You may already know this but podcasting has become extremely popular in today’s world. About a decade ago, nobody knew what podcasting was. However, the media audience now includes a large number of podcast listeners.
Podcasting has quickly become well-known and there are a lot of opportunities to create new podcasts. But even with a talent for engaging with an audience and a great idea for a new podcast, you will still need to know how you can make money in podcasting.
New podcasts might find it difficult to find a high-paying sponsorship unless you’re already a well-known individual with an audience. Are you wondering if new podcasts can even make any money? The answer to your question is yes.
How to Make Money With Podcasts
Podcasters can set up a few automated revenue streams, especially the new podcasters who would want their income and audience to grow. They can accrue passive income by setting up automated revenue streams, leaving them with enough time to focus on podcasts.
Make use of both direct and indirect monetization methods to maximize profit. The most profitable podcasts make money from different revenue streams. Individuals and small businesses can make episodes of digital audio files, which are known as podcasts. They can do this to share information, increase brand awareness, and connect with an audience.
With a growing audience that appreciates your podcasts, you can start monetizing the content. It should be noted that other revenue streams for podcasters include sponsorships, crowdfunding, and merchandising.
Let’s now look at how you can make money as a podcaster through several direct and indirect monetization strategies.
Direct Monetization
Direct monetization refers to when a podcaster earns money directly through the content and the audience. Crowdfunding is one way to do so. You can ask for direct funding or donations from the most faithful and committed listeners to crowdfund your podcast.
Make sure that you are being transparent about how the money collected will be used for funding the recording and post-production of your podcasts. If you have a passionate audience that loves listening to your content, even if your podcasts are free, there is a chance that some of them will directly donate to keep listening.
Paywalling is yet another form of direct monetization for podcasters. This method allows subscribers who pay monthly or for special podcast episodes to have access to exclusive content behind a paywall.
However, making a good amount of money through paywalling can be challenging for new podcasters. Remember to make enough premium content. By offering something special, you can attract and maintain subscribers who will pay.
Choose a Top Podcast Hosting Platform
Top podcast subscription platforms have helped many podcasters and content creators earn millions of dollars through their networks. By making your content available to the platform that your target audience uses, you’ll be able to reach them seamlessly.
About 50% of people play their podcasts on Apple. However, many other reliable platforms offer better features and perks. You will miss out on more than half of podcast listeners if you exclusively release your content on the Apple podcast subscription platform. Not just that, they can play content on any other podcast player of their choice, such as Spotify. Aside from that, there are more benefits from other platforms compared to Apple podcast subscription platforms.
Choose a streaming platform that will pay out for streams. Go with the platform that suits your style while also meeting all of your needs.
Indirect Monetization
Many successful podcasters use indirect monetization strategies and leverage their audience towards indirect revenue streams. Let’s take a look at some examples.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can also be referred to as affiliate partnerships. This indirect monetization strategy involves a podcast host recommending to their podcast audience a certain product or service. Podcasters can offer a link through which the audience can buy that product or service.
Depending on their agreement, podcasters can earn money with every lead, visitor, or sale they can bring to the business. To be effective, remember to include the affiliate link in your show notes so that the audience can easily click through and help you make money.
Sponsorships
Podcast sponsorships involve podcasters featuring a brand’s product or service through podcast advertisements. In return, brands or businesses pay the podcasters. Featured advertisements can be displayed at the start of an episode as a pre-roll, after the credits as a post-roll, or in between segments as a mid-roll.
Advertisement earnings for podcasters are usually determined by the cost per mille (CPM) method. This means the cost per thousand streams or downloads of the podcasts. Sponsorships are a popular way of making money for well-known podcasts with a large number of listeners.
Live Events
You can consider hosting live events and selling tickets through your podcasts. This will be especially helpful if you have a good following. Live events can help you make money while also connecting directly with your audience.
Merchandising
You can sell your products to your following. Offer products in the form of merchandise like t-shirts, mugs, or posters to your dedicated audience and earn money.
Helpful Tips for Monetizing Your Podcast
Although monetizing your podcasts is not so simple, especially for new podcasters, you can still create a monetization strategy over time. Here are some helpful tips that you consider when trying to monetize your podcast.
Make Use of Various Monetization Strategies
There are many different podcast monetization strategies that you can mix and match to make money through podcasts. For instance, you can create exclusive and special content while also advertising your merchandise or any brand’s products or services.
Plan a live event while also looking for affiliate partnerships. By diversifying your monetization strategies, you can utilize more opportunities to make money.
Widely Distribute Your Podcast
Distribute your podcast through as many channels as possible. Work with platforms like Apple Podcasts or other podcast hosting services to host your podcasts. You can also post video podcasts on YouTube. By distributing your podcast this way, your chances of reaching a wider audience will increase.
Build Your Target Audience
You will have to build your target audience unless you already have a fan following. You can create your podcast website. Consider posting about your podcast on social media platforms. You could even come up with an email list by finding groups online that are relevant to the topics you cover on your podcast.
Don’t be afraid to get creative with how you can reach out to your potential listeners. Building an audience may take some time but it will be worth it.
Stay Regular and Reliable
Be consistent with your release schedule. The only way to make money through podcasts is by maintaining your audience with regular releases. Consistently create and upload new episodes to maintain your audience and increase the number of listeners.
Be Patient
We’ve already mentioned that making money through podcasts can take time. Do not give up too early. Only very few podcasts can make a good amount of money immediately.
Create your podcasts out of a passion for a particular subject so that you can enjoy and have fun while creating content. You can focus on monetization strategies once you have a loyal audience and have made enough premium content.
Conclusion
You should think about podcast monetization and have a plan. If possible, have a plan even before you upload your first episode. It might be helpful to consider how the topic, style, and content of your podcasts will help you in the future.
Remember that the most successful independent podcasts use multiple revenue streams to create a steady flow of income. This allows the hosts to also focus on growing their audience so they can increase their earnings in the future.
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