Last year we ran some market research about the Mayo News football podcast, to test the waters about ideas we were tossing around about developing more content for our listeners and how best to do this. This is a topic we’ve thought long and hard about over several months and we’re now delighted to unveil our plans for 2022.
Our aim all along has been to develop the podcast so that we can make it a better and more varied experience for our listeners and to do this in a way that’s sustainable for us into the future. The only way to do this is to secure funding to support the work we need to do and much of our thinking over the last while has revolved around this important issue.
We’ve now decided – as so many others who produce podcasts have too – that a monthly subscription model based on the Patreon platform is the best way to go. That doesn’t mean we’re simply retreating behind a paywall, as podcast episodes will still continue to be available for free, but it does mean that those who choose to support us by becoming club members via Patreon will gain access to a whole swathe of new services.
Members of our Patreon podcast club will get early access (typically up to 24 hours in advance) to those podcast episodes that will remain free to access for everyone else but club members will also get access to exclusive subscription-only podcast episodes.
Club membership will also get you access to our match-day Discord chats – which we trialled successfully with a number of friendly users for the Galway game last week – in which you’ll be able to message directly with the podcast team and get up-to-the-minute match-day information as it comes available to us.
We’re also looking at other services that we have on our ‘to do’ list and we hope to be unveiling details of these to our club members over the next while.
Tomorrow sees us take the first step along this road. We’ll be releasing our Colm Boyle special episode of the podcast and, at the same time, we’ll also be releasing an extended interview with Colm which will be exclusively available to Patreon club members. You’ll be able to sign up for club membership tomorrow too, at a cost of €5 per month.
Further details will be posted here and on our podcast social media channels tomorrow ahead of the release of these two podcast episodes telling you all you need to know about becoming a club member of our Patreon service.
Where, you might ask, does all this leave the blog? For now, it remains where it always was but it’s still worth pointing out that it’s heading on this journey too and there will also be changes to how the blog operates over the next while. These changes will be well flagged in advance and there’s nothing in the works in that regard over the short-term.
Realistically, I’m not going to be able to keep the blog going myself indefinitely. I started it when I was in my mid-forties and I’m due to hit sixty later this year. My aim now is to keep the best elements of the blog in place into the future on a sustainable basis and any changes to the blog as it currently exists will be made with this aim in mind.
For now, the changes all relate to the podcast and tomorrow is the start of an exciting new direction for us. We hope as many of you as possible will join us on this journey as club members and we look forward to welcoming our new club members on board over the coming weeks.
good luck to all on the new model. Even though i will not be subscribing I hope it is a success.
Both the blog and the podcast take alot of time and money to keep the show on the road. Any return is well deserved
Good luck with the venture Willie Joe. Out of interest, is there any reason you all settled on the name Patreon?
That’s just the platform we’re using, Travelling Wilbury, so it’s not a name we came up with. It’s the main subscription platform for podcasts and related services.
Good luck with this new venture, Willie Joe and all. The podcasts have been wonderful.
I’ll read more tomorrow with interest.
Very exciting, congrats. I don’t give my services away for free so totally understand.
So how much is that in US $??? Lol
After 15 odd years of giving your “time” plus the support of others I can see the logic behind this. Your time can’t always be free, it is limited after all. I would have maybe explored (I’m sure you you did) furthering the sponsorship route rather than subscription based with Patreon but that’s where you’ve settled.
€5 a month seems fair but paying €5 a month is the challenge.
I will support it as I respect what the blog has done and it’s reach is fantastic. I don’t always agree with the comments section but that’s why it’s there.
From a county perspective the season is now much shorter with a July wrap up assuming we make it to the final again (let’s win this time). The blog is more than just county to be fair.
Best of luck, hope the subscription numbers work.
League not far away, real year begins again.
Best of luck with it,I have thought for a long time that you were too generous with your time,can we pay a yearly subscription?
It’s great to see the podcast and blog developing further and we’re very fortunate to have this service. If you stand still you’re regressing, so like everything else in life we need to move with the times.
Very best of luck with it.
Best of luck with it Willie Joe I will be subscribing as this blog has given me great pleasure over the years. Im.familar with Patreon as i already subscribe to another very imformative blog as well that uses Patreon.
Good luck with it, I’ll be subscribing
Good luck with this venture Willie Joe.
Count me in?
That question mark above ,was meant to be a thumb s up sign
Thanks Willie Joe for such a wonderful blog. It gives us such joy reading all the blogs every day and I just love the podcasts. I certainly have no hesitation in subscribing. Keep up the good work Willie Joe and thanks also to all the wonderful bloggers out there.
Best of luck with it Willie Joe, I’ll be subscribing! I don’t often comment on here but login a few times every day of the year, it’s a fantastic resource, although I was a a bit deflated after September, the new year has brought new hope and the dream lives on strong as ever. Lots of new young lads have built up great experience over past 2 years, Jason Doc, Cillian, Brendan Harrison all returning, lots to look forward to. One day we will bring home Sam. Looking forward to trip to Sligo in 2 weeks! Happy new year all!! Congrats again Willie Joe with the new venture.
The 42.ie have finally revealed the 3rd secret of Fatima ! Oisin got covid just before boarding plane to Australia, that’s the reason he didn’t travel. It gives a link to a Geelong radio station which interviewed the Ceo of Geelong and he explained the story . Let that be the end of that wild goose chase.
At 13.20 of the below the geelong CEO pours cold water on Oisin staying with mayo and clarifies the situation.
https://audioboom.com/posts/8013409-pre-match-interview-steve-hocking-geelong-ceo
That seems pretty certain hes away so , good luck to him and all that , still cant deny as a supporter its very disappointing .
@Stephen Cowley, someone should have told James Horan and he could just have put it to bed instead of implying that he was still undecided.
Seems certain now alright. Best of luck to him. We’ll move on without him and have plenty of other talented players. Sickening blow for Mayo all the same but we knew that last November.
I dunno, the geelong CEO obviously wants it to happen, but he admitted mayo are trying to keep him. Who’s to say that won’t ultimately be successful…
I have this feeling that Padraig Joyce has a pep in his step this year.
My heart says he’s staying but head says he’s going based on that interview.
Best of luck to Oisin with whatever decision he makes.
As crazy as it sounds, I still don’t think Mullin to the AFL is a done deal. The AFL man didn’t sound overly convincing, it’s not Covid that’s keeping him here, the rumours and doubts have been going around for months about him staying put. Until he is pictured in a Geelong or Mayo jersey, the rumours will go on.
@Mayo88
Unless Galway get promoted from division 2 or win a connaught title Padraig Joyce has no reason to have a pep in his step yet.
@Willie Joe,Best of luck with the move to Patreon.
The blog has been an important part of the whole excitement and enjoyment of following Mayo over the years.Its an amazing endeavour and all the more so when we consider the time and effort that goes into it (most like me probably don’t even realise the extent of the time and effort)
I’ll happily subscribe and I’d expect many others will too.
Has Jason Doc or Harrison being playing any Club Football recently , would they be ready for Donegal game,
Not sure Mullin is gone yet been doubts for months etc vague interview at the all star awards so must be something going on behind the scenes
There’s more to the Mullin story than covid. Rumours going round long before this that there was uncertainty around the move.
I think the Geelong CEO is just hedging his bets with those few lines on the Oisin situation.
Basically he’s coming to Australia and if he doesn’t then his home club/team were trying very hard to keep him.
He’s covered all bases.
Also important to note that the whole of the Geelong support are not hanging on every word on this situation like we are here.
I wouldn’t pay much heed to what any Australian ceo has to say, especially where covid is concerned
Best of luck with the new venture WJ. I’ll be subscribing.
The whole Mullin saga is bizarre. Some are convinced he’s now staying in Mayo, yet the Geelong guy reckons it’s just a temporary Covid enforced delay.
To be fair to everyone the Mullin situation needs to be clarified from the Mayo GAA side one and for all – it’s gone on too long. Like some posters I’m not fully convinced by the Geelong CEO – the bottom line is we need to hear from Mayo or Mullin himself…and quickly. This boil needs to be lanced once and for all.
Go neiri leath WJ. I will support your new venture. Will the blog be free and we will be paying for the Podcasts?
Athbliain faoi mhaise daoibh.
Mhuigeo Abu!
WJ – you should line up an exclusive interview with Oisín and put it behind the paywall. The subscriptions will go through the roof.
Best of luck with the new venture.
I wholeheartedly disagree with any comment placing any pressure on Oisín Mullin. Mayo GAA have no right to expect this decision to be made quickly by Oisín and his family.
As I have said already, professional sport is a cutthroat business. Huge dollops of luck are required by guys to make it, and those professional clubs will drop guys like hot potatoes if it suits them.
So let Oisín take his time. Maybe Covid has given him a chance to step back and make the decision with less pressure on him.This will be a life-defining decision. He is a very young lad. Think about what his parents much be feeling right now. They will miss him terribly if he goes, but they want what is best for him. All Mayo supporters should think of it in exactly the same way.
I hope he makes the right decision for his own sake, and that whatever he decides works out.
I think we should all relax about Oisin. I.wish he would stay in Mayo but the way I look at it Oisin is going to Geelong and if he doesnt go thats a bonus but i fully expect him to go.he owes us nothing and doesn’t need to release statements or anything like that we will know when we know. Im sure James Horan is planning full steam ahead without him. I wish Oisin and his family well.
Oilean acla – the move to Patreon only relates to the podcast, nothing is changing with the blog for now. I’m still trying to figure out how best to ensure the blog can keep going in some form into the future and what we’re doing on the podcast is relevant to this but for now it’s business as usual here on the blog.
Also, it’s worth pointing out that many podcast episodes will still be available free as they have been up to now but club members will get access to these episodes earlier and they’ll also get exclusive access to bonus episodes as well as to other new features, such as the match-day group chats on Discord, online events and, in time, live events too.
Galway and ros looked sharp last night but I’m not sure about the dome surface in the context can ya take it as reality ,it seems different than a real game of football.
Best of luck with the patreon wj.
On the Mullin thing, we have absolutely no right to know what he does. People saying this has dragged on too long and needs clarifying….it’s absolutely none of our business. Whatever happens, best of luck to him.