Second Captains podcasters share fees of €555,000

Broadcaster, Eoin McDevitt and his four colleagues from the Second Captains podcast shared a production fee pay-pot of €555,000 last year.

New accounts for the company behind the podcasts under the Second Captains banner, Second Captains Ltd show that connected companies owned by McDevitt, Ken Early, Ciaran Murphy, Simon Hick and Mark Horgan were each paid €111,000 in fees for production work carried out on behalf of Second Captains Ltd last year.

The €111,000 paid in fees was a 24 per cent increase on the €83,000 each paid out by Second Captains Ltd to the five firms during the pandemic hit 2020.

The 2020 payout was, however, a sharp decrease on the €131,000 paid out to each of the five directors’ firms in 2019.

The five also shared an additional aggregate €72,000 in pay to directors last year - an average of €14,400 each.

The company's cash funds last year more than doubled from €115,517 to €239,070.

After the payout to the directors’ firms and other costs, the company recorded a modest profit of €2,966 for the year. Accumulated profits at the end of last year stood at €44,471.

The five each hold a 20 per cent share in the company and the podcast company generates the bulk of its revenues from paying subscribers.

The accounts state that the principal activity of the company is online content, radio, television and live event production.

The podcast launched its paid subscription service in February 2017 and within the first day had attracted 2,500 subscribers.

Subscribers pay €5 per month plus VAT for a range of podcasts and revenues from the paying subscribers has allowed the company to carry out longer-term investigative projects like its highly acclaimed series ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ for BBC Sounds.

The Second