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Dream of starting a podcast but feel overwhelmed by the tech, self-doubt, or fear that no one will listen? Podcasting with Hiwi G helps aspiring podcasters gain the clarity and confidence they need to create shows that are as unique as they are, without the unnecessary confusion, overthinking, or perfectionism.
Can you actually make money from your podcast? This is maybe the number one question that I get from aspiring podcasters. And what I really hear when people ask me that is can I replace my current income with a pod podcast and is there a world where I could realistically quit my job and do this full time? Now the short answer is yes but the how I think is where most people get it wrong and here's what I mean. When people talk about monetizing their podcast what they're really saying is will I be able to get sponsors and brand deals to pay for the show?
Hiwote:And what that also means is you probably think that you need to get a 100,000 downloads on each episode or per month in order for you to be able to read an ad for a brand and for the brand to pay you. And the truth is that is one way of monetizing a podcast, but I would argue that is also the hardest, slowest and most competitive way to try and monetize your show. So in today's video, I'm gonna walk you through the most proven and effective ways that podcasters are getting paid in 2026. So we're gonna break it down into two parts. Part one is direct monetization.
Hiwote:So this is the money that you make directly from your podcast. And part two is the part that I don't think most people talk about, which is indirect monetization. This is money that you earn because of your podcast, even if your podcast never makes a dollar directly. And I think part two is gonna surprise you because that's where I've seen the most life changing income for the podcasters that I work with. So the first part is direct monetization.
Hiwote:And this means someone is paying you for the content you produce for the audience you've built, or for the listening experience that you provide. And this is what most people think of when they think of podcast monetization. And there are three main ways that this happens. So let's look at the first way. The first is sponsorships and sponsorships typically work on a CPM model.
Hiwote:Now CPM stands for cost per mil, not cost per millie, like I was calling it for a very long time. Okay. Cost per mil basically means cost per thousand downloads. This means the brand wants to know how many downloads are you getting? And based on that, we will pay you a certain amount of money.
Hiwote:Now let's look at what the typical rates look like in 2026 for a CPM model for a pre roll, which is the thirty ish seconds, right at the beginning of your episode, you can charge 15 to $25 per a thousand downloads. And if you're going to have a mid roll, which is in the middle of your episode, you can charge 25 to $50 per thousand downloads. And if you're gonna have a post roll, which comes at the end of your episode, you can charge 10 to $20 per thousand downloads. Now let's do some quick math on that. Let's say your podcast is getting a thousand downloads per episode and you run one mid roll ad per week.
Hiwote:That is really gonna earn you like a 100 to $120 per month. That's not really gonna replace your income. But let's even say that your podcast gets 5,000 downloads per episode and you run two mid roll ads per week. That means per month you're gonna make around $750, which is not bad, but it's not really gonna replace your income either. So what you really need is really 25 to 50,000 downloads per episode for your podcast to really start making money that feels significant or like it could actually replace your income or be livable in any way.
Hiwote:And most podcasters that I know starting out don't get there for the first couple of years. And this is why I'm not a huge fan of sponsorships on a CPM basis, right? But you can, and maybe you should even be pitching brands early on for value based sponsorships. Now, what this means is if you know your niche, you know your audience and you know what it is that you're creating and why your audience will want it, you can actually pitch them to sponsor the show or just sponsor one episode at a time because you are clear on the value and the alignment that exists between the two of you. And when this is the case, it really is possible and even a great idea for you to pitch before you launch your show.
Hiwote:Now, something to remember here is that niche is enormously important when it comes to value based sponsorships. Sponsorships. And what that means is a podcast that's focused on finance, let's say that gets 3,000 downloads per episode can charge at the same rate as an entertainment podcast that gets 20,000 downloads per episode. And that's because advertisers know which audience niche is more likely to buy. Now on the same subject of likelihood of buying, it's important for you to know that host read ads are more likely to convert than prerecorded spots.
Hiwote:And this makes sense, right? Because your audience knows you, they trust you. And so of course they trust your recommendation and brands will pay a premium for that. So sponsorships are real and they're a great way to monetize, but they're just one part of the picture. They're not the whole picture.
Hiwote:Now, before we get into the next way of monetizing your podcast, if you are someone who's still struggling to figure out their niche or really how to even grow an audience, If you do know what it is that you want to talk about on your podcast, then the emerging voices might be a good fit for you because this is exactly the kind of thing that we work on there. Because of course you can't get sponsors for a show if you're not clear on who your audience is or how many of them are really looking for what it is that you are creating. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, use the description in the link below and apply to the accelerator. I would love to see your name in there. So now let's move on to the next one.
Hiwote:The second way to directly monetize your podcast is through memberships and premium content. Now what this means is some of your audience are gonna decide that they want bonus content or ad free episodes or they want early access or a private community that not everybody has access to. Platforms like Patreon, Supercast, or even Apple Podcasts subscription model make this really easy to do. And typically, the conversion is anywhere from two to 5% of your entire listener pool will become people who wanna pay extra for extra content. So at five thousand downloads with, let's say, a 3% conversion, and if we're estimating that you're saying your membership is gonna cost $8 a month, you're gonna be making somewhere around $1,200 per month on your membership.
Hiwote:And what's cool about this is that it is recurring revenue. We love that. Now that alone won't replace your salary, but it is a good amount of money that if you stacked it with something like sponsorships and you continue to grow your audience, it could actually be a meaningful way through which you make money through your podcast. One of my favorite examples of this, and actually it's quite an extreme example of what it looks like to build a membership and only serve that membership, but it's the cutting room floor podcast. Okay?
Hiwote:So that podcast used to be on all streaming platforms and anyone who subscribed could listen to the show, but it did pretty well. So now she makes money on every single episode that gets published and it happens primarily through Patreon. What I love about this is that this model rewards depth over reach, which if you watch this channel, it should be no surprise to you that I love that. And here's what I mean. If you have a listener base of a few thousand people, if just 100 of those people decide that they are gonna pay $10 a month to be part of your membership, that means you get to make a thousand dollars a month of recurring revenue as long as you deliver whatever it is that you've promised them.
Hiwote:And podcasters are actually disproportionately successful on platforms like Patreon. I think it's something like 8% of creators are podcasters, but they take home 15% of all payout on a platform like Patreon. That should tell you everything you need to know about how good podcasts are at effectively building depth and connection with their listeners. The third direct method is affiliate marketing, and it is arguably the easiest one to start with. It's absolutely the one that I started my very first podcast, and it's as easy as you messaging a brand that you really love that you think your audience will also love and asking them for an affiliate link.
Hiwote:And everyone that goes to the brand because of you, as long as they use that link, you get a certain percentage. That could be $5, it could be $50, that depends entirely on the brand and the kind of affiliate program that they have. Now the key thing to keep in mind with affiliate marketing is authenticity. Baby, if you start promoting things that you don't actually care about because you have an affiliate link, We know and we don't like that. Okay?
Hiwote:So don't do that to us. You have probably only heard me promoting two brands. I'm checking to make sure this is true. It's true. There should only be two brands that you've ever heard me say.
Hiwote:I have a link to this below. The first is Descript and the second is Transistor. And it's because these are brands that I love and that I use and that I highly recommend to anybody that wants to use them. For you, your job is to make sure you actually believe in the products that you are recommending other people use. For most podcasters, affiliate income ranges from a 100 to 500 ish dollars per month depending on the brand that you're working with, the audience that you have, etcetera.
Hiwote:So it's not life changing money, but at the same time, it's money that can accrue over time, especially with your back catalog of all of the episodes that you've done and published and it's for the most part pretty passive, so why not try it? And if you are repurposing your podcast into a newsletter, this is another place where you can always recommend the product to the audience as long as you know that they need it. So those are the three methods and combined they make somewhere between 3,000 and $5,000 a month, assuming you have five to 10,000 downloads on your podcast. But now I need you to pay close attention. The podcasters that I know who have replaced their corporate salaries or are doing this at least part time, they don't really rely on these direct monetization methods as their primary source of income.
Hiwote:What their podcast generates is far more valuable and that's trust. Indirect monetization is money that you make because of your podcast, even if not a single dollar comes from the podcast directly. Your show builds credibility, it deepens relationships, and it positions you as somebody that people want to work with. And there are three ways that this plays out. First up, we have your podcast as a business engine.
Hiwote:This is gonna be the most powerful path for most of you watching. Every week, if you publish something for free, you build an audience that trusts you, believes you, and wants to stay connected to you. So when you offer a course, a workshop, anything that is paid, they are more likely to engage with that because they already know what it is that you do. They have a sense of why it is that working with you could be good for them. In essence, the podcast works as the top of a marketing funnel.
Hiwote:Now the numbers on this are wild. Podcast listeners are 14% more likely to pay for something that they heard about on a podcast than on any other platform. That should mean something to you. And if it doesn't, me do some math for you. If you get a thousand downloads on your episodes, remember we're talking about sponsorships at a CPM rate of 25 to $50 per thousand downloads.
Hiwote:If you just went after sponsors, you would be making 25 to $50 on that podcast that gets a thousand downloads. But if you have a course, a program, something, let's say you charge $500 for it. At 1% conversion, you are gonna make $5,000 a month on your thousand listeners instead of 25 to $50. That's crazy. And to me, this is why I'm not a crazy big fan of the direct monetization methods because I think it's just more interesting for people and more fun for you to make money in a way that has more depth and longevity and is actually more valuable to your listeners.
Hiwote:That is crazy. And the coolest part about this to me, that $500 that the person invests is probably gonna be wildly life changing for them, assuming you create something that is actually valuable, rather than them having to listen to an ad that you didn't really wanna make and they didn't really wanna hear. Do you get what I mean? So here's a quick look at what most successful podcasters are selling. First up, we have digital courses or workshops, which can be anywhere from 97 to $997.
Hiwote:Essentially, you build this once and you sell it for years. We have group coaching and masterminds, which start at a thousand dollars. And if we say you have 10 people and you charge $2,000, that's $20,000 per cohort. We also have consulting or one on one. So this can range from a $150 an hour $500 an hour, and essentially your podcast serves as your resume.
Hiwote:Templates, toolkits, and guides start at $27 and can go all the way up to almost a $100. And these are such a easy low ticket entry point into the ecosystem ecosystem that you are building. And here's something that actually really changed my perspective on this. Kajabi found that on average, their 6 figure creators have around three zero nine paying customers, about 4,000 people on their mailing lists, and a social following of a thousand to 10,000. And I'm saying this because you don't need to be famous.
Hiwote:You just need a few 100 people who really believe in what it is that you're providing and are willing to pay for it for you to actually make meaningful money on your podcast. Now, my final note on this is that if you are already an expert in something like marketing or HR or personal finance, you making a show around that expertise makes it so easy for people to trust you because you already are starting your show with proven experience. Like the podcast is just building on credibility that you already had. You're not building it from scratch but even if you are someone who doesn't yet have expertise in the thing that they wanna create, your podcast can be how you build credibility on it because if you've just spent hours and hours and hours talking about relationships, learning about connection and you want to eventually become a coach in that area, it makes total sense that people would pay you for exactly that. The second method is the leverage it gives you in relationship building networking.
Hiwote:I think this might actually be the most underrated aspect of creating a podcast, and here's what I mean. If you reach out to someone and you say, hey, my name is so and so, I'd really love to pick your brain because we're in the same career or whatever, the likelihood that they'll respond if they don't already know you or have a reason to respond to you is quite low. But if you reach out saying, hey, my name is so and so, I have a podcast around this subject that I think you are uniquely equipped to talk about. Will you come on my show? That makes it so easy for the person to say yes and the benefit is not just for you, it's actually for the listeners who also get to engage with this conversation, right?
Hiwote:So you get a thirty to sixty minute conversation, you get to build a direct rapport to the person that you wanted to connect with and it's a win win for everybody involved. Honestly, your podcast is one of the best networking tools that you have. I would say it's better than any conference I've ever been to. It's better than any LinkedIn post I've ever posted. It just allows people to get to know you in an honest and intimate way while still showcasing the breadth of knowledge that you are creating for the world.
Hiwote:And they get to participate in it like who wouldn't want that? The third path is career capital. Now this is harder to quantify but the closest to my heart because this is essentially how I ended up having the career that I currently have. Now for those of you that don't know, I used to be a statistical programmer. That was really my career and I started a podcast and long story short, I ended up meeting a podcast producer who was looking for a new employee and because I had experience in it, it was easy for her to hire me.
Hiwote:Now of course that's a very specific experience but I know so many podcasters that just because they have shown up speaking about a specific topic week over week, month over month, they become known as the go to person for that subject. So then it's no surprise that when people are looking for speakers, they look at the podcasters who have been covering the subject for years. Or I've seen so many podcasters get book deals simply by virtue of the fact that their podcast is essentially a draft of the book. And look, journalists look at podcasts all the time to find sources for their stories, which means you get featured in the media for the work that you are doing. And if you are in a very specific corporate setting and you make a podcast about your industry, no better way to stand out as a star in your industry.
Hiwote:And I wanna mention one more thing because this is growing so fast. Companies are looking to make their own podcasts and I'm talking big companies, Salesforce, Slack, Zoom. Companies want branded podcasts that can live under their name and be shared with the public. And retainers for making these kinds of shows can range between 3,000 to $25,000 for producing the podcast. And if you learn production skills by making your own podcast, suddenly you open yourself up to making money in this very unique and specific way.
Hiwote:If you get two to three clients and you're on retainer for them, that pays your salary easy. And I'm saying that because not everything is about monetizing an audience, and I think we just live in a culture that's so obsessed with growing and scaling and making money through interactions and transactions, and it doesn't have to be like that. There are so many different ways of getting paid and getting paid for your skill set because you produce something that you loved and you want to help someone else produce something that they love is a brilliant way to get paid. Ultimately, the podcasters who make money on their shows and are able to do it either part time or full time are usually not just doing one thing to make money. They're usually putting their eggs in multiple baskets, meaning they're stacking these different methods of monetizing in order to have a sustainable way of making their money.
Hiwote:And the truth is that every single one of these podcasters started from zero. They had zero downloads, zero proof that this would actually work, but they did get started. And that is the difference between someone who is gonna successfully make money on their podcast and someone who isn't, but getting started. And if you're someone who's watching this and thinking I really want to start my show, but I just can't seem to get started, the Emerging Voices Accelerator might be for you. Now that you've seen what's on the other side of this, I hope you have some motivation to actually get going and apply to the accelerator.
Hiwote:We focus on helping you get clarity on your idea, on your audience, and actually making a show that people love so much that establishes you as a thought leader so that any of the monetization techniques that we've talked about in this video will be accessible to you. If that sounds like you, the link to apply is in the description below. And if you're not ready for that step just yet, you might want to start with our completely free guide on how to start a podcast in 2026. You can check that out right here. I'll see you over there.