How to Make a Podcast Worth Paying for
If you’ve got a podcast, we’re betting you started down this road because you have a passion. Whether you’re helping to spread financial literacy or breaking down the latest Real Housewives episode, you (hopefully) love your niche subject.
Passion is essential, but we’d all be lying if we didn’t also think about how to monetize podcasts. After all, everyone needs to make a living, and if podcasting is your dream, then you have to think about how you’re going to make it a reliable source of income.
Which brings us to our topic of the day: how do podcasts make money and how you, in turn, can bring in the dough. Let’s get to it.
✴ How do podcasts make money?
Before we get into how you are going to make money, we should touch on how to monetize a podcast in the first place. For the best chance of a reliable income, seasoned podcasters suggest doing a little (or a lot) of all of these. In other words: diversify your income!
Why diversify? Because a) it helps increase your revenue, and b) if one area drops for any myriad of reasons, you can stay afloat by tapping into other streams.
✴ Advertising sponsors
Ads are probably your first thought when it comes to how to make money podcasting -- maybe even your only idea of how to do it. That’s because every major podcast you listen to most likely has ads (unless they’ve gone ad-free, which we’ll talk about below). If you have a large enough audience to entice sponsors to pay for advertisements, this is a great revenue source.
But there are downsides to relying only on this type of income. Mainly, it’s often hard to get to the level where advertisers are willing to pay you meaningful money. Plus, even once you’re at that level, you’ll have to devote a lot of time to securing said sponsors, dealing with contracts, and recording the commercials themselves.
✴ Ad revenue from hosting platforms
Did you know that you can make money from YouTube and Twitch? Of course, you did -- everyone knows that, right? So why do podcasters so often write these hosting platforms off without a second thought?
According to Listen Notes, the popular H3 Podcast makes anywhere from $1,000 to $35,000 a month via YouTube.
Following in their footsteps doesn’t mean that you should only host your show on YouTube or Twitch. Be sure to get your podcast listed in all the major directories, but then also upload clips, additional content, or even full episodes to one of these streaming platforms. There are all sorts of ways to build up your podcast’s presence on YouTube and similar sites if you’re willing to take the additional time.
✴ Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing isn’t just for Instagram influencers. Anyone with an audience can be an affiliate in their niche. All it takes is to partner with various companies and then promote their products. If people buy through your recommendation, you’ll get a small cut of the proceeds. (Bonus points if you actually use and believe in the products. Otherwise, it can get a little shady.)
For podcasters, affiliate marketing generally takes the form of advertisements during podcasts (think of all those 10% off Squarespace ads you hear on pretty much every podcast ever). Alternatively, as the host of a podcast, you can promote equipment, services, or courses within your personal network.
✴ Premium subscription & bonus content
Some podcasts have gone entirely away from advertisements and have instead put their episodes behind a paywall (meaning you have to pay to listen). Others keep some of their content free but put archives or bonus content behind the paywall to encourage a portion of their audience to upgrade to the premium subscription for more content.
Podcast Insights suggests including additional interviews, behind-the-scenes content, ad-free RSS feed, early access RSS feed, or Q&A events with hosts as exclusive extras. But don’t feel the need to limit yourself here -- premium content could include everything from full bonus episodes to a private Slack channel or a fun newsletter. It all depends on what resonates with your particular audience.
✴ Crowdfunding & listener donations
If you don’t quite feel ready to become a premium subscription podcast, there’s nothing wrong with asking for listener donations in a “pay-as-you-can” format. Whether through Kickstarter, Patreon, or something even simpler like Ko-Fi, one-time or monthly listener donations can be an easy way to help cover your costs and make a little bit of extra cash.
✴ Live shows & merchandise
Have a big enough audience to warrant a live show? Ticket sales are another opportunity to diversify your income. Depending on how successful your live event is, you can hold these multiple times a year. Or maybe even consider doing a live Zoom event, which can cut down on your overhead costs and increase your ticket revenue.
If you’re doing a live show in person, then you can obviously sell merchandise at your show. But it’s best to set up a merchandise section of your website so you can continue to sell items all year long.
✴ So, how do you make a podcast worth paying for?
All those potential revenue streams are great, but before you can make use of any of them, you need a quality podcast. If you want listeners or advertisers to invest in your podcast, there has to be something there worth paying for.
In a world where most podcasts are offered for free, this poses a serious challenge. As lovely as it would be for everyone to value creators’ time and energy, it’s hard to convince people to spend money on something that they can usually access without dropping a penny.
So, with that in mind, you need to find ways to set yourself apart from the crowd and connect with your audience in a meaningful way. The more loyal and engaged your listeners are, the more likely you’ll be able to ask them to pay for content. And advertisers will follow from that -- devoted, paying fans are a major selling point for companies.
✴ How to appeal to listeners
If you decide you want to focus on the premium subscription model or listener donations, then narrow in on how you can make your audience’s experience better.
Take a pen and paper, and set the timer on your phone for five minutes. During that time, think about your favorite podcast and all the things that make you want to pay for it. Does it offer bonus content? Is there an exclusive community? If your favorite podcast doesn’t offer any premium content, then what would you want in order to pay for it? Jot down absolutely anything that comes to mind until your time’s up.
Then, reset your phone for another five minutes, but this time, jot down all the ways you can make bonus content for your own podcast. What does your favorite show do that you want to implement yourself? Where do other shows lack, but you think you can offer something unique? By the time you’re done with this section, you should have a list of great ideas for how to make your podcast’s bonus content the best it can possibly be.
If you can be a fan of your own work and get excited about the extras you’re creating, then your listeners will likely be interested, too. As you work to separate yourself from the crowd, try to think past the first idea that pops into your head -- someone else has likely already done that. Keep pushing yourself to find creative offerings for your audience that make it impossible for them not to pay.
✴ Check-in with your listeners
At the end of the day, what is and isn’t worth paying for will be determined by your listeners. So why not check-in with them? Ask them what they want, send out a survey, or engage with them in your community. There’s absolutely no harm in asking. In fact, it’s the best way to ensure that you don’t head down the wrong path. If your listeners tell you what they’d pay for, then all you have to do is deliver.
✴ How to appeal to advertisers
On the other hand, if you’d rather focus on securing advertisers, then you might want to spend time thinking about how you can market your show and audience.
Try this exercise: draw a Venn diagram. In the left section, detail your ideal audience or listener persona. In the right part, detail what you think would be your advertisers' ideal buyer persona. In the middle, write down how those two sections overlap.
Now, take a step back and see if there are ways to specify further the center section so that you can frame your audience in a more marketable way. This is not to say that you should create a podcast or content tailored to advertisers. However, it’s useful to think about what advertisers are looking for and how you can sell your podcast to them.
It’s one thing to say your show is about business development; it’s another to say that your show is centered around helping millennial women break into the business world through interviews with industry leaders, mentorship programs, and live community events. If you were an advertiser, which pitch would interest you more?
Large audiences are obviously appealing to advertisers due to the sheer numbers. But if you’re not yet at that stage, focus on the specificity of your listeners and then target sponsors who want a direct line to the type of people who download your podcast.
✴ Continuously improve your podcast
On a final note: if you want people to pay for your podcast, then you must put in the time, effort, and passion necessary to create a good show. You don’t have to be perfect from the get-go (or, frankly, ever), but you should always be looking for ways to improve your craft. Consider updating your recording equipment to help capture better audio. Or perhaps you can spend an afternoon taking a course on how to write better scripts. Maybe it’s time to hire a composer for an intro song.
It all depends on where you are in your podcasting journey -- but we can assure you, there’s always something. And if you’re unsure where to start, we’re here to help! Grab our free mini-guide to podcast growth and monetization here.
LIKED THIS ARTICLE? DOWNLOAD OUR FREE PODCASTING GUIDES
Launch a Podcast in 30 Days Checklist The Best Podcast Equipment 2022 The Ultimate Production Checklist Vocal Warm-ups for Podcasters Target Listener Persona Template The Best Podcast Tools 2022