Last October, CNET’s parent company, Red Ventures, held a cross-department meeting to discuss the AI writing software it had been building for months. The tool had been in testing internally ahead of public use on CNET, and Red Ventures’ early results revealed several potential issues.
The AI system was always faster than human writers at generating stories, the company found, but editing its work took much longer than editing a real staffer’s copy. The tool also had a tendency to write sentences that sounded plausible but were incorrect, and it was known to plagiarize language from the sources it was trained on.
Red Ventures executives laid out all of these issues at the meeting and then made a fateful decision: CNET began publishing AI-generated stories anyway.
“They were well aware of the fact that the AI plagiarized and hallucinated,” a person who attended the meeting recalls. (Artificial intelligence tools have a tendency to insert false information into responses, which are sometimes called “hallucinations.”) “One of the things they were focused on when they developed the program was reducing plagiarism. I suppose that didn’t work out so well.”
Of the 77 articles published on CNET using the AI tool since it launched, more than half have had corrections appended to them, some lengthy and substantial, after use of the tool was revealed by Futurism. CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo, EVP of content and audience Lindsey Turrentine, and Red Ventures vice president of content Lance Davis defended the tool in an internal meeting with staff in January but said the company would pause the use of the tool “for now.” In a follow-up blog post, Guglielmo said publishing using the AI software was on hold until CNET was confident it could “prevent both human and AI errors,” but she was clear that this wasn’t the end of AI tools in the newsroom.
“Expect CNET to continue exploring and testing how AI can be used to help our teams as they go about their work testing, researching and crafting the unbiased advice and fact-based reporting we’re known for,” Guglielmo wrote.
“Everyone at CNET is more afraid of Red Ventures than they are of AI.”
But the controversial use of an AI system to generate stories even in the face of known issues with plagiarism and accuracy is merely the most visible outcome of Red Ventures’ ownership of CNET. Under the ownership of Red Ventures, a private equity-backed marketing firm that’s bought up more than a dozen digital publishers since the mid-2010s, staff at the storied tech news outlet say they have been fighting to protect CNET’s editorial independence and rigoramid a push toward sponsored content and affiliate marknadsföring by its new corporate owners. As one staffer told The Verge for a previous piece, “Everyone at CNET is more afraid of Red Ventures than they are of AI.”
Multiple former employees told The Verge of instances where CNET staff felt pressured to change stories and reviews due to Red Ventures’ business dealings with advertisers. The forceful pivot toward Red Ventures’ affiliate marketing-driven business model — which generates revenue when readers click links to sign up for credit cards or buy products — began clearly influencing editorial strategy, with former employees saying that revenue objectives have begun creeping into editorial conversations.
Reporters, including on-camera video hosts, have been asked to create sponsored content, making staff uncomfortable with the increasingly blurry lines between editorial and sales.One person told The Verge that they were made aware of Red Ventures’ business relationship with a company whose product they were covering and that they felt pressured to change a review to be more favorable.
“I understood a supervisor to imply in conversation that how I proceeded with my review could impact my chances of promotion in the future,” they say.
Red Ventures ignored an emailed list of questions from The Verge about its AI tool as well as CNET’s editorial independence and ethics, advertising, and staffing. The company instead offered to send a short statement about CNET’s editorial integrity but refused to provide it on the record attributable to anyone.
This apparent breakdown of the traditional barriers between editorial and advertising content is worlds away from CNET’s history, according to former staffers. Now more than 25 years old, the site has long been known for its thorough news coverage and comprehensive reviews program, which examines everything from laptops and phones to bookshelf speakers and home projectors.
“[The reason I came to CNET] was the opportunity to be able to tell the truth no matter what,” a former staffer says. To them, working at CNET was different from other journalism jobs, where journalists can be honest but may need to self-edit. “You get to tell the truth [at other jobs], but a lot of times, you’re not allowed to say things that you really feel.”
Are you a former or current CNET / Red Ventures employee? I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at [email protected], and I’ll share my Signal.
But the CNET operated by Red Ventures is a very different place than the CNET it acquired in 2020. CNET, along with other Red Ventures-owned publications, is loading up on cheap SEO-driven articles to game Google’s search algorithm and fill search results with content designed to deliver affiliate links to readers. As a result, CNET’s independent journalism and the people who produce it — the thing that once made CNET valuable and rank highly in search to begin with — feel that they are being pushed out in favor of whatever and whomever else makes Red Ventures the most money, according to multiple former employees.
“When you’re [covering] products and not people, it’s really easy to be like, ‘This new Apple thing sucks.’ I just thought that was a refreshing change of pace to be able to say things as they are,” the former staffer says. “And that continued all the way until Red Ventures took over.”
After Red Ventures scooped up CNET for $500 million in 2020, CEO Ric Elias promised the outlet would be able to continue to be an independent publication known for its robust offering of reviews and in-the-weeds tech news coverage. CNET staff had nothing to worry about, Elias told The New York Times. There was a “nonnegotiable line” separating the journalism from the money, and CNET’s staff of tech journalists could call him on his personal cellphone if there were ever a problem.
“I told them, ‘There’s a red line,’ and they’re like, ‘OK, we’ll see,’” Elias said.
That skepticism now appears prescient. Former CNET staff say the guardrails that keep editorial content independent, like a divide between revenue teams and journalists, or a clear chain of command among leadership, were repeatedly breached after the Red Ventures acquisition. “Most of the time, [Guglielmo] seemed to just be relaying orders” from Red Ventures, a former staffer says. In turn, journalists were placed in difficult positions as they tried to fend off the encroaching influence of the business side.
Former CNET staffers describe being asked to work on ads for companies that the outlet covers, including Volvo and home security company Arlo and having to push back against such requests from executives at the company. Three people told The Verge that they believe resistance to Red Ventures initiatives caused various CNET staffers to lose their jobs, with one saying that the pressure to be a “yes man” was a “collective experience” for some teams.
Multiple former CNET staffers point to the demise of the CNET Smart Home as an example of Red Ventures’ overreach. The Smart Home — a four-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Louisville, Kentucky, that the outlet had purchased in 2015 to test and produce videos on home products like robot vacuums and thermostats — had become something of a brand in and of itself. Since Red Ventures’ takeover, Smart Home staff repeatedly refused to work on sponsored content, saying it went against the integrity of their work. Readers look to tech reviewers for honest, unbiased assessments of companies’ products and services, and working on content that is paid for by these same companies can cast doubt on a reviewer’s ability to be independent.
“It’s a culture that if you disagree with them, they’re going to get rid of you and replace you with a zealot.”
In 2022, a Red Ventures executive named Marc McCollum stopped by the Smart Home for a short walk-through. McCollum, according to his LinkedIn profile, led the acquisition of CNET Media Group. A former staffer says he played a key role in the transition, with a focus on increasing profits.
Shortly after McCollum’s visit, teams working out of the Smart Home learned that the company was planning on selling the house, and people working at the house believed their jobs would be at risk if the space were sold. But McCollum indicated that the company may be able to keep the house if it secured a lucrative advertising deal with GE, which had expressed interest in using the Smart Home for a commercial, multiple former employees say.
Hoping to avoid layoffs, some CNET staff pitched in on the GE deal in early talks and planning, and Red Ventures inked a deal. But CNET editorial staffers refused to shoot the ad itself, and contractors were ultimately used to work on the commercial, a former staffer says.
The GE shoot was ultimately moved from the Smart Home to an off-site location due to space limitations at the house, a GE Appliances spokesperson who would only identify themselves as “Whitney” told The Verge via email. GE was not aware of Red Ventures’ plans to sell the house, “Whitney” added.
But by the time the GE ad was released in September, many staff on the Smart Home team had already left the company. Seeing the “writing on the wall” — that the house would soon be put up for sale — some people were able to land new roles, a former staffer says; others were laid off that summer. The house was put up for sale shortly after the GE ad anyway, eventually selling in December for $1.275 million, according to Zillow.
“It’s a culture that if you disagree with them, they’re going to get rid of you and replace you with a zealot,” a former employee, who was laid off, says of Red Ventures. “Somebody that’s absolutely a true believer, [that] drinks the Kool-Aid.”
Former CNET staffers say their colleagues have also been pressured into appearing in ads for companies the outlet covers despite the murky ethics of using reporters in sponsored content. On-camera video hosts were uncomfortable with the idea of being in ads and pushed back against it, according to several former staffers. Using recognizable journalists for video content that’s paid for by advertisers can blur the lines and make it hard for viewers to tell what is and isn’t an ad.
In one recent video, titled “Moen Unveils Innovative Smart Sprinkler Product at CES,” a CNET host takes viewers through the company’s booth at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, interviewing company representatives and testing products. The video is an ad, but the host doesn’t say that, and neither the video description nor title included a disclosure until recently. The only disclaimer was a small pop-up that YouTube inserts when an uploader has indicated there’s a paid promotion in a video, though CNET doesn’t actually specify what in the video is promoted. Moen did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the nature of the sponsorship or its labeling. After The Verge asked Red Ventures about the ad, a disclosure was silently added to the video’s description.
One of the key priorities for Red Ventures seems to be the company’s focus on affiliate links, which pepper its portfolio of sites like The Points Guy, Bankrate, and CreditCards.com. Over time, a focus on affiliate revenue has crept into CNET’s editorial decisions, causing frustration among staff.
In one meeting after the Red Ventures acquisition, a former employee says editorial staff were shown how much the company earned through affiliate categories like home furnishings with the suggestion they keep it in mind when producing future content. CNET staffers were also told that a separate commerce team would begin writing video descriptions that included affiliate links, which many people worried would suggest on-camera hosts were endorsing specific products.
“Red Ventures’ big mantra is that they help people make life’s most important decisions,” a former staffer says. “And yet all of their influence has been to get people to make decisions that are going to be the most profitable to Red Ventures.”
CNET staff say that the proximity to revenue made it harder to maintain the editorial standards
“It’s very demoralizing. It’s actually soul-crushing. All you want to do is your job and you’re being told, ‘Don’t cover this,’ because the revenue potential is not there,” another former staff member says.
Advertising is what keeps most digital media companies afloat, and affiliate marketing is common across the industry. (The Verge earns a commission from affiliate links, as do other Vox Media-owned outlets, like The Strategist.) But in many newsrooms, there is a strict separation between the people dealing with advertisers and the people producing the news. At The Verge, for example, editorial staff never work on ads, and reviews writers don’t know how much parent company Vox Media earns through specific affiliate marketing links.
But under Red Ventures, former CNET staff say that the proximity to revenue made it harder and harder to maintain the editorial standards promised to audiences.
“I do believe that the journalists who are doing the work at CNET are extremely ethical. I think that they have a lot of integrity, I think they work really hard,” they say. “But I think that they are under a great deal of pressure to make money for Red Ventures. And that’s just never a good situation for journalists.”
Though the AI tool generating stories for CNET, Bankrate, and CreditCards.com was formally announced just weeks ago, Red Ventures’ “experiment” with enlisting artificial intelligence has been underway much longer. Like other publishers who’ve incorporated automated tools into their work, the Red Ventures proprietary AI software was sold to the newsroom as a way to more efficiently produce “the boring stuff” so writers could use their time instead and work on bigger projects. In actuality, enlisting artificial intelligence to write SEO bait accelerates the speed at which Red Ventures-owned websites can churn out search-optimized content loaded with affiliate links, cutting down the need for human writers — and the reporting they produce.
For Sarah Szczypinski, a former journalist on the CNET Money team who left the outlet in early 2022, the association with CNET in light of the AI-writing saga has been frustrating. Though Szczypinski quit many months before the AI-generated articles began appearing, people have started contacting her after the news broke, wondering if she, too, had used AI tools for her stories. Szczypinski maintains she wrote her stories on her own, without automation tools.
“The leadership team gave no thought to what these unilateral decisions would do to the people working there, especially the people who are journalists and need their readers to trust them,” Szczypinski told The Verge. “We still have lives to live and careers to forge. And we can’t do that with something as damaging as this hanging over our heads.”
In late January, Szczypinski contacted Red Ventures and CNET, asking to have her author page and bylines pulled. Her name has been scrubbed from dozens of articles, now replaced simply by “CNET Staff.”
Throughout the time Red Ventures has owned CNET, the outlet’s leadership has promised readers time and again that its journalism is as strong as ever. Even as Guglielmo, Turrentine, and Red Ventures executives dodged questions from readers, staff, and reporters about the AI system, they pointed to CNET’s track record built over decades as evidence of trustworthiness. Audiences trust CNET for tech news, reviews, and recommendations, they reasoned, so they can trust CNET for how to move forward with artificial intelligence.
But even the more public ways CNET has tried to elicit trust from its audience have been hollowed out by a relentless drive toward optimization and gaming the search algorithm at the expense of the very work that had made CNET valuable.
CNET’s public ethics policy has not been meaningfully updated in years — it still lists CBS as its parent company — but last year, the publication added nearly a dozen links detailing exactly how it tests and vets products to a hyper-specific degree, with separate posts for how CNET reviews everything from credit cards and TVs to vacuums and more. One way of looking at these posts is to provide readers — and potential customers — with as much detail as possible about CNET’s methodology.
But for Red Ventures, these articles are just more fodder to boost its bottom line: Google likes when publishers demonstrate “experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness,” and the search algorithm factors in articles like these when it ranks search results. Articles packed with words like “unbiased,” “credible,” and “thoroughly vetted” are great for Red Ventures’ SEO-heavy strategy.
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Elysia Cartlidge is living proof that success will come if you work hard and don’t give up.
As a registered dietician with a full-time corporate job and two small kids, Elysia had a full plate and not much time. But she started her website, Haute & Healthy Living, originally as a hobby. A few years later, when she realized she could monetize it, she shifted her focus to healthy recipes, doubled down on SEO, and worked extremely hard on the weekends and when her kids were napping or sleeping.
Today she has a thriving website earning up to $15k per month.
Keep reading to find out:
Why she started her blog
What happened after she took her first blogging course
How long it took her to join Mediavine
Where her income comes from
How much she works on her site
Her marketing strategies
Her thoughts on SEO and social media
How she approaches keyword research and link building
How she creates content
Her favorite resources and tools
Her biggest challenge
Her greatest accomplishment
Her main mistake
Her advice for other entrepreneurs
Meet Elysia Cartlidge
My name is Elysia, and I’m a wife and mother to two little boys, Leo and Max, who are 5 and 2 ½ years old. I have a Master’s in applied nutrition and have been a registered dietitian for 11 years. I was a retail dietitian for 8 years before making the decision to quit and run my online business full-time in January 2022.
Why She Created Haute and Healthy Living
I decided to create my website Haute & Healthy Living, back in 2015 strictly as a hobby. I had just started my first corporate job as a dietitian and was looking for a creative outlet to work on outside of my day job.
When I first launched my website, it was intended to be a lifestyle blog. I posted about recipes, fitness, home decor, DIY projects, and beauty – pretty much all the things that I loved. I never had any plan to turn my website into a business.
I posted about random topics for about 8 months and then I completely stopped posting on my blog during 2016 and 2017 because I got engaged and was busy with wedding planning. Then shortly after the wedding, I got pregnant and had no energy or desire to blog.
During my maternity leave in 2018 with my first son, I decided to start dipping my toes in the world of blogging again. My mom sent me a link to a course called Elite Blog Academy, and I decided to take the course since I had some time while my baby was sleeping. Through the course, I learned that you could monetize a blog and turn it into a business, which to me was completely mind-blowing!
From that point on, I made it a goal of mine that I would monetize my blog and one day quit my job and blog full-time. My husband, family, and friends were supportive, but I think everyone questioned if you can actually make money from a blog. I made it my personal mission to prove that I could do it.
I niched down to just posting healthier recipes and started implementing some of the strategies from the course. I managed to grow my blog traffic to a point where I qualified for Mediavine a year later, in March 2019.
That was the game changer. Since being with Mediavine, my monthly revenue has continued to grow to the point where I was able to quit my full-time job after my second maternity leave in January 2022.
Although I started out covering a wide range of topics, I now focus on posting easy and healthy recipes for busy families.
How Much Money She’s Making
As I mentioned, every month my blog revenue continues to grow, but it’s currently bringing in about 10-15K per month, depending on the month. I’m on track to make around $130-150k this year.
The majority of my revenue comes from ads, but I do make some money from selling my ebooks (a few hundred dollars per month) and from affiliate marknadsföring as well (around $100/per month).
I will also launch another website in the next couple of months, which I hope to monetize in the next couple of years to help further diversify my income.
Although I launched my website in 2015, I started truly taking it seriously and treating it more like a business in 2018, so it’s taken me about 5 years to reach this revenue level.
I had to work on it very much part-time during this time period since I was also working full-time at my corporate job and tending to two young children.
I pretty much built my business at night when my kids were sleeping, on weekends when I wasn’t working my other job, and during my maternity leaves while my kids were napping or sleeping.
On average, I probably work on my business 35 hours per week, though it varies weekly depending on how much my kids are home with me.
Elysia’s Marketing Strategy
I don’t really have any unique marketing strategy that I’m using. My goal is always to produce high-quality content and to use keyword research to help people find my content. That’s my primary marketing strategy.
I’m always trying to improve my food photography as well, which can help with marketing since people will be more likely to want to try a recipe if it looks good.
Finally, I use Pinterest to help share my content, which also brings in some traffic.
Her Thoughts on SEO and Social Media
SEO is incredibly important for my business since most of my traffic comes from search engines.
Aside from Pinterest (which I outsource), I currently don’t use much social media to grow my website. If you saw my number of followers, you probably would think that my website isn’t very successful since I have less than 5000 followers on Instagram and Facebook combined and don’t even have a TikTok account.
I decided to stop posting on Instagram a little over a year ago and only post on FB when I think of it. I found that social media was a major time suck, the algorithms kept changing, and the ROI wasn’t there. So I switched gears and focused the majority of my time on SEO and developing blog content, and that’s when I started seeing the most growth.
If you compare this January and February to the same time last year, my traffic is up about 80%. The moral of the story is you can still be successful and see growth without having a massive following, so don’t get caught up in the vanity metrics.
Keyword Research
I search for my initial ideas using sökordsforskning to determine which recipes to develop. I implement strategies from Stupid Simple SEO and Cooking with Keywords, two courses I took to help me better understand keyword research.
I try to target lower competition keywords so that people can find my content, rather than going for super competitive keywords, which can be difficult to rank for.
Länkbyggnad
Link building is very important, although I probably haven’t devoted as much time to it as I should, as there aren’t enough hours in the day. I hope that focusing on SEO and getting content to rank in top positions on Google will help organically generate backlinks.
I also provide links to my content in roundup groups that other bloggers can use on their sites if they choose to help with backlinks. Additionally, I use my expertise as an RD to sometimes contribute to publications like Insider, Livestrong, Women’s Health, Eat This, Health, etc., when the opportunity presents itself to help build up authority since these sites have a high DA.
Her Content Creation Process
Currently, I try to post about 2 new recipes and update one old recipe per week. I’d love to do more, but at this point, quality is more important to me than quantity. This amount is what I find to be the most manageable during this busy phase of life with young children.
When it comes to my process, first, I’ll come up with initial recipe ideas by conducting keyword research. Then I’ll select a recipe idea from my list and test it (usually multiple times) and make any necessary tweaks before photographing it, editing the photos, conducting additional keyword research, coming up with a post outline, drafting up the post, and inputting the images.
A lot of work goes into creating each post, so it’s definitely more than just coming up with a recipe and posting it on the blog.
Her Email List
I do have an email list that I email weekly. I mostly grow it by using opt-ins on my site. People who choose to subscribe will be added to my email list.
Elysia’s Favorite Resources
Some of my favorite podcasts are EatBlogTalk, the Blogging Millionaire, and Food Blogger Pro. I also like the TopHatRank webinars for learning about best practices for SEO.
Her Top Tools
I use KeySearch for keyword research and find that it’s affordable without being overly complicated like some of the other tools out there.
I also like Asana for building my content calendar since I can easily move things around.
Finally, I use Excel spreadsheets. I find tracking my content in spreadsheets is the best way to keep track of content ideas and keywords since I’m constantly adding new ideas.
Her Biggest Challenge
The biggest challenge I’ve faced is staying up to date on the latest best practices, the constant fluctuations with algorithms, and the never-ending Google updates.
In the blogging world, things are constantly evolving, so you have to be prepared for a bit of a roller coaster ride.
Her Most Impressive Accomplishment
My most important accomplishment thus far has been building up my business to the point where I could quit my corporate job after my maternity leave and pursue my online business full-time.
This not only allowed more flexibility and time to spend with my children, but it also proved to myself and those around me that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Growing my business to this point was all done while having a full-time job and a very demanding newborn and a toddler. It was not an easy journey, but I feel incredibly blessed knowing that the hard work has paid off and that I now get to wake up every morning and work on something that I’m truly excited about.
What She Wishes She Knew When She Started
I wish I had known that you have to post content that people are searching for. If you fail to do this, chances are people won’t be able to find you, which can definitely slow your growth.
I probably would have been much further ahead if I had known this from the start. But learning and mistakes are all part of the journey!
Her Biggest Mistake
Speaking of mistakes, mine is not focusing on SEO sooner. In the beginning, I posted random recipes that had catchy titles, rather than focusing on what people were actually searching for.
When I started focusing on SEO and meeting my readers’ needs, my business began to grow. I’m still going back now and fixing the mistakes that I made.
Her Advice for Other Entrepreneurs
You can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
The key is showing up consistently and putting the work in.
The difference between those who succeed and those who fail, is the ones who succeed are the people who continue to put the work in even when the odds are against them.
Do more of what’s working and less of what’s not. Through consistency and regularly assessing and refining your strategy, you will eventually find success.
When you work hard on your podcast, it shows. Hours of dedication put into creating well-crafted, interesting content pays off with a fine-tuned product— your very own podcast. A show that listeners discover and keep coming back to week after week. And while having a great show and a growing audience is rewarding, you may want to get the full benefit from your work. We’re talking about a payday.
Whether you’re a bedroom podcaster or a seasoned pro, Acast believes that everyone deserves to find their audience and make money from their craft. So if you’re looking for tools to turn your passion into a side hustle or even a career, we’ve got you covered.
Getting podcasters paid is our business at Acast. We provide creators with the best monetization tools that enable them to find a model that works for both them and their audience. From ads and sponsorship to subscriptions and one-time payments, Acast makes it easy to get paid for doing what you love. We’ve already paid out over $240 million to creators, and they’re all earning in different ways — we put the creator in control.
In this article, we will talk about how to make money podcasting and the different monetization methods available on Acast and beyond. We’ll cover how to get started with ads, sponsorships, and subscriptions, and how you can track your earnings and growth with clear and transparent metrics. As well as touching on additional revenue streams such as merch, live events, and affiliate marknadsföring.
Why and when should I monetize my podcast?
Look, we know that not everyone gets into podcasting to make money. In fact, we don’t encourage people to start a podcast specifically to make a quick buck — it doesn’t work like that, but more on this later. But the beauty of podcasting is that it allows you to turn a passion project into a side hustle that burk earn you money and, if you’re lucky, even develop into a career. If you’re in it for the long haul, you’ll want a strategy when it comes to monetizing your show.
Getting paid will allow you to sustain making episodes. For example, if you have an interview podcast, you can attract more guests by offering a fee for their time. If your podcast involves traveling, you can fund your next trip to produce future episodes. You may decide to hire specialists such as sound designers, social media managers, or a producer, to take your show to the next level and improve the quality of the show going forward.
Having a little extra money in your pocket can pay for essential podcasting equipment and recording gear. Maybe there’s a snazzy new microphone you’ve been coveting, or you want to upgrade your editing software. If you don’t record at home, monetizing can also help pay for regular studio time in a professional podcast studio.
As for when to start monetizing, it’s down to the individual. You can start straight away with ads on platforms like Acast to open up an income stream, and there’s no risk in launching a subscription early on to start developing your offering. Keep in mind there are some limitations on how much revenue you can generate while your audience is limited, but there’s nothing wrong with starting early.
What do I need to start monetizing my podcast?
As we said, we don’t encourage people to start a podcast to make money fast. Podcasting is a medium that takes planning, managing, and a fair bit of hard work to start seeing success—don’t rush to the bank after starting a podcast with one episode.
While there’s no definitive list of things you need to start making money from podcasting, as it can differ from podcast to podcast. Here are the foundations that you should have in place before exploring monetization:
Quality content
When you’re starting out with a new podcast, it’s important to focus on creating the best possible content you can. This all starts with your idea, concept, and format for the podcast. Something that plays to your strengths as a creator, and offers listeners something different that they can’t hear on any other podcast. We love the phrase “Build it, and they will come” because it is so true in podcasting. We’ve got a great guide for how to start a podcast called Aclass Essentials with tons of helpful insights into how to create quality content, which is a great place to start.
Building an audience
Building and sustaining a podcast audience is crucial for monetizing — it’s your audience that advertisers are paying you to reach, or the listeners themselves who will support you financially. Ultimately, it’s a case of steadily growing your podcast and building your audience — keeping listeners tuning in, episode after episode. It’s about making sure that they don’t “dip in”, but rather hit the follow button and keep coming back for future episodes.
It’s all about consistency, which is the fuel for podcast growth. Keep a regular release schedule, and use seasons to give yourself a break. Your listeners are creatures of habit, and podcast listening is habitual behavior, so they’ll appreciate knowing exactly when new episodes are out.
The best and most obvious way of getting an audience to return is simply to ask them. Make sure you always tell listeners their support matters and tell them to follow wherever they get their podcasts — as well as leave a positive review. Point out you’ve got social media accounts they can follow, and that you’d love to hear from them. The relationship between the podcast host and the listener is an unusually close one, so make the most of this bond.
Some podcasters take advantage of other marketing channels to entice returning listeners. This could take the shape of an email newsletter, dropping a reminder of the next episode into listeners’ inboxes. Your podcast should feel like a club, where your most valuable listeners are the ones who keep coming back – the ones who reach out to let you know they’re listening. Let them know you’re listening, too.
Choosing the best podcast monetization platforms
If you’re serious about developing a successful podcast monetization strategy, your best bet is to work with specialized partners in generating revenue for your podcast. These platforms offer tools that do all the heavy lifting for you, so you can focus on doing what you do best — making podcasts. Platforms and tools vary in what they provide; from podcast advertising networks, membership subscriptions, one-off payments, donations, merch, and more.
There are a lot of choices out there, which can leave podcasters feeling overwhelmed about which platforms to choose. That’s why Acast developed its podcast hosting platform to be a one-stop shop for the most effective podcast monetization. Podcasters can access our podcaster advertising network, the ‘Acast Marketplace’, where they can monetize with ads and, once they’re big enough, sponsorships. We also have our industry-leading subscriptions and one-time payments tool ‘Acast+’, which allows podcasters to get paid directly by listeners in return for premium content, ad-free episodes, and much more. You can find out more about these monetization tools below.
How do podcasts make money?
Here we go, your complete guide to the various podcast monetization methods, along with helpful explainers and tips on how to get started.
Podcast advertising och sponsorships
Podcast ads and sponsorships are the bread and butter of podcast monetization. If you’ve ever listened to a podcast, chances are you’ve heard what these sound like. These commercial messages from brands and businesses are what put the most money in podcasters’ pockets and keep podcasts free for listeners.
First, let’s define a few important terms:
Annonser are shorter commercial messages in podcasts, usually, 30-60 seconds in length, that are typically created by the advertiser, brand, or business themselves. These will often feature their own signature voice, tone, or music associated with that brand.
Sponsorships are commercial messages that are direct endorsements of a brand, often read by the podcast creator themself — also known as host-read sponsorship. These are typically longer, around 1-3 minutes in length. As sponsorships are personally created and read by podcasters, this ad format is suitable for podcasts with bigger listenerships.
Dynamic Ad Insertion is a technology that inserts ads and sponsorships into your podcast, which Acast invented all the way back in 2014. Dynamically inserted ads and sponsorships are heard on your podcast episodes at the right time, targeting the right audience, across all of your shows’ episodes. This means that your podcast, no matter how far back in your catalog your listens are taking place, will generate passive income even from episodes published years ago. Neat!
In the majority of cases, it’s recommended that you sign up for a podcast host that’s got a built-in podcast advertising network, like Acast. On Acast’s platform, you have everything you need for podcast creation, publishing, and monetizing — including access to the Acast Marketplace where you can start making money through ads and sponsorship that uses dynamic ad insertion, and manage and track your revenue all from the same place.
Monetizing with Acast means you can make money from advertising no matter what app is used by your podcast listeners, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and any other app that catches your RSS feed.
Acast works with the world’s biggest and best brands, so you don’t have to worry about any dodgy ads. On top of this, we ensure that ads sound right at home on your show by putting you in control of setting criteria for any brands or categories that you don’t feel are right for your listeners. It’s our job to make sure your audience hears the right ad that won’t interfere with their experience.
You also have control of showing us exactly where you want ads to be heard in your episodes, using what is known as ‘Ad Markers’.
Pre-roll markers usually play at the very start of your episode
Post-roll markers usually play toward the end of your episode
Mid-roll markers can be placed in the middle of any episode that is at least 10 minutes long. And want to know a secret? – this tends to be the most lucrative ad spot.
Before an ad plays in your episode, we play our iconic audio logo (the Acast North Star) to let your listeners know the difference between your show and the ads.
Once ads are in your episodes, it’s time to get paid. The amount of money you earn depends on the number of listens, your show category, how brand-safe your content is, and a few other factors. Crucially, ad revenue is dependent on CPM (Cost Per Mille), which is a fancy way to say the cost-per-thousand impressions (listens) from your listeners. This can range between advertisers, but typically falls between $5-50 per CPM. Once you’ve reached a certain monthly threshold (for example, $50 in the US), you’ll receive simple steps to tell us where to send your money. You can also track your earnings through the dashboard with our transparent metrics.
As your podcast grows and you get bigger, you may find that advertisers want to hear from you directly, in your voice. These are podcast sponsorships, and Acast can help connect you with sponsors. Sponsorships are podcast host recorded endorsements of a product or brand read aloud by the podcast creator. Podcasts allow you to fully take control of advertising in your own style. In fact, it’s that personal connection between you and the listener that our advertisers want to tap into. Eligibility for the sponsorship on Acast starts at 500 listens per week, but sponsorship campaigns are managed on a case-by-case basis through our dedicated podcast sales team.
Of course, there’s the option of going it alone and pitching potential sponsors yourself for your podcast. Before you reach out, you’ll need to have some numbers ready. Advertisers will want to know how many downloads or listens your podcast gets, and therefore how many impressions their ad is likely to get. In other words, how many people are likely to hear it. You should also be prepared to talk in detail about who your listeners are, and why they’d be interested in the sponsor. For most podcasters, this is very time-consuming and difficult to manage whilst doing everything else it takes to create a podcast. And keep in mind, if you have your own baked-in ads you are not eligible for sponsorship opportunities from Acast.
Podcastsubscriptions, memberships, och premium content
Working with brands isn’t the only route for making money in podcasting, increasingly a lot of creators are supported directly by their listeners through subscriptions or memberships, as well as one-off payments for premium content. And you may not need masses of listeners to make this work – you just need them to be really into what you’re doing.
It’s a bit of a different approach to advertising – one that relies on building a loyal audience base before it can be truly sustainable. But when it works it can be so effective in creating revenue that grows alongside your show’s popularity and helps you build a strong, two-way relationship with the people who are investing in you.
There are a few platforms out there for podcast subscriptions, such as Supercast and Patreon—which Acast has integration with. Acast also has its own supercharged subscription tool called Acast+, which is included in its hosting platform. Think of Acast+ as the ultimate podcast membership club, all available through the same platform you host and publicera your podcast.
Podcast subscriptions and premium content are a way to offer listeners all sorts of benefits or perks in return for a monthly fee, or one-time payment. Essentially you’re creating a paywall for exclusive content. Acast+ subscriptions work across pretty much every listening app including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, and many others. This means a super seamless experience for your listeners. No changing apps or even feeds to access their Acast+ benefits.
Let’s look first at monthly subscribers—that is, listeners who pay a monthly subscription fee, set by you to access benefits. On average, we’ve seen that around 2-5% of audiences could become paying subscribers using Acast+. Shows that promote frequently and persistently can see upwards of 7-10%. This process can take a while – podcasts are slow-burning experiences built on trust and faith so don’t be disheartened if things take a while to ramp up. Persevere, focus on your show, and the subscribers will come in time.
You’ll need to work out what you can offer your listeners in return for their subscription. You can set up a range of tiers for different amounts of money and assign perks to each. Benefits that you can offer through Acast+ include:
Ad-free episodes: Acast can automatically remove ads from episodes for paying listeners.
Bonus episodes: Exclusive podcast content for the people who love it most.
Early access: Get episodes to your superfans before anyone else can listen.
Access to archive: Holding back your archive is a great way of turning new listeners into paying subscribers
You can also customize these tiers to fit with the themes and stories of your show. Take a look at some of Acast’s popular podcasts that are using Acast+, including WTF With Marc Maron, Sh**ged, Married, Annoyed, och Owning It.
Acast+ brings all the tools you need to convert your audience to membership, including a dynamically-inserted intro message added to your regular episodes, explaining what your subscription is and how to subscribe. And cleverly, you can make sure these messages aren’t served to any existing subscribers. You can also put a custom call-to-action in your show notes so people can easily click straight through to your subscription offering.
You can also test your listeners’ appetite for subscriptions with one-time payments for special episodes, bonus content, or bundles of episodes in one go. This can be a really great, low-stakes way of bringing them closer to your show without the pressure of ongoing payments. You’re also not limited to podcasts. Audio content like audiobooks, stand-up sets, live recordings, and more can all be delivered to your audience through Acast+.
You don’t just make money with Podcast subscriptions, they’re also a great way of building an email list—which you can use to build a closer relationship with your biggest fans.
Podcast subscriptions work because they are a great example of what makes podcasts so special. It’s about you, it’s about what you love and connecting you with the people who love what you do.
Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs allow you to earn commission by promoting a business’s products or services. When your listeners use your affiliate link to make a purchase, you earn a percentage of the sale. Here are some steps to help you make money in podcasting using affiliate programs:
Choose a niche: Identify a specific niche that your podcast caters to. For example, if you host a podcast about personal finance, you can promote affiliate products related to finance and investments.
Find affiliate programs: Research and find affiliate programs that align with your niche. There are several affiliate networks available, such as Amazon Associates, ShareASale, and Commission Junction. Acast also has its own affiliate program.
Select products: Choose products or services that you genuinely believe in or have used yourself. It is crucial to promote high-quality products that will provide value to your listeners.
Promote products on your podcast: Once you have selected the products, you can promote them on your podcast by creating engaging ad spots. You can also add links to the show notes or your podcast website.
Track your earnings: Keep track of your earnings from affiliate marketing to determine the effectiveness of your efforts. This will help you make adjustments to your strategy and optimize your earnings.
Acast has its very own affiliate program, which can earn you a 30% recurring commission every month for each podcast customer you refer to Acast who signs up for one of our paid-for plans. This is perfect for podcasters as you’re already speaking to people interested in the medium, and can talk from experience about the joys of podcasting.
Additional ways to monetize your podcast
Donations and crowdfunding
Similar to one-time payments, there are tools to request one-off donations from your listeners to support the podcast. People often phrase this to their listeners as helping them buy a cup of coffee, a beer, or an in-joke related to their podcast. You can do this through Acast+ easily by creating a one-time payment tier and customizing the message.
Crowdfunding is a slightly different approach than a donation, but still involves your fans contributing to support the podcast. Usually, creators will launch a crowdfunding campaign to launch a new podcast or series, using platforms like Kickstarter—which has a whole section dedicated to funding podcast projects. For example, James Acaster, co-host of Off Menu, funded a new podcast using Kickstarter.
Merch
Another way to earn money directly from your diehard fans is by selling merchandise. This is a great way to put money in the bank but also to build a community with your audience around your podcast — like a real fan club. Using e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Everpress or specialist merch platforms like Spring, you can create branded t-shirts, mugs, hats, or even books or an online course that ties in with the topic of your show.
Live events, live streams, and gigs
In-person live events and live streams offer podcasters the opportunity to connect with their audience in a more intimate way. The relationship between podcasters and listeners is unlike any other medium, so many fans want to be able to interact with their favorite podcasters. You can run events such as live Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes looks at your show, and even exclusive interviews with your guests. And the best part? You can charge your audience to access these events.
To get started, you’ll need to choose a platform to host your live events and live streams. There are plenty of options out there, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and Zoom. You’ll also want to promote your event through your podcast, social media, and email list to get as many people to attend as possible.
And here’s an idea, why not try using one-time payments on Acast+ to sell tickets to your live events?
Sammanfattning
There you have it, a comprehensive look at all the different ways to earn money through podcasting. Monetizing is just one aspect of podcasting, but an important one if you’re looking to turn your passion into a profitable venture. From ads and sponsorships to merchandise and subscriptions, there is a monetization strategy that can work for you and your audience. At Acast, we offer a variety of tools and features to help you monetize your podcast on your own terms. Get started by signing up or switching to Acast today.
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