How To Make Money Podcasting: Methods + Expert Tips

Learning how to make money podcasting can help you earn a living from creating and producing shows. It’s also a second revenue stream for businesses that can exist independently while supporting the core business. 

Podcasters have the potential for a well-rounded monetization strategy, integrating multiple revenue streams. They can sell audio ads, partake in affiliate marketing, sell premium subscriptions with bonus content, and offer merchandise, among other income-generating tactics. 

“There are so many different ways for podcasts to make money,” says Kyle O’Donnell, co-creator of the We’re Obsessed With You podcast. “But,” he says, “they do take work.” 

This article covers how to make money podcasting with on-the-ground insights from Kyle, who has successfully monetized We’re Obsessed With You.

How to make money podcasting in 2026

• Sponsorships
• Affiliate marketing
• Subscriptions
• Podcast merchandise
• Partnerships
• Digital products and courses
• Speaking engagements

Podcast monetization requires building a portfolio of diversified revenue streams across direct audience support, premium content subscriptions, business-to-business partnerships, and product commerce. Like any form of making money online, it takes persistence and a clearly defined target audience. 

Here are some techniques for monetizing a podcast:

Sponsorships

Sponsorships involve brands paying a podcast content creator to endorse products or services within their episodes. The podcast industry largely uses a monetization metric called cost per mille (CPM), or cost per thousand impressions. It sets ad rates for every 1,000 impressions or unique downloads of an episode within a set time frame.

Standard baseline podcast CPMs range from $12 to $40 per 1,000 listeners according to data from Acast’s 2026 Industry Advertising Guide, a 2025 IAB internet advertising report, and the hosting platform Libsyn. For example, a tech podcaster with 20,000 downloads per episode might partner with a software brand at a $35 CPM. A single mid-roll ad placement (one that airs in the middle of a podcast) would yield $700 per episode.

Note that when executing podcast sponsorships, you must strictly adhere to regulatory frameworks for advertising enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These include using straightforward terms like “sponsored by,” “paid ad,” or “partnered with.” 

You also must provide a clear, spoken audio disclosure during the episode itself. For instance, a gambling ad must include an audio disclosure of the risks of gambling along with gambling help resources. Placing a disclaimer solely in the written show notes does not comply with FTC rules.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance marketing where businesses pay affiliates who bring them customers. Businesses only pay after customers complete an agreed-upon action, like a purchase, but some affiliate programs pay for email sign-ups, page clicks, downloads, or content engagement. 

Podcasters can become affiliates and invite listeners to participate with marketing channel tactics such as: 

• Mention discount codes during the podcast

• Add affiliate links to show notes

• Include links on your podcast’s RSS feed

• Email referral links to your mailing list

• Add links to your social media bio or Instagram link-in-bio page

When a customer checks out with your unique discount code, you earn an affiliate commission. For Kyle O’Donnell and his co-creator Emily Hymes, loving a product makes a big difference. 

“While the goal is definitely to make money, we don’t want it to be hokey or push products too much,” he says. “Our love language is giving recommendations. That recommendation could be this cup that I myself use, and then I get 5% from anyone who uses our individual link.”

If your podcast covers entrepreneurship—like starting a business, ecommerce, marketing, web design, social media, or tech—the Shopify Affiliate Program is a great fit. You can refer people to sign up for Shopify or Shopify POS Pro and receive commissions.

If your podcast covers other topics, consider some of these popular affiliate networks and programs:

• Amazon Associates: Recommend products across various categories and earn up to 20% in commissions.

• Rakuten Advertising: Connect with luxury, finance, retail, and travel brands to find brand partners for your podcast.

• ClickBank: Choose commissions either by revenue sharing (a percentage of each sale) or cost per action (a set dollar amount each time a listener completes the agreed-upon action).

• CJ Affiliate: Find affiliate partner recommendations based on location, audience size, and vertical.

• Awin: Awin includes affiliate programs for different types of publishers, including influencer, media sites, and tech partners. 

Subscriptions

Premium subscription models allow content creators to paywall exclusive content, ad-free episodes, early-access releases, and/or extended interviews. Listeners can also give voluntary micro-donations or monthly recurring membership contributions to keep a show independently funded.

Platforms like Substack, Supercast, Patreon, Memberful, and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions let podcasters offer paid subscriptions and set up tiered membership programs. 

One common tactic is to create a private RSS feed that lets subscribers listen to paywalled episodes in the same podcast app where they consume free shows. For example, an independent history podcaster could set up a $5 per month community tier on Patreon, providing members with an RSS feed that places premium paid content in their Apple Podcasts feed.

Patreon reported that podcasters earned more than $629 million on its platform in 2025, a 33% year-over-year increase. Podcasting was the platform’s top-earning creator category for the second straight year. Part of that growth comes down to conversion: Patreon says 15% of Spotify listeners who visit a creator’s Patreon page go on to convert into paid memberships.

Podcast merchandise

Selling physical merchandise helps you monetize fan loyalty while turning listeners into offline brand advocates. Print-on-demand services such as Printful or Gelato can be embedded into ecommerce storefronts using Shopify’s print-on-demand integrations. These vendors allow you to sell custom apparel, drinkware, and stickers without taking on inventory liability or upfront production costs. 

For example, a comedy podcast could create a line of shirts and mugs sporting an insider catchphrase design and sell through a Shopify store linked in the podcast’s show notes.

The Reuters Institute’s recent 2026 podcast industry report found that podcast-first media companies like the UK’s Goalhanger—parent of shows like The Rest Is Politics—have made branding merchandise a key plank of their revenue strategy. Embracing this tactic helps you diversify your revenue streams and not overly rely on affiliate programs or podcast CPM ads.

Partnerships

Strategic partnerships use guest authority, cross-promotion, and collaborative sponsorships to generate revenue beyond traditional ad slots.

For specialized B2B or industry-focused shows, guest-funded episodes or co-branded corporate series allow brands to pay a flat package fee to cover production costs, secure executive feature interviews, and access the podcast’s business distribution network.

For example, a venture capital podcast hosts an enterprise software founder for a dedicated deep-dive episode, granting them access to their high-value subscriber base. They charge the founder’s company a $2,500 flat media package that includes full episode production, video clips, and newsletter features.

Digital products and courses

Podcasting serves as a high-trust top-of-funnel acquisition channel to drive traffic toward high-margin digital products, downloadable resources, and online educational courses. You can house these behind a paywall on platforms like Kajabi, Teachable, or Skillshare. You can also sell online courses and other digital products on your Shopify store.

Industry data shows that conversion rates on self-owned digital courses or ebooks run higher than the standard 2% ecommerce conversion rate. Aggregated 2026 digital marketing data from Awin, Impact, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, and PartnerStack show that the standard click-to-sale conversion rate for digital products and courses averages 2.4%.

For example, a personal finance host could record a 10-part series on home buying basics, then direct listeners to purchase their comprehensive $197 digital home-buying toolkit and budget template on their website.

Speaking engagements

A successful podcast functions as an audio portfolio that establishes you, the host, as a subject-matter expert in your niche, opening doors for offline opportunities. You can pitch yourself to event organizers, corporate event planners, and industry conferences for paid keynote presentations, panel moderation, or strategic consulting. 

For example, a marketing podcaster who routinely breaks down corporate growth strategies could be hired by an industry trade conference to deliver a keynote address for a $5,000 speaking fee.

You could also cut out the middleman and host your own live podcast events. According to StubHub data, ticket sales for live podcast tapings and creator tours grew nearly 500% in 2025 compared to 2024. At the same time, StubHub found that the average prices for podcast events were roughly 40% lower than traditional concert tickets, which may put your live shows within reach of more fans.

10 tips for making money podcasting

• Diversify your revenue streams
• Let your niche find you, then lean all the way in
• Make sure your sponsors match your brand image
• Don’t be afraid to negotiate your ad rates
• Charge more when a brand wants actual product visibility
• Track retention, not just downloads
• Keep brand pitch emails short, visual, and backed by data
• Use giveaways to convert casual viewers into subscribers
• Follow a consistent publishing schedule
• Repurpose podcast content

Kyle’s experience building We’re Obsessed With You has produced a lot of insights about how to monetize a podcast. Here are some top tips: 

Diversify your revenue streams

It’s hard to bankroll a podcast on sponsorships alone, especially early on. Kyle and his cohost Emily layer affiliate programs, host-read ads, and direct brand partnerships rather than betting on a single model. This has served them particularly well in the affiliate space. 

“Whether that’s ShopMy, which we were approved for, or Amazon, which we just got approved for about a month ago,” Kyle says, “or our partnership with the humidifier company Canopy.”

Stacking smaller income sources—rather than waiting for one big sponsor—adds up over time.

Let your niche find you, then lean all the way in

Kyle’s breakout moment wasn’t a broad strategy; it was going all-in on something oddly specific: needlepoint. “I’m a guy who loves needlepoint, and I want to talk about it,” Kyle explains, “and that broke through so much. I cannot stress how big this was for us.”

The lesson: A hyper-specific passion can outperform a broad, generic pitch. Much like building your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy around specific long-tail keywords, you can make your podcast stand out by claiming an underserved niche. “If there’s an open space, fill it,” Kyle says.

Make sure your sponsors match your brand image

When Kyle and Emily got matched with a Christian podcast ad through Buzzsprout’s marketplace, they passed. 

“As a gay guy in Brooklyn and another woman in Brooklyn, we were like, that’s not really our vibe, so we’re gonna pass on this ad,” Kyle says.

Audiences notice when an endorsement feels forced, and Kyle’s respect for his audience guides his choice of podcast sponsors. 

“Consumers are so intelligent,” Kyle says, “If you go on your podcast and say, ‘I’m obsessed with this lotion,’ and you’re really not—you’ve never tried it—you lose the trust of your consumer.”

Don’t be afraid to negotiate your ad rates

While there’s plenty of data proclaiming a going CPM rate for podcast advertising, Kyle and Emily had a very different experience. There was no formula behind We’re Obsessed With You’s initial ad rates. 

“Honestly, this is going to sound so crazy, but we based it off a vibe,” Kyle says. “When our first offer came in, we were like, ‘Let’s throw them a number and see what they do.’”

When the brand came back with an offer, they countered instead of accepting outright. “We looked at the number they offered and said, ‘Well, let’s ask for a little bit more,’” Kyle says. “And it worked.”

Charge more when a brand wants actual product visibility

YouTube is now the top medium for podcast consumption according to Triton Digital’s 2025 US Podcast Report. Given the surge in video podcasting, physical product placement (a water bottle on a shelf, a branded item in frame) is worth a premium above standard ad rates.

“If there was a water bottle sitting behind her, that’s a free advertisement with the label out,” Kyle says, “and so we’re able to add more to their rate if they want the actual product on the show.”

Track retention, not just downloads

Download counts get the attention, but Kyle says brands increasingly care about how much of an episode people actually finish. “They’re also really looking at the listener retention rate,” he says. “Our retention rate is 98%.”

Because podcast ads appear throughout a show, brands want to make sure people stay tuned. “You could have the most downloaded podcast in the world, but if people are only listening to 5% of it, they’re not even going to get to your ad break,” Kyle says.

Keep brand pitch emails short, visual, and backed by data

Kyle and Emily gained sponsors by cold-emailing brands. But this works better with proof, explains Kyle, not just enthusiasm. “We’re all so sick of receiving emails with big hunks of text,” Kyle says. “Just keep it short and sweet.”

Another tip from Kyle: Enhance your emails with different types of media. “We’ll include video clips, and we’ll show all the metrics underneath it,” he says.

Use giveaways to convert casual viewers into subscribers

Partnering with brands or guests on a giveaway is a low-cost way to push people over the follow/subscribe line. 

“People love free stuff,” Kyle says. “We’ve discovered that it’s really hard for people to take that extra step and hit Subscribe. So, if we can incentivize them as much as possible to follow us across all platforms—let’s do it.”

Follow a consistent publishing schedule

Consistency builds trust with your audience. Whether you publish weekly, biweekly, or monthly, stick to your schedule so listeners know when to expect new content. This reliability helps your show become part of their routine.

“Say you’re publishing once a week: Do you have enough things to talk about for half an hour, for an hour every single week?” says Shuang Esther Shan, former senior producer and host of Shopify Masters. “Would you be able to get guests to appear on your show every single week for the foreseeable future?” 

If the answer is no, you may need to rethink your schedule. It’s better to publish less frequently and maintain quality than to burn out trying to meet an unrealistic schedule.

Repurpose podcast content

Video podcast episodes lend themselves to breakout content. A single long-form episode can be repurposed to create short-form content for social platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram. Of these, Kyle has found that Facebook is the most helpful for monetization.

“We will post our interview section, and then our obsession section, so then, from each episode, we’re getting about three 15-minute clips,” Kyle says. “And Facebook will push those out a lot. Which is great, because then it’s just a passive form of income coming in.” He adds that his team tries to post “at least five clips from each episode, across all platforms.”

Even if you don’t film your podcast, you can repurpose audio content into soundbites with text captions for video clips. Be sure to include referral links that take followers from your social media platforms to your podcast episodes.