Broadcaster Eoin McDevitt and his four colleagues from the Second Captains podcast shared a production fee pay pot of €555,000 last year, according to its latest accounts.
The accounts for 2021 show that connected companies owned by McDevitt, Ken Early, Ciaran Murphy, Simon Hick and Mark Horgan were each paid €111,000 in fees for production work carried out on behalf of Second Captains Ltd last year.
The €111,000 paid in fees was a 24 per cent increase on the €83,000 each received during pandemic-hit 2020.
The five colleagues also shared an additional €72,000 in directors’ pay last year – an average of €14,400 each.
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In 2021, the company’s cash funds more than doubled from €115,517 to €239,070.
After the payout to the directors and other costs, the company recorded a modest profit of €2,966 for the year. Accumulated profits at the end of last year stood at €44,471.
The five each hold a 20 per cent share in the company, which generates the bulk of its revenues from paying subscribers.
The accounts state that the principal activity of the company is online content, radio, television and live event production.
The podcast launched its paid subscription service in February 2017 and in the first day it attracted 2,500 subscribers. Subscribers pay €5 per month plus VAT for a range of podcasts. Revenues from the paying subscribers have allowed the company to carry out longer-term investigative projects like its highly acclaimed series Where Is George Gibney? for BBC Sounds.
The Second Captains team originally produced and presented the Off The Ball sports show on Newstalk for eight years, winning nine PPI national radio awards during that time. They left the station in 2013 and subsequently moved to The Irish Times before going independent in 2017.
Commenting on the success of the Second Captains podcast, the chief executive of Sport for Business, Rob Hartnett, said: “The success of any media comes down to the content. Theirs is relevant to the audience, consistent in terms of when it comes out, and always of high quality.”
“They have succeeded in securing a place on people’s individual media habits. That’s the key.”
“There is a huge wealth of podcast material, much of it free or sponsored but the key to monetising is to be original and to find a niche.
“Sport is tribal and the Second Captains have created a tribe that will follow them while paying a relatively small amount.”
