Last updated on February 16th, 2023

Do you know how big the podcast market is? Come on… without googling.

Almost two-fifths of the population listened to a podcast in 2020. Way up from 2019, which was a banner year for podcasts already.

I’ve already covered why you should want to start a podcast in 2021. Once you’ve decided to get on board, the first logical question you ask is how to make money by podcasting.

Fair enough. The sooner you can monetize your efforts the freer you will be to focus on and create better content. Money begets value.

The podcast industry will continue to gain attention in 2021. The trend lines are there. As such, the most effective podcast monetization strategies are shifting to keep pace.

Are You Joe Rogan?

The reason I ask is that Joe Rogan has something that your show doesn’t… yet. A massive audience. It’s easy to monetize a massive audience. Even smaller audiences, of 5,000 downloads an episode, can attract mid-roll sponsorship ads.

According to Advertise Cast, the average 30-second advertisement will garner $18 per 1,000 downloads. A show a week, that’s $4,300 a year. Not exactly paying your rent. Not to mention getting 5,000 downloads a show is nothing to sneeze at when you’re first starting out.

The problem is there’s more noise than ever in the podcast marketplace. Out of the million podcasts on the iTunes store, for instance, maybe 300,000 are actively producing content. But that doesn’t mean your new content doesn’t have to compete with someone’s back catalog for attention. It’s an issue.

There have to be better ways to monetize a show early when you’re starting out. Well, it turns out, our friends in the blogosphere have some examples we can follow while we wait for Spotify to cut our check.

Basic advertising might seem like the most obvious way for income to come rolling in. And it is obvious. It also happens to be one of the most inefficient ways to leverage a small audience. There’s too much competition for the generic products being advertised in this scattershot way. Billboards suffer from this same inefficiency.

The real money comes from developing a steadily increasing audience that loves everything you’re producing. You can’t act as if your content is some commodity. A commodity can be undercut by Amazon’s haphazard entrance into your market.

You have to stand out and convey your value. Got the right mindset? Okay, let’s start making some money.

How Do You Make Money by Podcasting #1: Ask For Support

One of the best ways to find out if you’re ready to make money with podcasting is to ask for money for your podcasting. Compare asking for a donation of support to using basic advertising. Use the same 20,000 listens a month.

Based on estimates from Patreon, a listenership that is actively asked may donate to the show at a rate of 5%. The average donation amount is $5 per month. That’s $15,000 per year as opposed to $4,300.

Now we’re talking. That’s a number that starts to feel real and can spark the motivation to grow your audience further. It begins to feel like you really can make money with podcasting.

All from a simple ask. The hurdle here is to get in the right mindset to actually make the ask. The advertising model lets you have the illusion that you aren’t thinking about the sordid subject of money.

But let’s be honest, nobody wants to host a show out of the goodness of their heart. Unless they don’t need to be thinking of money in the first place, in which case, go for it.

Looking at you, Elon.

How to Make Money by Podcasting: Extreme Micropayments

Start out small. Ask your audience to hit the PayPal button and buy you a cup of coffee for your efforts. I like how the hosts of “Nobody Panic” take exactly this approach. It’s unassuming, but it’s consistent. I never think I’m going to hit the button, but every so often, I do.

But you can go beyond that. There are now podcasting services that allow listeners to earn a bit of bitcoin and use that bitcoin to interact with the host of the show. It’s a novel concept that allows both the listener and the content creator to earn a bit while building a stronger connection at the same time.

Brilliant!

The first of these services that we’ve stumbled across is Fountain.fm. I’ve included our link there so you can try it out. You can “boost” a certain creator if you like their content with the small amount of bitcoin you are earning for listening to a broad range of podcasts.

It’s kind of a cool way to discover podcasts as well. In lieu of a centralized algorithm driving up a show, the market of listeners kind of boosts a show up into the zeitgeist.

We’ll be doing a full look at this trend, but it’s a welcome sight and an excellent answer to how to make money by podcasting.

Apple iTunes | ACast | Spotify | @nobodypanicpod 

Ease into the feeling until you get comfortable. Seeing those first few donations will feel inspiring. It frees you up to move onto the next method.

How to Make Money By Podcasting #2: Sell Your Own Products and Services

Podcasting is marketing. So if you want to know how to make money by podcasting, you need to put your marketing cap on.

The bulk of a successful podcaster’s income, when they have a small audience, comes from selling their own services and products. That is, not directly from the podcast itself. The content on the podcast helps to build their network and move their products.

Which makes sense. If you’re selling a product, you set the price and you control the margin.

Jordan Harbinger starts off every show discussing his 6-minute networking course that he gives away for free. But once you sign up for it, you’re in his orbit. Until you opt-out. At that point, he’s free to recommend anything that he feels would benefit his audience.

Apple iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | @JordanHarbinger

It’s how you can turn a one-time episode into a lifelong relationship. This is a superpower you want.

Nicaila Matthews Okome hosts an excellent podcast on women crushing side hustles. But it also serves as a platform for both her Instagram course, as well as her podcast coaching. The latter of which is only open at certain times of the year, but her show promotes interest in the program all year round. This keeps building her email list.

Apple iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | @sidehustlepro

Creating a course is a lot of work. But once you’ve felt that your show can build a little momentum through donations, it is the right move. Well, the right move for most podcasters who want to know how to make money by podcasting.

And while you wait for your product to be developed and finished, you can always work on your affiliate marketing pitch.

How to Make Money By Podcasting #3: Affiliate Marketing

Perhaps you’ve heard the term, but you don’t know what it really means.

Affiliate marketing is essentially advertising with you as the pitch person. You’re already hosting, so why not lend your voice to the products you believe would benefit your audience. It’s a recommendation that you earn a commission for.

So if you don’t want to create your own product, and want to know how to make money by podcasting, affiliate offers are a solid choice.

There are three basic methods that work in the podcast arena:

1. General – This sounds like a general advertisement and has the least specific relevance to your show. Genericservice.com/yourshowname and you get your cut. It had better be simple because people need to remember it or click it from the show notes.
2. Specific Product – You can recommend a specific product that would be relevant to your audience. A vanity URL helps here. JamesLovesService.com helps your listeners find their way to the offering.
3. Guest pitches – I love this method. It’s similar to method number 2, with a slight twist. Instead of you pitching your own product, you’re having another guest come on your show and pitch theirs. So long as the product is relevant to your audience of course.

It behooves you a couple of different ways. First, the guest pitch method helps you with programming. Which is always a boost. It also gets a pitch person on your show that is passionate about the product. And then you, as host, act as the gatekeeper for your audience.

A word of caution here is that you can’t do this too often or have it break the format of your show with any kind of frequency. If you do that you begin to get labeled as an infomercial huckster. That isn’t the reputation you want while you’re building a rabid audience. It cuts against your authenticity.

Huck with integrity. Make sure you actually like the product and believe in it. Your reputation is hard to get back once it’s been burned. That really should be lesson number one on how to make money by podcasting, don’t burn your reputation.

One last note on affiliate marketing. You need to disclose that you are affiliate marketing. It’s critical.

You need to be transparent and let your audience know that you may earn a commission from the sale of the product. Not only is it the stand-up thing to do, but there are also FTC requirements to adhere to. We’re not lawyers so you need to do your own due diligence on your responsibilities.

Conclusion

When you ask, “How to make money by podcasting?” the first thought is, “Advertising. Duh.” But in reality, advertising is one of the worst ways. Especially for a show with a small audience. To make enough money to make podcasting worthwhile, you need to leverage your efforts.

If you’re putting in the effort to crank out a great show, you want to tell the world. You want to be rewarded for the hard work. That’s only natural. So, as we enter into 2021 (now 2023) and beyond, focus more on what will benefit your audience. Get the content right and these monetization methods are sure to impress.

I think we’re all tired of hearing the same product pitches on shows these days anyway.

What are some products you would recommend to your audience today? Let us know on Twitter.