The riches are in the niches!

Niche podcasts with a specific target audience that consistently release episodes for at least two years can make money. The amount varies, but your first aim should cover your costs. 200 - 1500 euro/dollars a month is an attainable amount to aim for after two years of consistent Podcasting.

The fact is, Podcasting can be a great way of making money either directly or indirectly. In this article, I aim to cover how you should maximise the opportunity of making money with a Podcast.

Making money from a Podcast requires patience and persistence. You will have to invest lots of time and your own money before seeing any return. A recent study suggested that 69% of Podcasters who get beyond 100 episodes are monetising their Podcast.

So make sure you enjoy Podcasting and are passionate about your niche.

There IS money in Podcasting

Ignore anyone who says “there is no money in Podcasting” - and plenty of people say this.

Four of my podcast partners have recently begun making money from Podcasting. All are independent Podcasts with niche and modest listenership numbers. However, they have all been incredibly consistent. All these clients released Podcasts every week for roughly 100 episodes. 

I make money from editing podcasts, which never would have been attainable 5-10 years ago. This shows the value that individuals and companies now put on their Podcasts.

Spotify, Netflix and Youtube are all investing heavily in Podcasting. The fact that companies of that magnitude are investing says it all. 

There is money in Podcasting, and it's a fast-growing industry.

Tips on how you can make money Podcasting

Getting to a level where Podcasting is your full-time job is probably not going to be attainable for some time. Put yourself in the best position to make money from Podcasting down the line, by following these tips:

Be Realistic, and don't start a Podcast for acclaim.

It's essential to be realistic. Forget Joe Rogan, Adam Buxton, Amy Schumer, Russell Brand and any other famous person you may think of who has signed big deals for Podcasts. 

You can't compare yourself to a well-known celebrity or comedian who has a vast amount of credit and followers before they even begin. What you are getting into is an entirely different type of Podcasting. I call it "Independent Podcasting".

Instead of looking to well-known celebrities for blueprints, find what unknown people are out there who have built successful Podcasts in the area for which you aspire.

Go to chartable.com and select the category you want to target. Find some high ranking podcasts hosted by unknown people. 

Ignore the Podcasts with a network or brand name attached. Look for peoples names like in the graphic above when I searched for the charts for Business podcasts in Ireland. These are often (but not always) independent Podcasts.

Make a list of 4 or 5 in the top 100 and analyse each.

Look at things like; 

• Who is the host, are they known for Podcasting or something else?

• How long has the Podcast been going?

• How long are the episodes, and what is the format?

• What do the episodes cover?

• Do they have sponsorship, or do they sell services?

• Who are the listeners are where they are?

• Is it worth contacting them to see if they will give you 15 minutes of their time?

Use free tools such as Google trends or ubersuggest, type in phrases related to your niche and make sure it's a growing or consistent trend, not a declining one.

There is lots of free information available if you look for it. 

Use independent Podcasts as your blueprint, not Joe Rogan. 

If someone else in your niche has built a Podcast from nothing, then so can you.

Set your Podcast goals and expectations early on

You should never start any project without clearly defined goals and expectations. Be as detailed as possible.

For example, it might look something like this:

Goal 1: Release one Podcast every week consistently for 6 - 12 months

Goal 2: Build a dedicated audience of 2,000 listeners per month (12 - 18 months)

Goal 3: Make enough money to cover your costs of Podcasting (18 - 24 months)

Aiming to earn small amounts of money after two years is realistic. You can then try to double down if you get to this point. 

Building with small steps like this is much more attainable.

Build a good Podcast product before even thinking about money

I speak with new and aspiring Podcasters all the time. Unfortunately, many people want to get into Podcasting for money or acclaim, and it's evident to me immediately when I first speak with them. Their idea is usually not thought through, and the value they plan to offer the Podcast listener is minimal. That is because they are thinking about serving themselves, not the listener.

Getting into Podcasting to make money is a terrible starting point, and it will damage your Podcast if that's your prime goal. Listeners are very clever. For example, if you launch a new Podcast and start asking for donations or flooding the episodes trying to sell products or services, you're going to piss them off.

A better approach is to start a Podcast to provide entertainment or value to a listener. Slowly find out what your ideal listener wants and provide them with lots of free value. They will then start to trust you and keep coming back for more content. They will see you as the expert or the problem solver, and you will have built up credit. 

Once you get to this stage, you can begin to think about making money from Podcasting. 

The direct ways making money from Podcasting

The following are the “direct” ways you can make money from Podcasting. By direct, I mean where money is exchanged directly from your Podcast. There are also indirect ways you can make money from Podcasting, keep reading to find out how to do that.

Sponsorship

A Podcast with as little as 1,000 downloads a month can be an attractive prospect for sponsors.

As I mentioned above, I have several Podcast clients who have won sponsorship with Podcasts with modest listenership numbers.

In my experience, sponsorship is most likely with a really niche Podcast. Being niche means you can target specific companies. Being broad will prove very difficult as it's hard to figure out who your listeners are. Companies interested in Podcast sponsorship need to know who they are talking to. If you can't sum it up for them in a sentence or 2, they won't sponsor your Podcast.

If you have 1,000 downloads a month and a specific audience, you can start targeting companies who may be willing to pay for mentions on your Podcast. Start with people or companies with which you already have a relationship.

Again, you need to be realistic when asking for money. If your Podcast is 2 years old and has a modest listenership, then ask for enough to cover your costs. If a sponsor sees an uptake because of the Podcast mentions, you will be in a great position to renegotiate.

Automated ads

Automated ads work in a similar way to Youtube. Most Podcast host companies (such as Acast, Libsyn, Podbean or Anchor) offer monetization programs. This is where they automatically place ads into your Podcast. You don't have much control over the type of ads that run.  

Like Youtube, it requires a certain threshold of downloads. For example, Libsyn's requirement is 20,000 downloads per month. If you are lucky enough to have this many downloads, it makes it easy to make money from your Podcast with the click of a button. The rewards are minimal because revenues are split and the fees involved are very low (typically $25 per 1,000 downloads). On the upside, it requires little or no effort on your part so if your listenership is in the thousands. It’s a very easy way to make money. As youtube moves into Podcasting, this model will continue to grow.

Podcasting 2.0 or donations

Donations work in a similar way. You can set up a donation system on something like Patreon.

There is a more interesting platform developing. Podcasting 2.0 simplifies this process and makes it easier for listeners to donate.

What is Podcasting 2.0? It's potentially the next significant development in the re-tooling of Podcasting. It aims to take the power away from the major players such as Apple, Spotify and Google. It aims to benefit independent Podcasters. Podcasting 2.0 will allow independent podcasters to make money via micropayments from listeners. It works in a similar way to twitch.

As a podcast plays, the listener will click a button and donate as little or as much as they like. As well as putting money in the Podcasters’ pocket, this method would also allow the Podcaster to pinpoint what moments a listener donated.

Podcasting 2.0 is still in its infancy. You can Find out more about Podcasting 2.0 here. Many podcast apps such as Podfriend are now starting to implement this system of donating to Podcasts.

Selling a product or service directly to listeners

This method essentially means running your own ads or sponsoring yourself. The chances are that you do something else for a living or are an expert in a specific field. You could start selling this as a product or service. 

Some ideas I have seen others do:

• Release an E-Book

• Run an online course in your field

• Offer consultancy services

• Run a "how to start Podcasting" course

The hidden and clever ways of making money from Podcasting

I believe this is the most feasible and best way to make money from Podcasting. I call it "the hidden way", as it doesn't involve money being handed to you directly.

For the vast majority of my Podcast clients, this has been the most valuable thing they tell me they get out of Podcasting.

Podcasting can be a huge opportunity for networking and generating business leads. By asking people to come onto your Podcast, you have already connected. So, build on that connection.

Make sure you make a good impression on your interviewee. Make them aware of what you are and find out their challenges. If they don't use your services themselves, they will probably tell someone else.

You don't have to do all of this within a Podcast interview. Here's a nice tip on how you can get a kick-ass interview recorded and network all in one go.

Podcasting for Business - A blueprint to lead generation via Podcast guests

An Hour is an acceptable amount of time for someone to give up to do an interview. Most Podcasters I know book guests for 1 hour.

My advice is to continue to book them for 1 hour, but only allocate 40 minutes of recording time. Use the remaining 20 minutes to network and try and generate business leads.

I spoke before about how shorter Podcast episodes can attract new listeners. Doing this is not going to damage your Podcast.

Once you have finished your Podcast interview, tell them you are stopping the recording. Without being too bold, see if you can find some common ground that may generate business for you.

As a Podcast producer, below are some things I might say to try and generate business.

If you have launched a Podcast, this is also a service you can offer:

"Okay, I think we have loads there. I'm going to stop recording. How did you find that?"

• "How is business going for you at the moment?"

• "What have been your biggest challenges during covid?"

• "Have you ever thought about starting a Podcast yourself?" (you can amend this question to fit your own business or service)

• "Do you have any clients that are looking to start Podcasts?"

Hopefully, you can see the idea. The guest may have told me that they had great fun being on a Podcast. I would then explain all the benefits that they could have from having a Podcast of their own.

I could potentially charge for consulting, launching or editing their Podcast. At the very least, the guest is now more familiar with the service I provide. If they are speaking to other peers, they will hopefully mention me.

Start Podcasting today

Previously I provided a guide on how to start a podcast from home with minimal costs. Podcasting can be a cheap operation that yields massive results. If you have a passion and the will, you should start Podcasting today and be on the road to making an income from your Podcast.