Hi there,

One of my favourite podcasters, and someone I look up to when it comes to growing a successful podcast, is Mark Asquith, co-founder of hosting platform Captivate (where I'm Head of Podcaster Support & Experience). Now, there are many reasons for my admiration of Mark, but the main one is his steadfastness when it comes to really caring about helping indie podcasters succeed, whatever that looks like for them.

One of his biggest pieces of advice that's helped me is around monetization, and earning with your podcast. In Mark's own words, "You need to diversify - eggs in a single basket never work." And it's true: if you're limiting yourself to one revenue stream - a single ad partner, for example - and that suddenly disappears, you're going to be left scrambling trying to replace that.

Alternatively, depending on the revenue stream, you might not even qualify for it, even though your content is awesome and you have listeners that are engaged and supremely active around your podcast. Looking at the new Spotify Partner program, for example: while it might seem tempting to be making money on arguably the largest podcast platform in the world, chances are for the average podcaster that's not going to happen because of their eligibility limitations:

• Need to be hosted with Spotify for Creators
• Have 10,000 streamed hours on Spotify in the last 30 days
• Have been streamed by 2,000 unique Spotify users in the last 30 days
• Have at least 12 episodes published

Now the first and last bullet points aren't "deal breakers", as such, but the main two - the 10,000 hours and 2,000 unique Spotify users in the last 30 days - definitely could be, and probably are, for several reasons. According to the Podcast Marketing Academy's "Podcast Marketing Trends 2024":

• the average podcast has 425 downloads per episode
• the average podcast has 1,132 downloads per month
• the average episode consumption rate is 67.7%

So if your figures are similar to that of the average podcast, then the Spotify Partner Program is out of reach, unfortunately. That, and the fact a lot of listeners won't use Spotify for personal reasons, is a great example of why diversification in monetization is key.

So, what are some of the ways you can monetize, regardless of audience size, how long the podcast has been active, where your podcast is hosted, etc? Here are the methods I currently use/have used.

Listener tips/donations

This is one of the easiest ways, because it's also one of the least intrusive ways. Whether you use something like Buy Me a Coffee or PayPal.Me, or equivalents like them such as the Tips feature on Captivate, this lets listeners send you a one-off payment of their choosing to support the show.

Memberships/premium content

Many podcasters offer exclusive perks to "premium subscribers", including early access, exclusive content, ad-free content, private community access, and more. This can be the likes of Patreon, Memberful, or equivalents like Memberships from Captivate.

Direct sponsorships

The general ad revenue model is based on CPM (Cost Per Mille), which is how much you get paid per 1,000 downloads. So, let's say the CPM is $20, you'd get $20 for every 1,000 downloads your episode receives in the first 30 days. Given the average podcast episode receives 425 downloads, that'd mean just over $4 per episode. Not something that's going to send the kids to college. Direct sponsorships, on the other hand, are far more effective, and don't limit you based on your download numbers.

Instead, if you have an active and engaged audience and can show that to potential sponsors in your niche, that's super attractive to them. Especially if you can work with local or hyper local sponsors, or your show is particularly niche, so the audience is very specific which in turn makes them a lot warmer and a better fit to sponsors.

One of my older podcasts was geared towards geek/nerd culture, and for some reason I had a very dedicated following in Toronto. So I partnered with a comic book/geek store in downtown Toronto, and that was worth a nice three-figure sponsorship each month, even though the listeners for that podcast in Toronto were just 10 people. The reason the store was happy to pay was it cost a lot less than media buying and ads, and the audience was far more targeted and the store was a perfect fit (especially since they offered exclusive deals for listeners of the podcast).

Affiliate partnerships

Much like tips/donations, affiliate partnerships are also super simple. With affiliate options, you partner with brands and services you either already use yourself, or are a perfect fit for your audience, and if they buy anything you'll get a slight percentage of that sale. This can be a one-off payment, or recurring if it's a monthly service that's being bought. Heads up, though - the best affiliate partnerships come when you're a user or genuine fan of the product or service you're recommending. That's because your audience can learn from your experiences, and trust your opinion more because of it, and from your end you're respecting that trust in return by only recommending the best options. Here's an example of that.

Merchandise

Having your own store and selling products/gear relevant to your podcast is a great way for fans to support, while getting some very cool branded stuff into the bargain. The main downside to this is the initial set-up and maintenance, and then how much of a percentage your store partner platform takes for each product sold. Unless you're storing and shipping yourself, which then can offer its own issues.

There are more ways to earn - streaming sats, for example (bitcoin), where listeners send you sats via their favourite Podcasting 2.0 app. While this can be effective, though, it can also be a bit technical for the average podcaster/listener to manage, which can explain its relatively low uptake so far.

The main thing is, have a multitude of options available to you and your listeners - it gives them more ways to choose from, which in turn can encourage more support, and for you it means even if you lose one option there are several more already in place to take over.

Until the next time, happy podcasting.