So, you started your podcast as a passion project, but you’ve reached the point where you’ve built a loyal audience and are steadily climbing the ranks.
Now, you’re in a great spot to start thinking about profiting from all your hard work.
One of the most common, and arguably the best ways, to do this is through podcast sponsorships.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be Tim Ferriss, Alex Cooper, or Alix Earle to land a podcast sponsorship (although that certainly does help). You just need to understand your audience, do your research, and continually refine your approach.
Yes, that can be a lot of work – but don’t worry. There are numerous ways to secure podcast sponsorships and we’ll go over everything you need to know. This includes:
- The types of ad formats
- Different sponsorship models
- How to find potential sponsors
- Best practices for partnering with brands
What is a podcast sponsorship?
Podcast sponsorships are deals between podcast hosts and companies where the podcaster promotes the sponsor’s brand during the show in exchange for payment.
If you listen to podcasts, I’m willing to bet you’ve heard a fair share of sponsored ads. There are three kinds:
- Pre-roll: Before the episode even begins. These ads are typically quite short (around 15 seconds) and have an average CPM of $15.
- Mid-roll: In-between segments in the middle of your episode. Because these ads are typically longer, they have an average CPM of $30.
- Post-roll: At the very end of your episode. Because these ads are the most likely to be skipped, their average CPM is lower at about $10.
Usually, the host will read a short script from the sponsor, talking about their product or service. Fittingly, that’s called a host-read ad. This is the most popular route, making up 63% of all podcast ads – and for good reason, 68% of podcast listeners prefer host-read ads where it’s clear the host uses the product/service.
Alternatively, you can opt for a dynamically inserted ad, which is automatically inserted via your ad server from a network or media host. As the name suggests, these ads are not baked into your podcast. That means you can switch them out depending on the listener’s location or if the ad is time-sensitive.
Some platforms that support dynamically inserted ads are:
Podcast sponsorship models
CPM (cost per thousand)
With the CPM model, creators are paid for every 1,000 downloads. For example:
- Your sponsor pays $25 per 1,000 downloads (The average cost is between $10-$50 and is typically based on your previous episodes’ download numbers).
- You receive 200,000 downloads
- You earn $5000
While this may be your model of choice, it’s important to note that most brands will only agree to a CPM model when working with large, established shows that have at least a few thousand regular subscribers. As you can probably imagine, the more subscribers you have, the more competitive your rate.
Affiliate
If you sign up as an affiliate with a brand, you’ll be paid whenever one of your listeners purchases the product you’re promoting. A nice thing about being an affiliate is that you choose how often you promote a product. Plus, there’s no limit to your earning potential.
However, with that said, there’s no guarantee that you’ll earn anything. If the product you’re promoting doesn’t align with your audience’s interests, needs, or desires, you’ll walk away empty-handed and your reputation may pay the cost.
Value-based
For medium or small podcasts, value-based sponsorships are a great way to start monetizing your show.
Instead of being paid per the number of downloads, you decide on a fixed rate, say $100 per episode, that the brand will pay you regardless of the episode’s performance. In this way, it’s a pretty risk-averse monetization strategy.
How to find a podcast sponsor
Now that you understand the different ad formats and sponsorship models, it’s time to dive into how to secure a sponsor.
1. Reach out to potential sponsors directly
While it would be nice if your dream brands were filling up your inbox with collaboration requests, for the majority of podcasters that isn’t the reality.
Instead, most creators rely on research and pitching to approach the brands they’d like to work with.
Here’s how it’s done:
2. Know who your listeners are
You’ll need to dive into your listeners’ interests, motivations, and consumption habits before you begin approaching potential sponsors.
Saying your audience is “primarily female, middle-aged, and educated” isn’t enough to grab a brand’s attention. They’ll want to know details like income, social media consumption habits, and lifestyle choices to analyze whether your show’s audience is worth their investment.
Demographic and psychographic information is always top of mind for advertisers, so you’ll need to use tools like CoHost for Audience Advanced Demographics to show potential sponsors exactly who their message will be reaching.
When analyzing data, you may even be surprised about who your listeners are. For example, you may find out that 70% of your audience owns pets and belongs to a household that makes over 100k in annual income.
From there, you can reach out to pet brands attempting to target animal lovers with disposable income.
3. Create your list of potential podcast sponsors
When it comes to creating your spreadsheet of brands you’d like to work with, consider the following questions:
- Did you find anything unique or surprising about your audience that should dictate what kinds of brands you reach out to? E.g. My podcast is about healthy living and the majority of listeners own pets, so I should reach out to pet stores and pet food companies.
- What do your listeners’ interests and lifestyle choices say about their consumption habits? E.g. Most listeners live an active lifestyle, so they’ll likely be interested in pre-workout and activewear.
Once you’ve compiled your list of leads, find 1-2 contacts at the company in the marketing, advertising, or PR departments.
You’ll want to pick someone mid-level who has enough sway to present your opportunity to the higher-ups but also has enough time to consider your request.
4. Write your proposal
Now for the fun part – crafting your proposal.
You’ll want to put the mutual benefit of working together at the forefront of your pitch. Particularly what value a recurring mention on your podcast can bring to the brand.
There are a few ways you can do this, but the most important trust signals for potential advertisers are:
- Download numbers and unique listeners
- Subscriber/Follower counts
- Audience demographic and psychographic details
- Consumption rate, listen-through rate, and any other engagement metrics
- Ratings and reviews
- Other hard metrics to support your claims
You’ll want to keep your pitch short and to the point. When it comes to adding more details about your show’s metrics and analytics, we suggest putting together a stylized document or slideshow that you can attach to the email.
Plus, make sure to include how much you charge for an ad or a series of ads. If the brand has a sense of what kind of budget they’ll be allocating to the sponsorship, you’ll be more likely to get a response.
If you don’t hear back or get some rejections, that’s all part of the process. Your show won’t be for every brand – and that’s okay!
5. Join a network
Podcast networks are essentially the go-between for podcast hosts and potential sponsors. With a solid podcast network backing your show, it’s easier to get in front of brands and secure deals. Oftentimes, networks also come with production assistance, marketing support, and extensive connections.
Some networks include:
- Libsyn Ads (Formally AdvertiseCast)
- PodcastOne
- Gimlet Media
- Wondery
- Earwolf
- Girl Boss
While networks do help connect you with sponsors, their services aren’t free. Networks take a portion of your sponsorship revenue (normally a 30% commission in a CPM model).
Plus, you’ll need to sign a contract and may lose some creative control. For example, there may be certain topics you can’t discuss on your podcast or you may have to work with brands you don’t agree with. But this is dependent on the network that you choose to work with.
6. Get listed on podcast directories
Podcast directories are apps or websites that organize podcast RSS feeds into different categories. They’re both podcast players and search engines for podcasts.
The industry giants are Apple Podcasts and Spotify, but some podcast directories are designed to help connect hosts and sponsors, including:
We suggest being listed on all the podcast directories available, since brands frequently browse them to find podcasts that fit their advertising criteria.
For example, a brand may browse Podchaser to filter podcasts by reach, demographics, and verified contacts to find potential partners.
Best practices for choosing a podcast sponsor
While there isn’t any hard and fast rule for choosing which brands are worth your endorsement, here’s what we recommend:
Only partner with brands that align with your values
The main reason why host-read ads perform so well is because the host-audience connection in podcasting is strong. In fact, 57% of audiences trust podcast personalities the most compared to other mediums.
Great podcast hosts are amazing at forming connections with their listeners. Because of this, their endorsements are more like hearing a recommendation from a friend rather than hearing an advertisement.
This level of trust is hard to obtain but easy to lose, which is why we suggest only partnering with brands you love or products/services you enjoy using. While you may think it’s easy to fake a 30-second ad slot, your audience can see through it.
Plus, if you don’t like the brand or its offerings, chances are your audience won’t either.
Work with brands that mean something to your podcast audience
At the end of the day, your podcast is all about your audience. After all, if you didn’t have an audience, you wouldn’t be in the position to secure a sponsorship in the first place.
With your listeners top of mind, it’s important to consider what products and services are likely to add value to their lives. The best way to do this is through demographic and psychographic profiling.
Once you have key information about your listeners – like their interests, hobbies, and type of lifestyle – it’ll be easier to discern which products, services, and brands they’d benefit from.
This is truly a win-win since no brand wants to sponsor your show if they don’t think your audience will buy their product/service.
And, if for whatever reason you do partner with a brand your audience doesn’t like, your audience will likely skip through your ads – which isn’t great for your podcast’s performance or your sponsor.
The easiest way to prevent all of that is by working with brands that share your audience.
Is your podcast ready for sponsorships?
There’s no universal stage in a podcast’s life where it’s officially ready for sponsorships; however, you truly don’t need tens of thousands of subscribers to start monetizing your content.
Once you’ve gotten into your podcasting groove and built a loyal audience, you can realistically start thinking about monetization. Reach out to networks and see their joining requirements, research affiliate programs, or start collecting demographic and engagement data to reach out to sponsors yourself.
Just remember not to rush the process – if your monetization efforts come off as forced or inauthentic, your audience will notice and gradually drop off. In podcasting, your audience comes first. Your sponsorship strategy will follow.
If you’re interested in learning more about the analytics you need to secure sponsorships, reach out to the CoHost team.
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