Podcast Monetization – How to Make Money with Podcasts

Podcast Monetisation How to Make Money Podcasting

Podcasts have been around for more than a decade, but even now it is still a relatively new industry. This lack of experience and knowledge has led to some confusion about how to make money with podcasts.

Podcasts first emerged in the early 2000s and quickly gained popularity as a form of media. Podcasting is now mainstream, with more than 100 million active monthly listeners in the US alone. And it’s not just about listening anymore! Podcasts are also an excellent way to make money with your voice and your expertise as an author or speaker.

The good news is that there are many ways to monetize your podcast depending on your content and purpose. In this article, we will explore what the most popular methods are and how to use them effectively.

How to Monetize Podcasts?

There are several ways to monetize a podcast. The most popular podcasts use many different strategies, which ensures that there is money coming in from different sources.

Diversifying your revenue can be extremely important for many reasons. It could provide you with a backup in the event that one of your sources dried up. Even if it never happens, diversifying provides you with an assurance that you have multiple lines of income coming in. This is the reason why popular podcasters use multiple streams that generate money for them.

Below are the top most popular Podcast monetization methods podcasters use to make money –

1. Sponsorships

Sponsorships are the most popular way to monetize podcasts. It is a type of marketing that is used by companies to promote their products or services. It is also a way for podcasters to make money from their podcast.

There are many different types of sponsorships, but there are two main ways in which you can make money with sponsorships:

Product Placement – This involves advertising a product in your podcast and mentioning it at least once per episode.

Branding – This involves creating an episode that is sponsored by one company and using them as the sole sponsor of the episode.

How much a sponsor will pay you depends on how many listners and downloads you generate. Rates differ depending on the podcast, but typically range from $18-$32 CPM.

You can create different kinds of sponsored ads to run at different points within your episode. Pre-roll ads introduce the episode, while post-roll ads conclude it. They both appear for around 15 to 30 seconds per each viewing.

Mid-roll ads are better because the audience is already watching and captive to the podcast. The sponsor will typically give you a script to read, but they might allow you more freedom as well.

When you’re first starting out, it’s recommended that you charge $15 for pre and post-roll ads and $20 for mid-roll advertisements. The Podcast Sponsorship Calculator is a great tool that can help you decide how much to ask for in your advertising campaigns.

2. Include Premium Content

Including premium content in your podcast is a great way to monetize it. It can be anything from bonus episodes, interviews with experts, or even just a behind-the-scenes look at the podcast.

You can ask your followers for support to produce more of your original content or to access premium content by using direct support. If you can present your show well, there will be many people who want to contribute money so you can keep it going – we just have to make sure that they know how!

One of the best ways to get funding is Patreon, you need to create an account and make a page. This page should describe why you deserve support and provide a way for people to send you money.

Besides, you can even set up PayPal button and stripe form so that users can send you money directly.

3. Affiliate Sales

Making money with podcasts can be done in a number of ways. One way is through affiliate sales. This is a great way to make money from your podcast and it’s relatively easy to do.

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways for podcasters to monetize their show. It works by you promoting someone else’s products or services and earning a commission every time someone purchases something from that company or service. You can do this by simply mentioning the product or service in your podcast, and linking to it, or by doing an entire episode dedicated to it.

Affiliate marketing has been around for decades and has become one of the most popular ways for people who are just starting out online to make money quickly and easily without having to invest anything up front.

In affiliate sales, instead of getting paid for every download, you get paid for every sale. The company your are marketing will pay a commission on every sale from your customer.

An Audible affiliate program is popular amongst podcasters and YouTubers. You’ll get a unique tracking link to promote and when someone uses it, you’ll earn $15 and more.

If you want to make affiliate sales, ask the company to provide you with a link that is easy to say and your listeners can easily understand.

Below are the examples of good and bad affiliate URLs for podcasters –

Good URL: www.affiliate.com/name

Bad URL: www.affiliate.com/?#124%≠1267

4. Complementary Products

One inexpensive way to monetize your podcast is by selling complementary products. These could include merchandise, courses, consulting services, books or access to live events.

You can use drop-shipping or print-on-demand services to help customers order your complementory products online. All you need is a page on your website where they could buy from. These services will send items directly to your customers without any time/effort spent by yourself.

How Much Money do Podcasters Make?

The answer to this question is not as straightforward as it might seem. There are many factors that can affect how much money a podcaster make from podcasting. Some of these factors include –

  • How often you publish episodes
  • How long your episodes are
  • What genre your podcast is in
  • How popular your podcast is with listeners

Whenever people ask how much money podcast hosts can make, what they want to know is how much the average podcaster can earn. This is an impossible question to answer as it depends on the popularity of their show, how many downloads and listeners they have, etc. But let’s focus on beginners: most make around $5000 a year from their podcast.

However, let me try to answer this question by making some rough assumptions.

Let’s say –

  • You put three a pre-roll, a mid-roll, and a post-roll ads in each episode.
  • Get $5 monthly donation from the 2% of your audience.
  • You will get affiliate sales per month from the 1% of your audience that is worth of $15.
  • 0.05% of your audience is buying your own product like an online course worth of $99 each month.
  • You release four episodes every month.

Based on these assumptions, if you have 1,000 downloads per episode and you have no sponsors yet, you are still making money –

  • $100/m Patreon support
  • $495/m course sales
  • $150/m affiliate sales

Total = $745/month

Take a note that these numbers are based on an assumptions and are subject to vary depending on the downloads your episodes will get. It also help you to predict the average earning of a podcaster.

Popular Podcast Advertising Networks

Podcast advertising networks are the best way for advertisers to reach a large number of podcasters and connect with them on a personal level. They have a huge range of networks, from small, niche-focused networks to large advertising giants that offer podcast advertising across many different platforms.

In this section, we will be looking at some of the most popular podcast advertising networks and what they have to offer advertisers.

  • Ad Results Media
  • Podcorn
  • AdvertiseCast
  • True Native Media
  • Midroll
  • Adopter Media
  • Authentic Shows
  • PodcastOne
  • HeadGum

These are some of the best platforms new podcasters can use to get sponsorships. However, in the beginning, you won’t be able to demand your own rates. Once your show start performing well a lot more sponsors who reach out to ask for advertising opportunity. You’ll then have an opportunity to negotiate too.

List of the Highest Earning Podcasts

It’s important to keep in mind that I’ll never know certain details about a podcast show such as how much they make. The information I have is solely what the show owners provide publicly and what can be deduced from their statements.

With that said, below are some of the most popular and highest earning podcasts –

  • The Joe Rogan Experience ($800,000 per episode)
  • Chapo Trap House ($147,262 per month)
  • The Ringer ($15 million)
  • Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income ($100,000 per month)
  • Tiny Meat Gang ($51,199 per month)
  • Last Podcast On The Left ($53,958 per month)

Conclusion

In brief, podcasts have become an increasingly popular form of media, but monetizing podcasts has been difficult for many creators. Many people are turning to sponsorships or ads as a way to monetize their podcasts, but these methods often require that the podcast be produced by a company with an existing audience or with a lot of listeners.

Hence, you need to find a best podcast hosting site that offers incredilbe monetization option with great customer support. It helps you to get going effortlessly along with an expert assistance.

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