Podcasting Sponsorships Don’t Scale: 5 ideas For Monetizing Podcasts

Podcasting use is also rising and now reaches 18% of the US population, up from 13% a year ago according to this report.

It is still a young platform for distributing content, but one I believe will be successful in the future as more people become comfortable getting their audio and video online thanks to Hulu, Pandora, and YouTube.  The other problem that is stopping the growth of podcasting is a lack of a solid business model.

The most popular business model for podcasts right now is sponsorships, this is the model we currently use on my podcast with Wayne Sutton, Talk Social News.  It works for us right now, and it is working for other more popular podcasts like DiggNation. The problem with the sponsorship model is that it doesn’t scale well and can be a hard sell for podcasters that are just getting started.

Here are my 5 ideas for alternative podcasting business models:

1. Develop A Podcast Around an Existing Business Model – It is hard to develop a good business model, so if you don’t have to do it again then avoid it. This is the approach that Gary from Wine Library TV has taken and has made successful. I have talked about Gary several times before, but he is the best example of this approach. He had a business model, a wine store that had a successful e-commerce Web site. So instead of starting a podcast and serving adds for wine as a sponsorship he did the show ad free. Instead he used the show to educate people about wine. Do you know what happen when people learn more about wine? They buy more wine!
2. Take the PBS route - The great thing about the web is that it gives people the platform to create and distribute niche content. If this is the case and you are putting out great content and have engaged them, then as set up a chipin or another method to take donations directly from the people listening or watching your podcast.
3. Join an Advertising Network – VoloMedia seems to be the leading advertising network for downloadable media,
   extending the reach of video and audio from the PC to the portable
   device.  They have some cool products and technologies that enable advertising insertion and rotation, targeting, measurement, reporting and campaign management within downloadable video and audio. Understand just as podcasts are still developing so are ad networks.
4. Develop Value Added Services – So you have a successful podcast and you don’t want to take the time to sell sponsorships or maybe you don’t want to insert them into your show. How do you make money? One option is to provide value added services outside of your podcast and charge for these services. For example if you had a podcast about wine like Gary you could then host paid tastings, a paid Q and A webinar, take people on wine related trips, and the list could go on and on. All of this with never advertising in your podcast.
5. Sell Access To Premium Content – So you do a weekly podcast and people are tuning in,  you have even reached the point where you are getting requests from fans to produce your show everyday. What do you do? Create premium content. Create extra episodes and charge a membership fee such as $10 a month for people to have the rights to view the extra content. Even if only 10 percent of your viewers sign up, you still stand to make some good cash.

I realize that folks much smarter than me are out there working on new ways to make money from downloadable media. Additionally devices like the iPhone with its wireless network and GPS offers amazing future potential for interacting and sharing downloadable content. This will only help to strengthen podcasting and create new business models.