Big news: Clubhouse is valued at $4B roughly one year after launching.
What is Clubhouse? Clubhouse is an audio-based social app where users host their own radio show.
Key details for Clubhouse:
1) Launched in March 2020
2) 10M+ downloads
3) Invite only
4) iPhone only
Clubhouse valuation history according to Bloomberg:
1) May-20 – $100M
2) Jan-21 – $1B
3) Apr-21 – $4B
Clubhouse user growth according to Backlinko:
1) May-20 – 1.5K
2) Dec-20 – 600K
3) Jan-21 – 2M
4) Feb-21 – 10M
Big question #1: How will Clubhouse make money?
Four primary revenue streams (as of now) for Clubhouse:
1) Cut of admission fee to rooms
2) Membership dues
3) Tips
4) Branded sponsorships for rooms
Smart take: The team at SparrowAdvisors refers to Clubhouse as “the first post-advertising social platform.”
Big question #2: Who are potential competitors?
Potential competitors for Clubhouse:
1) Twitter (Spaces)
2) Facebook (Live Audio Rooms)
3) Slack
4) Discord
5) LinkedIn
6) Spotify
Big question #3: What is the difference between Clubhouse and podcasts?
Quick answer: Clubhouse is live and interactive. It is not hard to see a world where the live show with audience interaction lives on as an on-demand podcast.
Quote from Ben Thompson – Author/Founder @ Stratechery:
“This is not to say that Clubhouse means the doom of podcasts; quite the opposite, in fact. Radio and recordings had a symbiotic relationship: you heard the new song or artist on the radio, and then you bought their record or CD. It is easy to imagine Clubhouse and podcasts having a similar relationship, at least in part; one important difference is that while radio was scarce, by virtue of its dependence on broadcast towers, Clubhouse, thanks to its ease-of-use, will in the long run likely produce far more audio content than the podcast ecosystem. That makes the discovery and recommendation bits noted above particularly important.”
More #1: The Next Phase of Social? Listen Closely
More #2: Facebook’s Audio Announcements, Facebook and Creators
