There are many ways to make money podcasting, and not just with a podcast sponsor. But here's the information that will be most important to any advertiser.
Monthly downloads are meaningless
Don't fall for the myth of “Monthly downloads”—they're actually deceptive to an advertiser. You may say you have 10,000 downloads, but the majority of that is your archive and your sponsor may actually only get 5,000 impressions. A higher publishing frequency will increase your monthly downloads, but that doesn't mean your audience grew, or that a potential podcast sponsor will be heard by more people.
Downloads per episode are accurate
Advertising is still a numbers game, so the next most important stat is your true audience size. The best way to gauge this is by looking at your downloads per episode after about a month. Average it out across your episodes. This is the number advertisers would want for a CPM model (where they pay you $10–$45 per thousand downloads), because this tells them how many impressions they would get for each episode sponsorship.
The best place to get these per-episode numbers is by hosting your media with Libsyn or Blubrry, or using Blubrry's free or premium stats. For either provider, use promo code “noodle” to get a free month. Your web host, S3, or other regular host will not have accurate podcast stats like Libsyn and Blubrry provide.
If you're currently featured in iTunes, your numbers will be highly skewed. You'll see a big drop when you're no longer featured. So wait at least a month or two before you check numbers for a potential podcast sponsor. You wouldn't want to give them a false expectation.
Let's say you average 1,000 downloads per episode (after a month) during a normal time period. Big advertisers (like Audible) won't even consider an audience smaller than 5,000. But you may be able to get small campaigns for $10 CPM. This means each episode earns you only $10. Four episodes in a month is $40. So is it really worth it to you to inconvenience your listeners, interrupt your content, and advertise something that may or may not be relevant to your audience?
You can easily make more than this by simply asking for donations. Give a shoutout to your donors and encourage them to contribute $10 or more per month. If only ten people donate each month, you're beating the $10 CPM and your audience will enjoy it a lot more.
Engagement is the best stat for a podcast sponsor
Engagement is the best stat for a #podcast sponsor.Click To TweetThe most important stat to a potential podcast sponsor is your influence. How engaged is your audience? Do they take action on your recommendations? This matters more to an advertiser than impression numbers, because they'll not renew an advertising contract, even to a big audience, if the audience isn't taking action (converting). The more likely your audience is to take action, the more valuable they are to a sponsor.
A good way to measure this is by recommending relevant free or premium resources (maybe even an affiliate) with a trackable link, like from Pretty Link Pro or Better Links Pro. An affiliate will allow you to track both how many people visited through your link and—more importantly—how many people purchased.
Let's say Acme Advertiser has a product that you think your audience would love. You have an audience of 2,000 regular listeners (downloads per episode after a month) for four episodes. Twenty people (1% of your audience) take action and purchase the product you recommended.
Acme Advertiser makes $10 profit from each sale. If they pay you a $10 CPM, you make $80 from all four episode, and they've earned a profit of $120 after their cost of $80 to get twenty new customers.
But if your audience is more engaged and you get 5% (which is actually very high) to take action, then that's 100 new customers for Acme Advertiser. With a larger engagement, the same audience of 2,000 is more valuable to a podcast advertiser and you may be able to negotiate a higher sponsorship rate.
Need personalized podcasting help?
I no longer offer one-on-one consulting outside of Podcasters' Society, but request a consultant here and I'll connect you with someone I trust to help you launch or improve your podcast.
Ask your questions or share your feedback
- Comment on the shownotes
- Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
- Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)
Connect with me
- Subscribe to The Audacity to Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Android.
- Join the Facebook Page and watch live podcasting Q&A on Mondays at 2pm (ET)
- Subscribe on YouTube for video reviews, Q&A, and more
- Follow @theDanielJLewis
Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
Related Content
What are your thoughts on doing CPA ads on your podcast? Like talking about a product that you really like and using a Pretty Link URL to an affiliate link?
Yes, that works. But you must not say anything that makes it sound like the company is sponsoring or endorsing you. Avoid saying, “brought to you by,” or “sponsored by.”
Any kind of CPA add entirely depends on how engaged your audience is and whether they take action.
No endorsements.. got it! Thanks Daniel 🙂
[…] What stats matter most to a podcast sponsor?– Daniel Lewis […]
Thanks for the post! But what do you mean by “downloads per episode”? do you mean “monthly downloads per episode”?
Look at your download stats for only a single episode. Don’t look at how many downloads you deliver in a whole month—that number is meaningless. https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/monthlydownloads
[…] because this tells them how many impressions they would get for each episode sponsorship” (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/what-stats-matters-most-to-a-podcast-sponsor/) . If enough people are engaging in your content it should increase the chances of them wanting […]
[…] is important. Even more persuasive to sponsors is the ability to demonstrate to sponsors that your audience is engaged and likely to take action on your recommendations, which can be done by recommending a resource […]
What would you charge a sponsor for a podcast. Saying this episode brought to you by?
[…] Discerns that they are offering the most exposure for a brand. Thus, these can range between $25-40 per listeners instead of the standard rate of $18-25. Here is the catch before you approach a […]