Huberman Lab's Journey to Listener-Supported Success

Podcast: Huberman Lab

Hosts: Dr. Andrew Huberman

What’s it about: Regularly ranked as the #1 health podcast in the world, Dr. Huberman discusses science and science-based tools for everyday life.
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Launched in January 2021, the Huberman Lab podcast saw a meteoric rise to the top of the charts, frequently ranked in the top 15 podcasts globally and consistently ranked #1 in the categories of science, education, and health and fitness.

“Our mission has always been to provide zero-cost information about science and science-related tools,” said Dr. Andrew Huberman. “With that said, an extraordinary number of people reached out to us to ask how they could support our mission of teaching science and science related tools and, in particular, how they could support the foundational scientific research we talk about on Huberman Lab.”

The answer was to turn to a listener-supported premium strategy. The Huberman Lab team first experimented with Patreon, but quickly realized they needed a more bespoke solution that would provide a premium listener experience while maintaining the integrity of their brand.

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In collaboration with the Supercast team, Huberman Lab unveiled a new premium offering in October of 2022 featuring:

• Deeper access to Dr. Huberman: Using the Ask Me Anything feature built into the Supercast platform, Dr. Huberman is able to answer questions submitted by his members. Members can also upvote others’ questions, get notified of new answers, and access the full archive of previous replies.
  The Huberman Lab team publishes AMA samples on their public podcast feed and YouTube channel. This not only provides additional value to their public audience, but is also their top source of new members.‍
• Exclusive access to events: Premium members get invites to members-only live streams and advance access to live shows.‍
• Support for science: Since launching on Supercast, along with a dollar-for-dollar match from the Tiny Foundation, contributions from premium members have allowed the Huberman Lab team to distribute over $500,000 to five separate research projects and to meaningfully support student fellowships. 

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“There are a number of platforms out there that will allow you to capture support from your audience,” said Ian Mackey, Vice President of Scicomm Media, the team behind Huberman Lab.

“Supercast focuses only on podcasting. They don't pretend to do anything else. This is clear in the quality of their product for both the podcaster and the listener. Supercast also goes above and beyond with unique features like AMA, integrations with your existing tech stack, and handling all customer support. They are quick to respond, which is crucial for us as we want our audience to have an amazing experience.”

“Our favorite part of working with Supercast has been collaborating with their team,” Mackey explained. “They have built an excellent culture, are incredibly receptive to feedback, and are always willing to meet to discuss any challenges or ideas for improvement.”

RESULTS

In Huberman Lab Premium’s first year on Supercast:

• The show’s member base exceeded growth expectations, growing 400% from the end of month one to the end of year one.
  

• The Huberman Lab team published their first annual letter, detailing over $500K in contributions to science. “We’re hoping to donate significantly more this coming year and in the years to come,” Mackey added.
  

• The majority of premium members said the main reason they signed up was to support the mission behind the show.

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Thanks to the continued support from Huberman Lab Premium members, Dr. Huberman and his team are able to successfully sustain no-cost access to science and science related tools for the long-term, while simultaneously offering increased value to those who are able to financially support the Huberman Lab mission.

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