Podcasting is becoming an increasingly popular way to share your thoughts and ideas with the world. But many people don’t know how to make money from podcasting.
Podcasting is an idea that’s in the mind of a lot of people, especially prospective or upcoming podcasters. People often speculate if it is truly feasible and whether it is possible to monetize your podcast show. Many possible podcasters struggle to make money since monetizing a podcast can be challenging, but it is not impossible.
Lots of podcasters work hard to buy gadgets and equipment for their podcast which makes them spend more than they earn. However, if you work on making unique content and publish new episodes on a regular basis, you’ll eventually build a very successful podcast that will probably generate revenue for each episode. In this article, we’ll show you how to make money from podcasting through sponsorship, advertising, affiliate marketing, and many other means.
How To Monetize Your Podcast
Many different methods and strategies can help monetize a podcast, including ads, subscription barriers, exclusivity, and many others. You can create more profitability by designing different success methods or strategies for your podcast. The most common ways to make money off of a podcast include:
1. Subscription (subscriber-based)
Most podcasts make money on the subscription model. It’s the easiest way to generate revenue with your podcast and you don’t need to think about advertising. If you want to increase your audience to redistribute content, your goal is to educate them so they want more of you, your podcast, and your content. Once they pay their monthly subscription fee, they can access all of your content.
2. Sponsorships
Sponsorship is the most common way to make money from podcasting. A sponsor is a company or individual that pays you to mention their product or service in your podcast but there are two types of sponsorship: direct and indirect sponsorship.
Direct sponsorship is when you have a sponsor who provides you with money or products in exchange for mentions in your podcast. Indirect sponsorship is when you have a sponsor who provides you with money or products, but doesn’t require mentions in your podcast.
How much money you make from a sponsor depends on the number of downloads of your podcast. Sponsors pay on a cost-per-thousand-download (CPM) basis, which is what you’d probably expect. For a basic show that only people on the margins are likely to listen to, that’s probably around $18 per thousand downloads (you’d make that back many times over from ads). A popular podcast can generate six figures. Mid-roll ads are your best bet for downloadable but captive audience consumption.
3. Advertising
Micro-incoming is a great way to make money without increasing your risk. When you advertise, you’re selling advertisements for your podcast. There are two ways to make this happen. You can buy advertising spots while you pre-record your show, or you can do on-demand advertising while you record your show. This is called mid-roll advertising. But most importantly you can adverse people goods and services for them on your podcast episode.
4. Direct Support From Fans And listeners For Premium Content
If you create valuable content and an engaging personality, you will attract a large fan base that will gladly give you money to support your show. The most easily accessed way for you to monetize your show without breaking any laws or violating any terms of service is by starting a Patreon account and a page explaining why you deserve support and collecting money.
You can add a Patreon donation to see your audience’s support, but you can also use any service that allows you to link your PayPal account or any other means to collect the money. A way to get paid for your audience’s support is to use premium content. You’ll need to charge for early access, access to bonus episodes, downloads of transcripts, chiropractic, and other resources, news, access to announcements and live chats, or even access to Facebook groups.
5. Affiliate Sales
Affiliate Sales are a sure bet with you potentially getting money from your audience’s purchases. When you create content, you can share affiliate links with your audience. Agencies like ShareaSale.com and Clickbank.com make it easy for you to create links to Amazon or other affiliate sellers.
If you monetize with affiliate sales, make sure the company gives you a simple link that’s easy for you to say and your listeners to understand. For instant, Audible.com offers a popular affiliate program for creators. For every referral made to Audible.com from your website, you’ll earn a percentage from every successful sale made.
6. Complementary Products
Podcasts are more likely to be monetized if they sell complementary products. These might include accessible merchandise, e-books based on courses, offering consulting services, or promoting live events. Some people prefer to sell products directly on their website, but they tend to give away more of the products to those looking to sell. They sell their own products as a way to raise awareness of the program, but you might prefer to use a drop-shipping program or other services that can handle fulfillment on your end. Podcasts can sell just about anything, even merchandised products.
7. Paid Consultations
If you want to make good money online teaching a specific skill or topic that you’re an expert in, you’ll have to develop your own course and teach, or better still you can have a one-on-one conversation with your interested students.
Conclusion
Podcasting is a very lucrative career if you are capable of sticking to it, achieving quality content, and engaging your audience. The possibilities are endless but you can monetize your podcast with a variety of methods and strategies. Most podcasters strike a balance between making money and producing quality content. Subscribe to our mailing list for more quality content like this or contact us for further assistance.
