Season 7, Episode 17: The New Economics of Building an Audience (with Danny Frankel)

On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Danny Frankel, the founder of Punchup Live, a digital platform and ticketing ecosystem built for stand-up comedians. We explore how the economics of content distribution and audience building are being fundamentally rewritten. Danny provides a unique perspective on the shifting landscape of social media, the rise of clipping farms, and the digitization of live entertainment markets. Among other things, we discuss: - How clipping farms and Discord communities are distorting organic distribution algorithms for independent creators across social media platforms - Whether the extreme efficiency of AI-driven content recommendation engines is leading to user burnout and eventual platform rejection - Why the traditional touring model is inverted for comedians compared to musicians and how that affects audience building strategies - What the phenomenon of blue dot fever reveals about shifting consumer behavior and transparency in the secondary ticketing market - If the current fragmentation of the live entertainment ecosystem prevents artists from accurately predicting and capturing true market demand - How the lack of audience portability across major social platforms forces creators to adopt direct-to-fan communication tools like email - When the innovator's dilemma will force legacy platforms to choose between advertiser needs and the long-term health of creators Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: - ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. - Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. - ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact [Mobile Dev Memo advertising](mailto:advertising@mobiledevmemo.com).