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How much money do podcasts make?

What podcasts do you listen to?

Do you get them free, or do you bother to pay for them?

Podcast Studio
Podcast Studio

Look – just because it’s on the Internet, doesn’t mean that it’s free.  Whether you end up paying for it via a subscription or donation – or listening to the advertising that’s included in the track… podcasts are just another product out on the Internet that are trying to make a buck, any way they can.

But do podcasts make money?

Adam Carolla does, as do other folks – and all pretty much through advertising.

But it does lead to the question – while some people are able to make a living at it, a large number of other people struggle a little bit.  So HOW MUCH MONEY DO PODCASTS REALLY MAKE?

If you believe this analysis about the popular podcast SERIAL, it ends up that some podcasts may barely break even, if that.

Here’s some info pulled from the linked article:

  • Advertising itself doesn’t always cover the full production costs of the podcast
  • 15-second preroll ads sell for about $18/cpm
  • Some larger podcasts can command between $15/cpm and $20/cpm

Doing your own math, you may find that a single popular podcast may make between a few hundred dollars per episode all the way up to $30,000 per episode – or more!

Can you imagine what you’d do if you earned $30k for a single podcast download? You’d hammer out 12 of those a year and live large, right?

It’s not that easy.  If it were, everyone would do it.  But you have staff to pay. Overhead. Equipment costs. Marketing.  And it all comes out of your pocket.

Look, the money is out there to be made. All you have to do is find a podcast topic that people will pay money to listen to.  But once you have that, the building of your empire has just begun.  Call us in 10 years and tell us how it’s been…