Podcast incubation studio SemaBOX earnings surpass Sh5 million mark

Media start-up SemaBox has announced it made more than Sh5.5 million ($48,000) in revenues from its content network.

The firm said the earnings represent a major leap forward in the commercial viability of digital media and especially podcasts.

The SemaBox creator network has grown in the last two years to over 200 individual creators who have produced more than 500 episodes and endless hours of content.

Founder and CEO of SemaBox Mr Dan Aceda said the bulk of the Sh5.5 million earnings are through brand partnerships directly with the creators as well as earnings on content platforms such as YouTube (for the audiovisual podcasts), said the firm.

"SemaBox was built by creators and for creators. And so a large part of the work we do at SemaBox (after production) is the work we do to help creators earn revenue,” he said.  

“We help to structure business models and revenue plans and de-risk our creators (through incubation) so we can put them on the path to reliable revenue.”

The creator network size and the volume of episodes that have come out of SemaBox, added Mr Aceda, were a pointer that the media start-up may be “unofficially Africa’s largest podcasting hub.”

“In the last year, we have been focused on building our creator network. In fact, of all the podcasts that have been launched here at SemaBox, 20 per cent of them are now earning revenue.” he said.

“This is something we are proud of and we will continue to invest in creators.”