Notes on Clubhouse: 3 methods to monetization

Clubhouse is a new audio-driven social media application. The app allows you to broadcast or join in with a group of friends or an interesting subject. It has a lot of social aspects that also encourage involvement from your friends and the community. The company has no obvious path to profitability and faces significant challenges in the future. Here

Given they have no clear path to profitability, here are five ways they can carve out plans to eventually generate revenue:

1. The Clubhouse App should allow more than 5000 limited to run and restrictions on rebroadcasting so members can charge for entry and clubhouse can monetize by taking a percentage of “Entry Fee”:
   • This revenue model would further incentivize high-profile users with lots of followers to generate income for their expertise. This could be done as an in-app purchase.
2. Third-Party partnerships including with Educational Institutions:
   • This would allow Professors the opportunity to teach classes and Clubhouse can benefit from the sale of courses through its app. This would be a high-ticket item as semester/quarter long courses would bring thousands per user. Most notably language courses appear to be the most compatible with the app. Highly visual subjects would not apply here.
3. Premium version of the app: Would allow users to:
   • Search for users while in a room
   • Allows one-to-one conversations without the use of a private room
   • Allows you to sort users in rooms alphabetical or by number of followers
   • External links take you directly to the room the conversation is being held in

The road to profitability is not evenly paved and full of roadblocks but it’s still possible without advertising!