These days, it seems that everyone is getting into podcasting—and frankly, we couldn’t be more excited!
Starting a podcast can be a fun way to explore a new hobby, share one of your interests, or (hopefully) earn a bit of extra income. Even if you’ve started a podcast for free, you’re probably interested in ways to make money as a podcast host.
But how much do podcasters make?
There’s a lot that goes into this question, so let’s take a look at the average salary range for podcast hosts, how to monetize your podcast, and ways to optimize earnings.
How Much Do Podcasters Make?
This is a complicated question, as podcasters earn an extremely wide range of income. In many ways, it’s a lot like asking “how much do actors make?” The answer depends a lot on how successful they are.
If you’re starting your own podcast, you will likely start out making no income, unless someone (like your employer) is paying you to podcast. For most people, however, podcasting starts out as a hobby before it becomes a “side hustle,” then—eventually—a livelihood.
According to estimates, the average podcaster makes between a few hundred and a few million dollars per year. That's a huge range!
However, it is important to remember that this is just an average. As of 2024, the highest earning podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, makes roughly $100,000 an episode. There are countless other shows that have never made a dime.
Don’t let this discourage you! If podcasting strikes your fancy, there are plenty of ways to make it work and have fun doing it.
How To Monetize Your Podcast
Turning a hobby into a reliable income stream is possible, but it does require a bit of work. Here are some tips for monetizing your podcast.
Advertising
Podcast ad revenue surpassed $1 billion in 2021 and it remains one of the top forms of income for podcasters.
Here’s how it works: advertisers pay you a set rate (often based on audience size) to include an ad for their service or product in your show. As you can imagine, more popular podcasts with lots of listeners tend to be more lucrative. (And don’t worry, you’ll still get paid even if they skip the ad!)
Subscriptions & Premium Content
Putting your podcast episodes behind a paywall is another strategy. However, this works best when you have a very engaged podcast audience.
With the subscription method, podcast listeners must pay a monthly or yearly subscription in order to receive content. Another option is to make your episodes free, but offer exclusive content (such as deep dive episodes or online courses) only to your subscribers.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is very similar to advertising—you insert ads into your content and get paid. The main difference with affiliate sales is that you earn a commission for every person that hears the ad on your podcast and becomes a customer.
If you have a podcast website (and you should!), this would be tracked via an affiliate link. On your podcast, this might take the place of a special discount code that’s unique to you and your show.
Merchandise
If you have a loyal following, selling merchandise can be a great way to earn some extra income. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend hours screen printing t-shirts in your kitchen. Print-on-demand with drop shipping can automate the process for you.
To make it even easier, Podpage allows you to integrate your online store right on your own website!
How To Increase Podcast Income
What if you’re already doing all the strategies to monetize your podcast and you still want to grow more?
The best way to create a successful podcast is by increasing your audience size. The number of downloads and subscribers you have will help you get better deals from advertisers and sponsors.
So how do you grow your audience? Start by finding the right content niche. If your chosen topic isn’t immediately attractive to a wide range of people, find a way to make it interesting and digestible to everyone. On the other hand, if your topic appeals to everyone, find a way to do things differently so that you stand out from your competitors.
Finally, focus on creating consistent content. Letting too much time go by between episodes doesn’t give your listeners anything to look forward to. Even one good episode every couple of weeks can be enough.
Want A More Professional Podcast?
“Going pro” as a podcaster is a lot more than buying an expensive microphone or building out a home studio. It’s about taking your show, your content, and your audience seriously.
If you do that, everything else will follow!
Of course, another thing that helps is having a killer podcast website! Podpage is not only easy to use and manage, it offers plenty of resources for monetizing your show, analyzing site activity, and marketing your podcast.
Get started today!
