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Once you’ve built an engaged and growing audience, you can think about whether you want to take your podcast to the next level and explore a monetization strategy. From affiliate marketing and podcast sponsorships to premium content and merchandise, there are many ways to make money podcasting.
Read on to see how you can turn your own podcast into a passive income stream in a way that’s authentic to you and your podcast listeners.
Use sponsored ads and affiliate codes
The most common way a podcast makes money is from advertising and sponsorships. There are generally three ad slots for a podcast:
Pre-roll: At the beginning of an episode
Mid-roll: In the middle of an episode
Post-roll: At the end of an episode
Mid-roll podcast advertising is typically longer than pre- and post-roll advertising. You can take a minute or two for an ad break in the middle of an episode if your listeners have already listened to the first half of your podcast and are invested enough to stick around after the ad break. If you have a longer podcast (over 30 minutes or so) you may want to have multiple, shorter ad breaks in your episodes.
Pre-roll ads are usually shorter—30 seconds or less—because you want to avoid alienating your podcast audience before they start the episode. Post-roll ads are shorter because listeners aren’t likely to stick around for a long ad break at the end of an episode. Post-roll ads are generally less attractive to advertisers because not everyone who starts a podcast episode will listen to the very end.
There are also two styles of podcast ads:
Ads read by the podcast host
Prerecorded ads inserted into your recording
How much ad revenue you make from running podcast ads depends in part on when in the episode an ad will run. Typically, the going rate for a 30-second pre-roll ad is roughly $15 to $20 per 1,000 listens. For a 30- to 60-second mid-roll ad, the average rate is $25 to $30 per 1,000 listens. And a 15- to 25-second post-roll ad averages about $10 per 1,000 listens. In addition to the placement in your podcast, the amount of money will vary depending on the size of your listenership, the length of the ad, your niche, and how many ad spots you have in the episode.
A podcast ad can also include affiliate codes that offer discounts for a product or service mentioned in an ad. If a listener uses the code from your podcast, then you can earn a commission on the purchase they make.
Put some episodes behind a paywall
A direct monetization method for popular podcasts is to charge your listeners to listen. You’ll need to balance the ability to make money from subscribers with granting free access to grow the size of your audience.
It does not need to be an all or nothing proposition. You can put some of your episodes behind a paywall for a limited time. For example, you could offer exclusive early access to your latest episode for a week before it’s freely available. Or you could take the reverse course and create an archive of your oldest episodes, available only to members.
You can also gate other exclusive content, like live events or special bonus episodes that engage your listeners more directly with a Q&A format. You could also create paid content on your blog site with behind-the-scenes blog posts, a subscriber newsletter, or even an online course that teaches new podcasters how to grow their following and explore podcast revenue streams.
Sell podcast merch
Once you establish a successful podcast, you can create an online store to sell podcast merchandise that promotes you and your work. There are low-cost tools that let you outsource the production of high-quality physical products while avoiding large upfront costs and managing a large inventory of goods. Print-on-demand partners fulfill orders as they come in, so you’ll pay to produce a t-shirt, coffee mug, or tote bag only after you have made a sale.
With most of the production taken care of, you can devote your time and energy toward making great podcast episodes instead of focusing on creating custom merchandise.
The added benefit of selling podcast merch is it helps to promote your show. You’ll make money from selling the merchandise that will then act as an advertisement to attract new listeners.