Hey savvies. Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. In today’s episode, we’re going to be chatting all about podcast sponsorships and if they will be a good fit for your specific podcast or not. 

First up, let’s discuss what different podcast sponsorships are available out there. 

There are a few different sponsorship options – we have affiliate marketing, traditional ad sponsorships, and self-sponsorship.

The one we’ll be diving into today is traditional sponsorships so this means ad segments from other companies.

If you’re an avid podcast listener, I’m sure you’re familiar with these kinds of ads. They’re usually for a brand you’re already familiar with to some extent and are placed at the beginning of an episode right before the content starts, in the middle of the episode, or at the end of an episode. 

These aren’t the ways I recommend making money from your podcast as an online entrepreneur and here’s why. 

– Usually don’t pay much unless you have high downloads.

According to Castos, podcast sponsorships typically run anywhere from $18-$50 CPM (which means cost per thousand downloads) Pre-roll ads run at the beginning of the show, usually for about 15-30 seconds. Post-roll ads run at the end of the show, also for 15-30 seconds. These are typically worth the same to advertisers while mid-roll ads can command a little more money because your audience is less likely to skip over an ad if it’s in the middle of the episode since they’re already engaged in the episode.

-You need high downloads for it to be lucrative

A lot of advertisers require at least 1,000 downloads per episode within a 30 day period so if you’re not getting that it will be tough to find sponsors unless it’s a really niche offering that makes perfect sense for your podcast 

Hey there! I just wanted to briefly pause this episode to tell you a little bit about my FREE masterclass called how to make money from your podcast without relying on ad sponsorships. 

If you’ve been listening you know that traditional ad sponsorships aren’t for everyone so I want to share the #1 way business owners can make money from their podcast without having to worry about big download numbers. 

To watch the free class, head here and sign up today. 

Okay now back to the episode. 

– Little control or creative freedom of how the content is shared with your audience. 

Some companies may want you to read a script and others let you kind of go with the flow but this really depends on the company. There are definitely going to be certain points that they want you to touch on no matter what so that’s something to keep in mind. 

– Can become annoying for your audience if the ads aren’t something they care about.

Because podcast sponsorships pay so little, you might feel like you need a bunch of ads in each episode for it to be worth it but all that does is put a tiny bit of extra money in your pocket and annoy your listeners which isn’t good. It is much better to have a good experience for your listeners than add a couple of extra dollars to your pocket in my opinion. 

So all in all, I think traditional podcast sponsorships can be really beneficial for those podcasters that have a huge audience but aren’t really worth it for smaller podcasters. 

I’d love to know your thoughts on everything though. Head over to Instagram and shoot me a DM @jennysuneson and let me know if you’re currently running any ads whether for other companies or for your own business.

And if you’re struggling with even knowing where to begin with podcasting, I can help. Head here and book your free call with me today. I can’t wait to hear from you! 

Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode. You can find the show notes for this episode by going here.