Monetizing Your Podcast.
Podcast monetisation is the process of generating revenue from a podcast. There are two main distinctions in how podcasts make money, Direct and Indirect monetisation. Direct monetisation is when your show is the thing you are promoting and selling where as indirect monetisation is when you use your podcast to sell other things like books and events. Currently the most popular method is direct monetisation. As a pod-caster you can choose which method or methods you would like to use make a profit from your podcast. Some pod-casters like to combine both direct and indirect methods in order to gain maximum revenue and profit.
Here are some direct and indirect methods you could use to monetise your podcast.
Direct Monetization Methods
Donations
You can ask fans of your podcast for donations. Many will be happy to donate a few bucks to ensure their favorite podcast continues. You can add a PayPal button , Stripe account link or a link to a Go-fund-me campaign on your site to get donations. However, whenever you ask for donations always say the reason you are asking for them, for example, you could be asking for donations to create a few special episodes for a new season in your podcast.
Advertisements and Sponsors
This is one of the most common methods used by podcasters. You can ask businesses and firms to sponsor your podcast episode and/or run adverts for their products on your show and charge them a fee. For example, if you are running a coffee podcast you can get in contact with some local cafes and ask whether they would be willing to sponsor an episode. You can also use websites such as ‘advertise cast’ or ‘true native media’ to find sponsors!
As a podcaster you will sell advertising on your show on a cost per thousand listeners basis to other businesses hence the more listeners you gain the more money you can make selling adverts. However, if you don’t feel like directly contacting and dealing with businesses you can choose to join an advertising network. Advertising networks such as ‘Midroll’ , ‘Podgrid’ , ‘Podcorn’ will act as the middleman between hosts and companies so you won’t be the one directly contacting companies.
Paid membership and premium content
This is one of the newest trends in the industry, where podcasters ask listeners to pay to access exclusive content such as private Facebook groups and premium content. You can use sites such as ‘Patreon’, ‘Glow.fm’ and ‘Supercast’ to host your website and provide listeners access to your exclusive content. When you advertise your exclusive and premium content, tell your fans it’s benefits such as having ad- free and live streamed episodes to encourage them to subscribe.
Syndicate your show on Youtube
You can also publish your podcasts on YouTube. All you have to do is enable monetisation in your YouTube account settings and google handles the adverts and money distribution process. The amount of money you make will depend on the number of views you get and how long people watch ten episode. Generally, you can make between USD 3.00 – 5.00 per 1000 views. However, in order to enable monetisation YouTube does require your podcast to have a minimum number of watch hours and subscribers.
Indirect Monetization Methods
Sell physical products
You can sell merchandise such as t-shirts , mugs and stickers showcasing your podcast name or a catchphrase from your podcast to your fans. There are many websites online that allow you to design your own merchandise, for example ‘Teespring’.
Affiliate Marketing
Simply put affiliate marketing is when you would earn a commission by selling and promoting another company’s products. There are many companies that have open affiliate programs, where you can easily sign up and receive payments. In affiliate marketing you would add a link in your podcast page for the advertising company’s products so your listeners can directly purchase them. You can also have guest interviews from the company on your podcast and allow them to sell their products in order to earn more revenue. The advantage of affiliate marketing is that you won’t need to design, create and advertise your own products which can be time consuming and costly .
Public Speaking
If you like talking in front of large crowds then you can quickly and effectively promote you podcast and it’s products through public speaking. All you have to do is find some local groups that meet and discuss the same interests as in your podcast topic. Then you can contact them and offer to present a topic in their next meeting!
Host an Event
If you have a loyal fan base the you can think about hosting an event where they can come and meet you in person. The type of event you host will depend on your podcast’s topic, you can give a lecture , run a workshop or teach a skill. If you decide to host an event you can use websites like ‘Eventbrite’ to design and sell your own tickets.
Sell access to other services : e-courses, consulting and coaching services
If you host an educational podcast, you can create an e-course to go along with it. To create an e-course you can do it on your own website with a tool like ‘Memberpress’ or host it on a third party platform like ‘Udemy’ or ‘Skillshare’. If your podcast is not an education based then you can think about providing consulting or coaching services. For example, a marketing podcast can provide personalised marketing strategies by meeting clients in persons, through phone calls or using software such as ‘Skype’ or ‘Zoom’.
Sell an APP
You can also design, develop and sell an app on the App Store or Google PlayStore related to your podcast or have an app that allows your listeners to interact with you and view content. For example, if you host an astronomy podcast you might sell a star-finder app. However, app development requires certain expertise and hence can be expensive. If you decide to go ahead with app development, make sure you do plenty of research before hiring an app developer.
When monetising you’re podcast, give a range of methods a try and figure out which suits your podcast the best. You can even listen to some podcast episodes about monetising your podcast in order to get a better understanding and make a more informed choice. There are episodes about monetising your podcast from podcast hosts such as ‘The side Hustle Show show’ , ‘Marketing School’ and ‘The Podcast Party’.