KSL Podcasts’ ‘Cold’ Turns Listener Loyalty Into Subscription Revenue.

One of true crime podcasting’s established investigative franchises is adding subscriptions to its revenue mix, as Bonneville’s KSL Podcasts-produced “Cold” launches its first premium membership offering through Red Seat Ventures’ Supercast.

The “Cold Insider Club” gives paying members ad-free listening, early access to new episodes, exclusive bonus content and direct access to investigative journalist and host Dave Cawley through subscriber Q&As and a monthly live hangout.

The move gives “Cold” a direct-to-listener revenue stream alongside advertising while creating a closer connection with some of the show’s most engaged fans. Founding members will pay $3.99 per month, a 20% discount that will be locked in for life for the first 1,000 subscribers. An annual option offers an additional 17% savings, while gift subscriptions are also available.

The subscription launch comes as podcast creators and networks increasingly look beyond advertising alone for revenue, using premium content, memberships and direct fan relationships to diversify their businesses.

Launched in 2018, “Cold” takes a single missing-person case each season and examines it through original investigative reporting. The podcast is now in its fourth season, “Blamed on Bundy: The Disappearance of Nancy Baird,” which reexamines a 1975 disappearance long attributed to serial killer Ted Bundy. Previous seasons have investigated the disappearance of Susan Powell, the search for justice for Joyce Yost and the disappearance of Sheree Warren amid domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Fox-owned Red Seat Ventures acquired the subscription platform Supercast earlier this year. It provides creators with the infrastructure to sell subscriptions while maintaining a direct relationship with their audiences. Premium offerings can include ad-free episodes, bonus audio and video and members-only communities. Subscribers can access premium programming through Supercast’s mobile app or continue listening through their preferred podcast player.

Podcast fans have proved loyal to shows and hosts, and data released earlier this year by Edison Research found 21% of weekly podcast consumers age 13 and older said they have given money to support a podcast in the last 12 months. Nearly half (47%) did so to support a host, while more than a third (36%) of weekly podcast consumers who gave money in the last 12 months did so to become a member for exclusivity.

Red Seat Ventures says the top 10 podcasters using Supercast collectively generate more than $26 million annually from podcast subscriptions, illustrating the potential for direct listener payments to become a meaningful complement to advertising.

For “Cold,” the model goes beyond simply putting an ad-free version of the podcast behind a paywall. The Insider Club also uses Cawley’s relationship with listeners as part of the subscription proposition, giving members opportunities to interact directly with the journalist behind the investigations.