Credits: @blankerwahnsinn
In 2022, Google reports that the word “podcast” gets up to 1 million searches monthly, while “YouTube” gets 10 million monthly searches. Many podcasters are also YouTubers and vice versa, blurring the line between the terms.
The technical definition of a “podcast” is “a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet.” As a verb, it means to make (a digital audio file) available as a podcast.
Podcasters who videotape their episodes realized that listeners were interested in the visuals as well as the audio, therefore many began publishing visual podcast episodes, earning a healthy income doing so.
Whether you’re listening to a podcaster who makes strictly audio content, or watching one who goes all out to appear on camera in a studio, you’re probably reading this because you want to know the podcaster’s income numbers and earnings strategies.
How much money can you make from a podcast and where do you start?
For all the people searching for specific terms like “podcast money” and “podcast earnings,” keep reading. You’re about to learn how much actual podcasters are making circa 2022 via direct sponsorships to automatic ads and beyond, and exactly how they're doing it.
Here are 15 ways to make money podcasting.
Credits: @joshuaearle
#1 - Get Direct Sponsorship Deals: How One Podcaster Cut Out the Middleman to Make $1.2 Million per Year
Steven Bartlett explains in “How I Make $1.2 Million A Year From This Podcast | E94” that consistency is the key to success, be it monetary or otherwise. The once-broke university dropout is now a 29-year-old CEO of one of the UK’s fast growing companies, called Social Chain. Bartlett touts his “The Diary of a CEO” as the No.1 UK podcast on Apple.
While Bartlett’s first auditory podcast episode “E1: Sacrifice, Work/Life Balance & Purpose” is dated September 29, 2017, on Apple and elsewhere, he only began visually recording on October 5, 2020, with his 52nd podcast episode, titled “How We Built A $200m Company At 27 Years Old | E52.”
Before going visual on YouTube, Barlett viewed podcasting as just a hobby. He never cared about podcasting profits; he simply wanted to break even. But once he decided to go visual, he produced high-quality podcasts that would pay off big-time in terms of how much his sponsors would pay.
“Podcasting can be remarkably cheap especially if you don't want to video it,” Bartlett said. “But because I wanted to do it big, I knew I needed to find a way to make money from this podcast.”
He purchased $50,000 worth of camera equipment to create four high-caliber podcasts monthly, and even deletes episodes that don’t offer quality information to his audience.
Bartlett Googled “how much podcasters make” before hitting $1.2 million annual podcast earnings
Bartlett explained that Google may pass along unimpressive numbers when it comes to finding out how much podcasters really make.
“People had historically told me that there is no money in podcasting,” he said. “They'd shown me the depressing numbers that you'll see if you Google the term ‘how much money can you make from a podcast’ and those numbers work out the revenue potential based on how many downloads or listeners you're getting.”
Bartlett learned when he was starting his podcast that you could make around $25 to $50 per 1,000 downloads, which meant making only $2,500 to $5,000 for every 100,000 downloads per podcast episode.
“Most podcasters make their money from reading out adverts in the middle of a podcast episode and most podcasters get these advert deals from some kind of podcast advertising company that acts as a middleman between the podcaster and the brand.”
Bartlett said that the brand is basically paying the podcaster using an amount-per-download basis but the middleman is taking a big cut and the brand is paying a fixed fee-per-download regardless of how good your show is or how valuable your audience might be.
“The brands are basically handing the middleman a bag of money and saying get me podcast downloads as cheap as possible and then they're coming to you and offering you some reduced rate,” he reasoned. “I knew the typical way of monetizing a podcast was never gonna be enough to cover my costs so I cut out the middleman.”
Bartlett made a list of 5 companies that he genuinely used daily and loved. Next, he created a 2.5-page “nice little presentation deck” displaying his audience, his podcast’s growth, and then emailed the CEOs of the 5 companies. He explained exactly why they should sponsor his podcast, detailing his ambitious plans for the future. Bartlett proved he was an actual loyal customer. Bartlett promised he would make his podcast #1 in business in Europe if they backed him, and get it done in 12 months.
“All five of those companies replied,” he said after contacting the heads of Huel, Fiverr, myenergi, and others.
“I asked all of my sponsors for a 12-month contract. My three key sponsors and my other sponsors pay varying fees depending on what I do for them but all-in-all this year this podcast will generate over $1.2 million, which is just over $100,000 a month so it turns out the naysayers I encountered when I started were wrong and there is money in podcasting and you can turn it into a really lucrative business.”
#2 - Get Paid From “Anchor.fm by Spotify” Ambassador Ads, New Automated Ads & Premium Sponsorships
Spotify’s Ads by Anchor details how to make money with their 3 flexible options: Ambassador Ads, Automated Ads, and Premium Sponsorships.
Podcaster Henry G showed viewers his actual earnings via Anchor by Spotify for The Positive Mindset Podcast. With 1 million all-time plays, Henry’s Anchor by Spotify dashboard displayed $13,418.03 in earnings. On January 2, 2022, Henry described the "How to Unlock Ambassador Ads" feature in the Anchor by Spotify dashboard, which urges podcasters to "tell your listeners what you love about Anchor, and get paid when people listen."
Henry said the initial ad is a promo for Anchor, a common one you'll hear that said something like, "Hey if you love this show check out Anchor.fm; it's a great way to build your podcast and get paid for doing it."
The podcaster noted that his Anchor ad comprised the bulk of his Anchor income.
"My Anchor ad alone: $12,608.88 is what I've made so far," Henry said, showing a $17.50 CPM for the "host-read ads."
As for the Anchor by Spotify’s Automated Ads, Henry said the new Anchor feature is probably one of the best things to come “because I think it legitimizes the opportunity to make money through Anchor.” The section reads, "Connect with advertisers looking to market to your audience. Just tell us where to put ads in your episodes and we'll do the rest."
Anchor doesn’t require the host to read every ad, apparently, but you can choose where your ads are inserted. The ads play on all listening apps, with a flat $13 RPM on Spotify and a $10 flat RPM on all other platforms.
Henry doesn't know how long Anchor's ambassador program will last, but the automated ads are already benefiting him financially.
"Last month was my first month having it on but it brought in an extra almost $600 a month, which is incredible because it's on top of what you're already making," he said.
"When you reach 50 listeners you will unlock the Ambassador Ad program,” Henry said. “That's not 50 plays, so you can't just start an episode and then listen to it 50 times and think that will turn this on. It has to be unique listeners through Spotify to get that turned on."
As of this writing, the Anchor “Automated Ads” feature isn’t showing up for everyone. “I think it might still be in a beta,” Henry said. “Hopefully it will go out to everyone soon.”
Anchor also offers a monthly subscription feature, as well as a monthly supporter feature. Henry doesn't promote it, but he does have two supporters paying $4.99 per month. “Enable monthly donations from your listeners, or get matched with brands who want to sponsor your show,” Anchor explains.
#3 - Podcasters Earn YouTube Ad Income, Super Chats, Stickers, Shorts, Subscription & “Thanks” Money
Plenty of YouTube channels have “podcast” in their title, proving that Apple Podcasts, Listen Notes, Spotify, Breaker, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, and other platforms aren’t the only place to listen to podcasts.
In 2022, YouTube offers several ways to earn an income within their YouTube Partner Program, beyond traditionally earning ad revenue from “display, overlay, and video ads that run on your channel. With YouTube Premium, you can earn a portion of a subscriber’s fee when they watch your content.”
Podcasters who meet YouTube’s requirements can also earn money via Super Chat and Super Stickers that fans can buy to show their support. Eligible channels can sell branded merchandise directly to fans in the same place they watch your videos. Channel memberships are another way to make money from paying monthly members. Select channels also have a “Thanks” button beneath YouTube videos where listeners can contribute to the podcast.
There’s also money to be made with 60-second or less “YouTube Shorts,” which are vertical videos similar to TikTok videos. According to YouTube, “The YouTube Shorts Fund is a new program that is giving Creators access to $100M across 2021 and 2022. If you’re a Creator that is shooting and sharing Shorts, you’re eligible to participate and make money on your videos!”
Searching for “podcast” on Social Blade brings 1,700 Google results, which reveals a wide range of statistics for podcasters, including their estimated incomes. Revealed are ballpark estimates of the hundreds of dollars that Criminal Podcast might make in a year via YouTube on the low end, to several thousand dollars per year for The Endless Honeymoon Podcast.
Meanwhile, free the girls podcast may have pulled in close to $20,000 from YouTube in its first year. On the high end, the Cerbero Podcast boasts up to $128,100 in annual YouTube earnings, while Flow Podcast’s estimated yearly earnings are listed at $667,800.
To get into the YouTube Partner Program, you need to meet the criteria of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 “valid public watch hours” in the previous 12 monts. After you submit the application, your channel will get reviewed by YouTube against the YouTube monetization policies. You will also need to follow all the YouTube monetization policies, live in a country/region where the YouTube Partner Program is available and have a linked Google AdSense account.
#4 - Get Paid Thru Patreon: A Sneaky Way to See Podcast Income
One great way to figure out how much podcasters are really making via Patreon is to place "$" "PER MONTH" "podcast" -support site:patreon.com into Google to find the podcasters that currently share their actual income publicly.
That’s how to uncover that Last Podcast On The Left has 14,954 patrons and makes $84,220 per month. Their preview video explains that the podcast is a comedic look at morbid topics.
The basketball-centric The Flagrant Ones podcast has 6,915 patrons and makes $42,302 monthly. Even smaller shows like GardenFork, who creates “DIY Videos & Podcasts” and has 54 and makes $215 monthly, can help you study how to get started.
Retronauts, a classic gaming podcast with 3,393 patrons making $15,457 per month, offers an "early access" tier for $3 monthly, all the way up to the sold-out "One With the Lifestream" $100 per month tier.
From the No Question About That podcast making $1,346 monthly to Not Really earning $3,625 each month, there are many podcasts on Patreon that you can study to discover the type of content that fans are willing to pay for, and how the podcasters structure their paying tiers to bring optimal incomes.
Elecia White and Christopher White took advantage of Patreon to raise funding to offset the expense of providing their podcast guests with microphones for their Embedded podcast.
Elecia explained that she and her co-host only planned to create six or 12 episodes of their engineering-focused podcast in the beginning, but ended up creating nearly 400 episodes and counting. She said that whereas the Patreon fund allowed folks to donate money for the costs of shipping microphones, it has become a boon for making excess funds available to buy stickers. Elecia states that the podcast has also provided a spotlight for the duo’s company and book, but admits that there are likely less intensive ways to advertise a firm or tome outside of a podcast.
PATREON FOR PODCASTERS
Patreon explains that, “Creating a successful podcast shouldn’t involve compromising your vision, so stop letting advertisers and networks call the shots. Grow your show your way with support from the listeners who never miss an episode. Offer your fans a place to connect, discuss, and dive deeper with your podcast, and in return, establish a reliable revenue stream beyond ads.”
#5 - Gain More Money with Daily Podcasts, More Downloads
Eric Siu shared strategies for how his Marketing School and Leveling Up podcasts generate more than $1M in revenue. It took a long time to build up to that point, but the right partnerships and consistency made it possible.
Marketing School is the daily marketing podcast from Eric Siu & Neil Patel.
"So the deal we have is the annual deal, and it's close to a million dollars," Eric said, explaining how he and his busy co-host batch their episodes so they can publish new episodes often.
"If you can make it daily, do it. That's how we're getting so many downloads. We do get about 20 to 25,000 downloads per episode, which is not so bad.”
With a $60 CPM, for example, Eric learned that the more content available for listeners to download, the more downloads and earnings he and his partner would garner. However, building his knowledge base was more important than the podcast income generation.
“I didn't monetize the Leveling Up podcast for the longest time, and now it's finally monetized,” he said.
“But just keep in mind…you are playing the long game here and to build the network, to build a community, to build up content. It just takes time.”
#6 - Get Paid From Podcast Sponsors Using a Podcast Network
If you haven’t been able to strike a direct deal with a podcast sponsor yet in order to cut out the middleman and make more money, finding sponsors via podcast networks is always an option.
Podcast networks represent groups of podcasters that work together to get sponsorship deals and market their shows. Some podcast networks sell ads to make it easier to monetize a show by collectively pooling together download numbers en masse to get the kind of deals that smaller podcasters may not be able to get on their own. There are also ad-free podcast networks that focus on marketing and networking.
Although there are plenty of advantages to joining a podcast network, such as freeing up your time spent seeking sponsors to focus solely on your content, they often come with requirements or downsides, too:
- Some require 1,000 downloads for each episode or 5,000 downloads monthly
- Larger networks like AdverstiseCast require a minimum of 5,000 downloads per podcast episode to join
- You may lose creative control of your content
- Certain sponsors require “a script” of points to be read
- Weekly episode releases may be a requirement
- Generally, you’ll give up 30% of your ad revenue to the podcast network
- You may have to cross-promote podcasts in the network on your show
As you grow, you’ll have to decide if the value of what you offer is worth what you’re getting in exchange from a podcast network. Podcast listener demographics are very attractive to sellers of goods and services. Advertising brokers sell commercials at rates of $25 to $50 for every 1,000 podcast downloads. One podcast episode may average 2 to 3 commercial breaks, therefore the revenue can build, especially for top shows such as Freakonomics Radio, which gets 2 million downloads per episode. That’s a cool $300,000 per episode for three mentions of one advertiser paying $50 for every 1,000 downloads - minus any ad broker fees and the like.
Transitioning from part-time podcaster to full-time may be tough, but it’s not impossible. Remember that podcast revenue is often reduced by the cost to create the podcast.
As an example, Joseph Liu, who runs the Career Relaunch podcast, spends about $150 to put together each episode — but said he got his first sponsor after publishing approximately 15 podcast episodes and gaining 500 monthly downloads per episode. Liu wanted to avoid littering his podcast with a plethora of ads, like he heard on some other podcasts.
Where to find podcast sponsors
In an interview with On Comedy Writing podcaster Alan Johnson via Listen Notes, he described gaining his sponsorship through a podcast network called Boardwalk Audio. Johnson called it one of the big benefits of joining a podcast network for like-minded individuals — because the network handled things on the business end, which freed Alan up to simply read an ad on his show. “Without a network, I almost certainly would not have sponsorship,” he said.
# 7 - Podcasters Make Money From Paid Content
The Wall Street Journal noted that there are podcasters who choose to eschew running ads and instead make money via paid content and subscriptions. Whereas many podcasts are available to listeners for free, some podcasters charge $4.99 per episode, giving customers access to episodes early — or offering listeners bonus content with their ad-free experience.
According to Edison Research’s “Top 10 Findings of 2021,” published on January 5, 2022, paid audio subscribers have doubled since 2014.
"Almost half of Americans aged 13+, 48%, subscribe to a paid audio service,” Laura Ivey said of the latest data on paid audio subscription services from Share of Ear, Edison Research's quarterly study of Americans' audio listening habits. “This is over double what the number was in 2015, which was 23%.”
Ivey confirmed that people are willing to pay to listen to podcasters. “So even with all the free radio and audio that Americans listen to many are willing to pay for audio and around half of them do,” she said.
Podcast subscription platforms for podcasters like Supercast boast, “Our top 10 podcasters earn $12+ million a year directly from their listeners.”
While select podcasts use Supercast, Glow, or Patreon to charge listeners directly, Ben Thompson and Jon Gruber from Dithering had the technical expertise and pre-existing following to build and launch with their own paid podcast subscription infrastructure.
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast charges anywere from $0.99 per episode for older content up to $79.99 for Hardcore History compilations of the podcast’s episodes for listeners who want to binge-listen to the series. Smart Passive Income lists several podcasts making full-time revenue for their creators.
Therefore, no matter where you grab your audience and no matter what vehicle you use for them to pay you - be it Stripe, PayPal, Venmo or via another recurring vehicle - the important part is to get started and capture listening ears in growing markets hungry for content that speaks to them.
Salma Aly of Edison Research recently discussed the massive growth in the Latino podcast listening audience over just one year. “U.S. Latinos have crossed the threshold of 50% having ever listened but even more exciting is the finding that 36% of U.S. Latinos aged 18+ are now monthly podcast listeners,” Aly said. “That's 16 million people and it's a massive 44% increase over last year.”
Keep in mind that listeners willing to pay for a podcaster’s content should get the cream of the crop. Nicholas Rosenfeld, Director at Making a Will, recommends selling premium content as a great way to make money with your podcast and take it to the next level.
“It entails charging a monthly charge for special or exclusive content not available on your standard podcast feed,” Nicholas said.
“You could, for example, release two episodes per week, one free and the other, charge. The purchased material, on the other hand, must be original.”
The paid content could represent a longer form, a live recording, a video version, or an episode with no commercials. Podcast advertising networks like AdvertiseCast, Midroll, PodGrid, and Podcorn take a percentage of your earnings, so read the fine print on the site to see how much they take, Nicholas recommends. Joining an ad network might earn you anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the size of your audience.
“One way to monetize your podcast would be through the creation of paid membership tiers,” said Gregory Yong, the Chief Experience Officer at Convincely. “If your audience is interested in your free content, there's a good chance that some individuals would gladly pay for premium episodes. You might think that this is a tough sell, but there's a lot of value to add between paid and free content.”
Your premium episodes could offer your audience ad-free listening. Or another tier of premium episodes could provide an interview with a special guest or stream the podcast live to your audience.
“While non-members might have to wait months before these episodes go public, premium members would get access straight away,” Yong said. “Sometimes, early access is enough for users to purchase a membership if they don't want to wait for your content. Immediacy is a powerful revenue-generating tool.”
Naresh Vissa recommends selling books, consulting services, or even controversial episodes that can't be distributed to a free audience because of the offensive nature or something else that needs to be kept under wraps.
“I listen to about ten hours’ worth of podcasts every week,” Naresh said. “Three larger companies that seem to be very open to advertising on all podcasts are: Squarespace, Hulu, Audible.”
#8 - Podcasters Sell Their Products or Services
Plenty of podcasters make money outside of the traditional avenues, aided through the content produced via their podcasts, by selling products or services.
Tom Segura, a stand-up comedian and co-host of chart-topping podcasts “2 Bears 1 Cave” and “Your Mom’s House,” has a book of essays coming out in 2022 that already has pre-sales.
Popular podcaster Pat Flynn has also written several books, including the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money. Podcaster Chris Ducker has also published books.
Meanwhile, The Generation Why Podcast sells a variety of products along with their premium content.
Side Hustle Nation creator Nick Loper describes earning at least $5,200 by selling his services for $97 per month for a private mastermind group.
The Fearless Millionaire Podcast is run by Nathan Amaral, a man who decided to get over his fears and launch his first podcast in 2014 by recording a 30-minute audio session on his iPhone and releasing the podcast. By 2018, Nathan spoke about a podcast listener buying a program he sold for $15,000.
The trust established via podcasts helps turn listeners into consumers. Sales of products and services become a natural extension of the podcaster, who can recommend good stuff to listeners that represent a ready-made, targeted audience.
Ray Blakney is the CEO and co-founder of Live Lingua, a renowned online language school that produces a podcast, a full Spanish learning course, built around real-world conversations, taught in short, 3-5-minute daily episodes.
“The best way to monetize a podcast is to have a business or product tied to the show. Don’t try to monetize the podcast itself, as that rarely works,” Ray claimed. “Yes, if you get to 50,000 downloads an episode, you may be able to charge $1,000 for an ad spot. However, if you instead were promoting a $1,000 training course and successfully sold that to 1% of your audience, you would make $50,000 per episode!”
#9 - Get Paid by Crowdfunding Your Podcast
Plenty of podcasters fund their labors of love out of their own pockets, or get money from family and friends to launch a podcast they believe in. A portion of them turn to their listeners for help via crowdfunding.
Credits: @katyukawa
The most popular crowdfunding platforms that can be used for podcasts include:
Podcasters can lead listeners to their Patreon, GoFundMe, Kickstarter, or other crowdfunding campaigns — or solicit donations to be paid to them directly by other means — in order to encourage the continuation of the podcast.
Leslie Krongold, who runs the podcast titled Glass Half Full with Leslie Krongold, Ed.D., set up a GoFundMe website where she collects donations for her chronic health condition-focused podcast.
If your listeners fall in love with the content you provide, they will be willing to fund your vision in order to help it succeed.
# 10 - Podcasters Earn Revenue From Affiliate Income
Podcasters can also make money by getting a cut of the income that their listeners are willing to pay for brands or services discovered via the podcast. How many times have you heard your favorite podcast host offer a special discount code to their listeners for 5% or 10% off a product or service? That special code lets the company know exactly where their customers came from, and usually offers the podcasters a portion of the price paid for the product or service.
For example, when The Undisclosed true crime podcast provides their listeners with an offer code to save 10% when using SquareSpace.com to set up a website, the podcaster will earn a portion of the monies that those who use the specific code pay SquareSpace.com.
SquareSpace, according to AdExchanger, made significant waves as an early podcasting advertiser, plopping down $12 million annually for podcast advertising in 2015. By 2022, the top 15 podcasting advertisers listed for the most recent month of November 2021 include: Amazon, BetterHelp, Capital One, ExpressVPN, Geico, Helix Sleep, HelloFresh, Manscaped, NBCUniversal, SimpliSafe, Stamps.com, State Farm, T-Mobile, Talkspace, and ZipRecruiter.
Podcasters who create show notes for their listeners to access, which may include the links to products or services mentioned during the episode, can include monetized links to items via the Amazon Affiliate program, CJ Affiliate by Conversant, Ratuken Marketing or sites like the Blubrry Affiliate Program.
After joining the affiliate program, the podcaster can search for the specialized links to products that they can then pass on to their followers in order to earn a percentage of the sales made through those links. Side Hustle Nation earned nearly $1,000 from selling their guests products or services as an affiliate.
Whether you are a podcaster seeking ways that other podcasters make money or simply a person who enjoys listening to podcasts, one cool way to find deals from sponsors is to search for promo codes in order to get discounts from a variety of companies. As you’ll find, certain podcasters make money by offering discounts for their listeners to places like Harry’s Shave Club or Stamps.com with special promo codes that tell the companies the specific podcaster that sent them the customers — offering a way for the podcaster to make an income on the sales.
# 11 - Podcasters Sell Branded Merchandise
When a podcaster sells their own branded merchandise, it is different from selling another product. It comes with the realization that fans are willing to promote their love of specific podcasts through merchandise for sale that shows the world their favorite speakers.
“To monetize your podcast, sell branded merchandise,” recommends Mike Grossman, the CEO of GoodHire. “If you have a loyal following, there's a high likelihood that these individuals would want to own a piece of your podcast to show their appreciation. If you establish an online store, viewers might buy your branded merchandise to show their support.”
Grossman explains that selling t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, or even stickers can help you connect to your audience. “You could print your podcast's name, a catchphrase, or even a joke that your audience are privy to,” he said.
“This helps your audience connect with each other and establish connections based on a mutual interest. You could use a print-on-demand service like Teespring to make sure that products are only printed when somebody makes a purchase, which helps you avoid the risk of purchasing excess inventory.”
Dan Carlin’s shop offers everything from hats to t-shirts to gift certificates and more that promote his brand and bring him extra income via promoting the podcast and through the gross revenue of the products.
YouTube allows eligible channels to sell their own merchandise directly below some videos on their channel. The merch shelf and related merch features lets creators display their official branded merchandise on YouTube. The shelf appears on the video page of eligible channels, but may not show on all video pages.
Therefore, podcasters who place versions of their podcasts on YouTube can use platforms such as Shopify, Squarespace, Teespring, or others to help design, produce, and/or distribute their merchandise and promote it directly to their listeners.
Podcasters can avail themselves of sites like Teespring to design their own t-shirts, leggings, hoodies and other items, by placing logos and sayings on the gear and selling the merchandise through the platform. Shopify also allows ecommerce sellers to establish their own retail brands on the shopping website.
#12 - Live Podcast Shows and Virtual Events Make Money
Although COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on many planned live podcast shows, a search for “podcast” on TicketMaster in 2022 proves that podcast fans are still willing to see their favorites live and in-person.
For example, the Smartless podcast is selling tickets for “SmartLess Tour Live with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett,” going for up to several hundreds of dollars across the country.
Plenty of podcasters have discovered that the popularity of their podcast has grown beyond folks who want to strictly listen to the episodes whilst driving on long commutes or during other periods of downtime.
Viral podcasters have found success with selling tickets to their shows to customers who want to watch the podcast in action and be a part of the episode-creation process. Even if you can’t make it to New York’s Radio City Music Hall, inviting your audience to money-making virtual live events might be an option, such as paid online events using Facebook Live.
The live event industry and revenue streams that come along with it will rebound, with many people expecting another Roaring ‘20s following the COVID-19 pandemic. Until then, podcasters can sell tickets to virtual events like live recordings, Q&A sessions, or behind-the-scenes tours. Or, with people locked down and more isolated than ever, podcasters can use services like Zoom Breakout Rooms that allow their fans to meet each other remotely.
Shiv Gupta, CEO of Incrementors Digital Marketing, said that hosting events is not only a terrific way to generate money, but it also allows you to gather your biggest followers and provide them with even more value.
“Many podcasters are solicited for speaking engagements in their field. If someone likes what they hear on your podcast, it stands to reason that you would be a good fit to speak at conferences and live events,” Gupta said.
“This method is most effective when you have a dedicated or local audience that would travel to see you,” he continued. “It also needs a large listenership to generate a profit even if only a small number of listeners attend the event. Hosting events also generates a good amount of money. Consider it this way: If each ticket costs $100 and you have 30,000 regular listeners, but only 1% (300) arrives, you will generate $30,000 in income.”
# 13 - Sell Speaking Spots, Sponsored Product Reviews & Brand Rep Interviews
Stephanie Seferian, host of The Sustainable Minimalists podcast, a top #25 rated weekly show about eco-minimalist living, makes money by selling ad spots.
“I primarily make money by selling ad spots on my podcast,” Stephanie said. “I sell conventional pre- and post-rolls, but I also sell sponsored product reviews and sponsored interviews with brand representatives. My podcast has led to other income-generating methods, too, such as public speaking, authoring a book, and creating sponsored content on the show's social media pages.”
By branching out in a variety of ways to improve her podcast’s income stream, Stephanie watched her podcast earnings grow over time.
“I made $1,000 after 18 months of podcasting,” she said. “I currently make $2,500 - $3,000 per month from the podcast. The show currently receives between 8,500 - 11,000 downloads per episode.”
# 14 - Become a Coach or Subject Matter Expert—and Charge More Than Enough!
By virtue of digging into a topic over time and researching it extensively through your podcast, you can parlay your expertise into many different ways to make money.
Gillian Tietz of Sober Powered monetizes her podcast 5 different ways: “podcast sponsorships, Buy Me a Coffee, affiliate marketing, as a subject matter expert creating content for bigger brands, and offering coaching for podcasters who want to grow their show or grow on social media.”
After starting her podcast with 0 followers, Gillian waited to build up an audience before monetizing, but it was a move she regretted.
“Looking back, it could have been done much sooner, but I had no clue what I was doing! I first monetized in month 8 of my podcast with a sponsor,” Gillian said. “I made my first $1,000 two months later, so in month 10 of my podcast. My sponsor prepaid for several months of ads and I started using Buy Me a Coffee around that time too.”
With Gillian’s podcast enjoying 30,000 to 35,000 monthly downloads, and each new episode receiving around 3,500 downloads in its first month, monetization is slowly paying off.
“I have made around $6,500 in 2021 and am already set to make almost $3,500 in Q1 of 2022,” Gillian said. “Monetizing was slow in the beginning. I was earning about $150 a month in sponsorship. In January 2022, I will be earning over $1,000 in podcast sponsorship.”
Gillian learned that undercharging her sponsors was a mistake, “because the ads become a permanent part of the episodes.”
#15 - Podcasters Can Lower Expenses to Make More Money
You don’t always have to buy the fanciest equipment to create your podcast. Increasing podcast profits could mean lowering expenses so that the revenue isn’t eaten up by hosting fees, pricey equipment, and the like. Whereas certain podcasters might spend hundreds of dollars per month on hosting fees and production costs — spicing up their podcasts with fancy editing and musical backgrounds — others run on a nearly-free basis by using inexpensive hosting and equipment they already own. An iPhone for voice recordings thrown into GarageBand suffices for some podcasters who want to keep their expenses extremely low as long as possible.
Other podcasters turn to non-traditional and creative ways to offset their podcast expenditures. For example, the Mind Gap podcast set up a partnership with a Chicago bar named Elephant & Castle, which gives the podcasters a venue to record in exchange for weekly advertisement during the podcast.
In Summary: There’s More Than One Way to Fund a Podcast
In studying the above examples of real-life podcasters who use a variety of ways to make money from their podcasts, it becomes evident that profitable podcasts are not necessarily a dime a dozen, but they are possible.
The case profiles also prove that the money made from podcasts can flow to the episode creators in non-obvious ways, whether the monies represent career-improving sales, donations, crowdfunding income, paid content and subscriptions models, or a unique outside-the-box way of earning discovered after gaining listeners.
A common theme discovered via more than 421 interviews with podcasters is that plenty make no direct money at all via podcasting — or if they did make money from podcasting, it was a long time before they were popular enough to turn profitable. Such is the case with Tony Martignetti, who has run Nonprofit Radio since 2010. Tony admits — like most podcasters — that he began paying the costs for his podcast out of his own pocket in the beginning. Now the sponsors of Nonprofit Radio “more than cover costs” that are incurred to create the weekly show.
In the end, podcasters searching for ways to find their own sponsors can find them in a variety of ways. Look to the sponsors that other podcasters are promoting to learn the specific companies who are open to sponsorships, and approach those companies via social media, the firm’s contact pages, or through the business’ advertising email address.
Podcast advertising networks like AdvertiseCast or Midroll can open up new ways for podcasters to garner new sponsors. Online forum sections designed specifically for podcasters, like the /r/podcasting subreddit, assist podcasters in sharing all manner of information about gaining sponsors, listeners and other helpful podcasting data.
More rarely, many prominent marketers actively seek out new podcasts to sponsor. Blog Talk Radio Network contacted podcaster Justin Rimmel, who runs Mysterious Circumstances, without Justin having to seek out the sponsors that the network finds for him. Rimmel said that the network discovered him when he began getting 50,000 downloads monthly.
Tip: To get sponsorships, podcasts need to build an audience first. An effective way to build an audience is to cross promote or even get interviewed as a guest on other podcasts.
Future Podcasting, Money-Making: How To Structure Podcast Advertising For Scale
Once you’re on the road to making money with your podcast, it helps to look for ways to scale upward for the future. Most marketers and media planners buy advertising based on the number of impressions their advertisements will receive.
When podcasting was in its infancy, podcasters made projections of advertising impressions based on the number of downloads each episode typically received, and they manually included different host-read advertisements in each episode. These manual advertisements are called baked-in host reads, and they limit the amount of money a podcaster can make from a sponsorship.
For instance, if a podcast has 100,000 listeners per episode and sells an advertisement in an episode at a $25 CPM, they would make $2,500 on the advertisement. With a baked-in host read, they would make $3,000 regardless of whether they got really popular and later had 200,000 listens on the episode.
With an increasingly popular technology called Dynamic Ad Insertion, podcasters can structure their adbreaks to fulfill promises to sponsors without underperforming projections or getting a raw deal. Specifically, Dynamic Ad Insertion allows for podcasters to leave open slots within their episodes for advertisements to be automatically included up until a specific threshold of impressions is reached, meaning ads from 2022 can retroactively be added to past catalog episodes to fulfill impression guarantees.
Depending on the hosting platform, Dynamic Ad Insertion also allows for increasingly granular levels of targeted advertising similar to how prospective marketing sponsors are used to buying ad space on digital media platforms like Facebook and Google.
“The most direct way to monetize your podcast would be through the incorporation of sponsorships or ad campaigns,” said Patrick Casey, the Director of Growth Marketing at Felix Health. “Something you'll see a lot in the 'live stream' industry is popular media figures endorsing a product or company.”
Casey explained that while the marketing industry is slowly starting to realize the power of influencer marketing, companies are always looking for opportunities that can help you scale your podcast in terms of revenue generation, one of the best ways forward.
A final word of wisdom comes from Naresh Vissa, who reminded podcasters that while advertising can help keep a podcast solvent, it should never be the only means of making money.
“The most I ever made through podcast advertising was $20,000 a month over a period of a couple of months. But then both advertisers pulled their ads for various reasons,” Naresh cautioned. “Nevertheless, advertising is always an option... it's just the stability in ad revenue won’t always be there. Advertising should never be a primary revenue driver.”
With all of the actionable and valuable information provided in this guide, let’s hope you can turn your podcast into a profitable, prosperous entity.
