TL;DR:
If you’re a podcast listener, you’re probably used to your favorite podcasts taking a minute in the middle of the podcast to share products with the audience. The biggest podcasts all seem to monetize in this way.
The model is simple, you build a highly engaged audience through good quality content, and once you get big enough brands start reaching out to you to promote their products on your podcast.
Here’s the problem though, getting to millions of downloads per month is no small feat. If you post a podcast episode and you get more than 5100 downloads within seven days, you’re in the 1% of podcasts.
That means that podcasts getting hundreds of thousands or millions of downloads aren’t just the 1%, they’re outliers even within the 1% bracket.
Think of it similar to wealth distribution, there’s the 1% of wealth bracket, but then there’s the Forbes billionaire list which is an elite tier within that 1% bracket.
While this may have taken your motivation to start a podcast away, the good news is that ads are not the only way to monetize a podcast. There are actually many other ways you can monetize - and they don’t all require you to have millions of downloads. Let’s dive into the different ways you can start generating revenue with a podcast.
How it works:
A company asks you to talk about their product/service on your podcast in exchange for money. If you go with a standard ad directory, you rate will be based on how many downloads you get. For podcasts you can expect anywhere from $10-$30 per 1000 downloads.
Alternatively, you can make your own deals with companies and if your podcast is focused in a specific niche and you have a highly engaged audience, companies can be willing to pay out much more.
Pros: