Independent podcasters with loyal audiences often hit a ceiling long before reaching the millions of downloads that attract major network deals. Liam Heffernan wants to change that. His company, Mercury Podcasts, launched in 2024 in the UK, helps mid-tier creators access the kind of professional tools and industry connections usually reserved for top-charting shows.

“There’s been a real vacuum in the middle, where amazing independent creators deserve to be heard, but aren’t getting the support they need,” Liam explains. As a former Senior Podcast Producer at 11:FS and Audio Director at The Podcast Boutique, he observed how promising shows were being systematically overlooked because they weren’t yet generating millions of downloads, despite having quality content and growth potential.

“All the tools that help people grow and make money are hidden behind gatekeepers who run everything,” Liam notes. “Podcasting isn’t different. Look at radio, TV, and film. It’s the same story.”

According to him, creators in the middle who have built engaged audiences find themselves in a frustrating limbo, ready to scale but lacking the infrastructure to do so independently.

“Even when a great indie show got on a network, they were so far down the pecking order they didn’t get the support they needed,” Liam observes. The result is a stagnant middle class, where promising creators struggle to reach their full potential, while the industry’s resources continue to flow primarily to already established shows.

In this environment, Mercury Podcasts specifically targets what Liam describes as “the top 10% of indie creators who have great shows and want to grow, but keep hitting a wall.”

Mercury’s Practical Support System

Mercury provides a range of services that adapt based on creator needs, balancing professional infrastructure with personalized attention.

“From day one, we’re at the other end of an email, a Slack message, a WhatsApp,” Liam explains. “Our podcasters can talk to us and ask for feedback on their last episode.”

This hands-on support extends to content development, with Mercury staff actively engaging with the shows they represent. “We actually listen to what they do,” Liam emphasizes. “We care about their content and make time to understand what they’re creating and why, so we can be their number one fan.”

The relationship between Mercury and its creators is deliberately two-sided rather than prescriptive. “We’re not dictating the terms. It’s a two-way relationship,” says Liam. “We constantly adapt to meet those needs.”

One distinctive feature is Mercury’s no-fixed-term policy on network contracts. “Big networks lock you in for a year or two, sometimes with guarantees if you’re big enough,” Liam explains. “I don’t believe in that. If we’re providing value to our podcasters and they’re providing value to us, it’s mutually beneficial. Why hold anyone hostage?”

Mercury also takes commission only from podcast advertising revenue, not from creators’ other income streams. “We’re helping them build visibility and grow their podcast, which in turn boosts their brand,” Liam says. “That drives people to their Patreon, YouTube, or socials, and they keep all that money.”

Building an Ecosystem, Not Just a Network

Rather than functioning primarily as sales and marketing arms for their shows, Mercury deliberately fosters what Liam calls “an ecosystem” where creators support each other’s growth.

“We’re building something where our podcasters talk, connect, and help each other,” he explains. “Behind the scenes, we’re putting the building blocks in place for something that can pay it forward to the next generation once our shows become as big as they deserve to be.”

This community-centered approach reflects Liam’s belief that podcasting retains a unique collaborative spirit even as it grows commercially. “Even as podcasting becomes global and bigger financially, there’s still this extraordinary sense of connectedness and collaboration,” he says.

Mercury aims to preserve and strengthen this collaborative aspect while addressing the industry’s growing accessibility challenges. The company maintains a strict policy of not scaling its roster faster than it can properly support each creator, prioritizing depth of relationship over volume.

Liam at “The Golden Globes 2025” 

Tackling Discovery and Monetization

Mercury directly addresses two key challenges facing independent podcasters: discovery and monetization.

Liam believes the discovery problem stems from established relationships between major platforms and large networks that create barriers for independent shows seeking visibility. “Spotify and Apple have long-standing relationships with big networks,” he explains. “You always see the latest Wondery or Goalhanger shows on the front page.”

These platforms, he adds, face such high volumes of content submissions that they rely on trusted partnerships to filter quality, inadvertently excluding worthy independent productions. Mercury’s solution involves leveraging its network status to build similar platform relationships while representing shows that would otherwise lack access.

“We have to act like a big network and build those relationships,” Liam says. “But we can do it while representing shows that otherwise wouldn’t be heard.”

For monetization, Mercury encourages podcasters to think beyond traditional advertising revenue by embracing their identity as content creators rather than just podcasters. “Podcasters today are content creators,” Liam notes. “Thinking that way unlocks more opportunities to monetize your work.”

He points to multiple revenue channels available to podcasters beyond programmatic advertising: “Creative brand partnerships, merchandise, live events, video; there are so many channels now. The key is thinking like a creator, not just a podcaster.”

Responsible Growth and Future Vision

Despite its mission, Mercury maintains deliberately lean operations. Currently, the team consists of just Liam and one salesperson, with additional support provided by a PR agency. This approach reflects his commitment to building sustainably rather than chasing quick expansion.

“We could’ve built the infrastructure, pitched for a big seed round, and become a big network overnight,” he explains. “But then we’d just fall into the same trap as everyone else.”

Instead, Mercury is growing organically, reinvesting revenue to expand services while maintaining its core values. “We’re doing it the right way,” Liam says. “This first year has been sleepless nights and long hours, but it’s the right way.”

The first year has brought both challenges and validation. “Things have grown amazingly,” Liam notes. “We’ve gotten a lot of attention across the industry and strong support for what we’re doing.” The company is now transitioning from its initial growth phase to focusing more deeply on supporting its existing roster.

“We’ll keep celebrating our creators and representing them, but now it’s time to look inward,” he explains. “It’s about building up the creators we have, proving our concept, and delivering on our promise.”

Long-term, Liam aims for Mercury to become “the biggest independent podcast network in the world,” built organically through shows that grow from needing help to achieving millions of downloads and then supporting the next generation of creators.

More broadly, he hopes Mercury can help address the growing affordability gap in podcasting, where rising costs and increasing paywalls threaten to stifle new talent. “As everything gets more expensive and paywalled, we’re losing opportunities for the next generation of talent,” he warns.

For Liam, success will ultimately be measured by Mercury’s ability to operate as a self-sustaining ecosystem that continues to support independent creators even beyond his direct involvement. “If I can step away and know Mercury can survive and thrive on its own, that’s success,” he reflects.

“The goal is to build an ecosystem that supports creators like I was a few years ago,” Liam concludes. “People who need help aren’t being heard, and deserve support in a way that lasts.”

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