fortune 500 consultant and author of What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting.

Demopoulos tells the McClatchy-Tribune, "There's a podcast for every niche, from Harry Potter to knitting. It can be produced so cheaply and easily, and most anyone can do it. All you need is a microphone, software and access to the Internet."

It may be easy to do but not all podcasts make money. The article says Sims and his teen co-hosts have managed to make money with the podcast. The podcast currently makes money from t-shirt sales and reading advertisements on the show according to a story in The Inquirer. GoDaddy is one of the current advertisers.

MuggleCast, which is part of the MuggleNet website, is not without competition. The article says the Leaky Cauldron's PotterCast is MuggleCast's closest rival. The Catholic Insider also has a Harry Potter podcast called the "The Secrets of Harry Potter." There was also a Potter related podcast called Harry Podder but it doesn't seem to be running anymore.