Clubhouse is a social audio app that allows users to join or host live conversations on various topics. It was launched in 2020 and quickly gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting millions of users and celebrities. However, in 2022, Clubhouse faced a decline in growth and engagement, as people returned to their normal lives and other platforms launched similar features. In this blog post, I will explore whether Clubhouse is still making profit in 2024, and share some tips on how to get more followers on the app.
How Clubhouse Makes Money?
Clubhouse does not generate any revenue from advertising or fees. Instead, it relies on three main sources of income:
- Donations: Clubhouse allows users to send money to their favorite creators on the app, as a way of showing appreciation and support. Clubhouse does not take any cut from these donations, but the payment providers may charge a small fee.
- Subscriptions: Clubhouse also enables users to subscribe to exclusive content from certain creators, such as podcasts, newsletters, or events. Clubhouse takes a 20% commission from these subscriptions, while the rest goes to the creators.
- Partnerships: Clubhouse has partnered with various brands and organizations to host sponsored rooms, events, or campaigns on the app. For example, Clubhouse collaborated with TED to bring TEDx talks to the app, and with Spotify to integrate music streaming into the app. Clubhouse earns a percentage of the revenue from these partnerships, depending on the terms and conditions.
How Clubhouse Spends Money?
Clubhouse has a lot of expenses to cover, such as:
- Development: Clubhouse has to constantly improve and update its app, to fix bugs, add new features, and enhance user experience. This requires a team of developers, designers, testers, and engineers, who need to be paid salaries and benefits.
- Infrastructure: Clubhouse has to maintain and scale its servers, databases, and cloud services, to handle the large amount of data and traffic on the app. This involves paying for hosting, bandwidth, storage, security, and backup solutions.
- Marketing: Clubhouse has to promote and market its app, to attract and retain users, creators, and partners. This involves spending on advertising, public relations, social media, events, and influencer marketing.
- Legal: Clubhouse has to deal with various legal issues, such as intellectual property, privacy, compliance, and moderation. This involves hiring lawyers, consultants, and advisors, who charge fees and expenses.
- Administration: Clubhouse has to manage its operations, finances, human resources, and customer support. This involves hiring managers, accountants, recruiters, and agents, who also need to be paid salaries and benefits.
Is Clubhouse Profitable in 2024?
According to some estimates, Clubhouse had over 10 million users and was valued at $4 billion in 2021. However, by 2024, Clubhouse had only 3.5 million active users and was valued at $2 billion. This means that Clubhouse lost more than half of its users and value in three years. What happened?
There are several factors that contributed to Clubhouse’s decline, such as:
- Competition: Clubhouse faced fierce competition from other social media platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify, and Facebook, who launched their own versions of live audio features. These platforms had larger and more established user bases, who preferred to use their familiar and integrated apps, rather than switching to a new and standalone app like Clubhouse.
- Innovation: Clubhouse failed to innovate and differentiate itself from its competitors, who offered more features, functions, and formats for live audio. For example, Twitter Spaces allowed users to share tweets, images, and emojis in their rooms, while Spotify Greenroom enabled users to play music and podcasts in their rooms. Clubhouse, on the other hand, remained focused on voice-only conversations, which limited its appeal and engagement.
- Regulation: Clubhouse faced various regulatory challenges, especially in countries where freedom of speech and expression were restricted or censored. For example, Clubhouse was banned in China, Iran, Oman, and UAE, due to its unfiltered and uncensored content, which violated the local laws and norms. Clubhouse also faced backlash from some governments and activists, who accused it of promoting misinformation, hate speech, and extremism, and demanded more moderation and accountability from the app.
Therefore, it is unlikely that Clubhouse is profitable in 2024, as its revenue is not enough to cover its expenses. Clubhouse may have to raise more funds from investors, cut costs, or explore new revenue streams, to survive and sustain its business.
How to Get More Followers on Clubhouse?
Despite its challenges, Clubhouse is still a valuable platform for connecting and communicating with people who share your interests, passions, and goals. If you want to grow your audience and influence on Clubhouse, here are some tips on how to get more followers on the app:
- Create a compelling profile: Your profile is the first impression you make on Clubhouse, so make sure it is clear, concise, and captivating. Use a high-quality photo, a catchy headline, and a relevant bio, to showcase your personality, expertise, and value proposition. Include keywords, emojis, and links, to optimize your profile for search and discovery.
- Join and host rooms: The best way to get noticed and followed on Clubhouse is to join and host rooms on topics that you are knowledgeable and passionate about. Participate actively, contribute value, and interact with other speakers and listeners, to build your credibility, authority, and rapport. Invite and welcome new users, moderate and manage your rooms, and follow up with your contacts, to grow your network and community.
- Collaborate with other creators: Another way to get more exposure and followers on Clubhouse is to collaborate with other creators who have similar or complementary niches, audiences, and goals. Co-host rooms, events, or clubs, with other creators, to cross-promote your content, reach new audiences, and leverage each other’s influence. Support and endorse each other, and provide feedback and testimonials, to strengthen your relationships and reputation.
- Promote your Clubhouse presence: To attract more followers to your Clubhouse profile, you need to promote your Clubhouse presence on other platforms and channels, where you have an existing or potential audience. Share your Clubhouse link, schedule, and highlights, on your website, blog, social media, email, podcast, or newsletter, to drive traffic and awareness to your Clubhouse profile. Use hashtags, tags, and mentions, to increase your visibility and engagement.
- Use TopSMM: TopSMM is a social media marketing panel that provides Clubhouse services, such as followers, invites, and listeners. You can use TopSMM to boost your Clubhouse profile, by buying Clubhouse followers as cheap as $0.45. This will help you increase your social proof, credibility, and popularity, and attract more organic followers to your Clubhouse profile. Or you can also use other SMM panels.
Clubhouse Guidelines
Before you start using Clubhouse, you should be aware of the Clubhouse guidelines, which are the rules and principles that govern the Clubhouse community. The Clubhouse guidelines are meant to help you understand:
- The principles that make Clubhouse a special place, such as authenticity, respect, diversity, and curiosity.
- The primary roles that users play in Clubhouse, such as speakers, listeners, moderators, and creators.
- The rules that you are expected to abide by as a Clubhouse user, such as being civil, constructive, and courteous, and avoiding spam, abuse, and harassment.
- What you can do if you come across inappropriate behavior, such as reporting, blocking, or muting the offenders, or leaving the room.
You can read the full Clubhouse guidelines here. By using Clubhouse, you agree to follow these guidelines, and any violations may result in suspension or termination of your account.
Conclusion
Clubhouse is a social audio app that allows users to join or host live conversations on various topics. It was launched in 2020 and quickly gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, but faced a decline in growth and engagement in 2022, due to competition, innovation, and regulation. In 2024, Clubhouse is not likely to be profitable, as its revenue is not enough to cover its expenses. However, Clubhouse is still a valuable platform for connecting and communicating with people who share your interests, passions, and goals. If you want to grow your audience and influence on Clubhouse, you can follow the tips on how to get more followers on the app. You should also be aware of the Clubhouse guidelines, which are the rules and principles that govern the Clubhouse community.