From Accepting Money to Making Money

Clubhouse, the social audio app that enables users to listen and speak to each other in real-time, has 2 million weekly active users but has not generated any revenue yet. As of recently, Clubhouse partnered with Stripe to enable listeners to digitally tip creators. According to the site, “100% of the payment will go to the creator. The person sending the money will also be charged a small card processing fee, which will go directly to our payment processing partner, Stripe. Clubhouse will take nothing.” Well, if partnering with a fintech company isn't a part of the revenue model yet, how else can Clubhouse finally monetize its service? Here are my thoughts.

Collect Data

As mentioned in my previous article, the power is in the customer data. Clubhouse can leverage their new tip feature, to test users’ willingness to pay and determine potential new revenue generating services. Some key questions from the data that can offer value are as follows: What is the average tip size? What kind of content are users willing to tip for? Which creators are earning the most and what are the statistics on their rooms (eg: topic, length of sessions, average number of listeners, tip nudges)? Understanding what incentivizes listeners to willingly offer payment and the value for creators can reveal the paid services that will excite users.

Offer Premium Services

For creators, Clubhouse can expand the tip feature by enabling speakers to offer exclusive content to their fans in paid rooms with a one-time entry fee or as part of a subscription. The creator can select their own price and Clubhouse can take a percentage.

Listeners can pay to have the option to pin/save certain parts of the conversation or the entire session. They can also have the option to see a full transcript or summary of the highlights.

Sell Advertisements

Brands can sponsor rooms as a sales strategy or to receive direct customer feedback. The sessions will show up on users’ feeds based on their preferences or engagement history. In these rooms, listeners can gain early access to product releases, have the opportunity to hear the story behind the brand and share their thoughts.

All of the top social networks started with a large number of users without monetizing initially, but eventually the opportunity became clear. Twitter makes its money from data licensing and advertising and they made $1 billion in just the first quarter of 2021. The key for Clubhouse would be to adjust to the shift in consumer interest. As Clubhouse gained its popularity during the pandemic, when everyone was looking for new things to do while stuck at home, it needs to ensure its value proposition remains relevant in the sea of other social networks.

-Kiswana