If you’ve just started your podcast, you might not think that it’s going to make money, but if your listener base is growing, you should start thinking about how to monetize your podcast (also see, “How Much Do Podcasters Make?“).
This isn’t always easy to do on your own, but that’s why you should make use of a professional podcast host.
How does a podcast host help you earn money? Different podcast hosts offer different features to help you start making money, such as ad marketplaces and listener subscriptions.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. Here are the seven best podcast hosts for monetization to help you earn a stream of income. We’ll also show you what other features they have to offer so you can choose the best podcast host for you.
Best Podcast Host For Monetization
Red Circle
Although Red Circle offers a free plan if you’re a beginner in the podcasting world, it also has paid plans if you want to turn your podcasting hobby into a career. Here’s what to know about its monetization features.
- Red Circle has what’s called The Red Circle Ad Platform (RAP) that’s essentially an online marketplace that gives you various advertising opportunities for your podcast. This marketplace makes it easier for you to secure advertising with different brands.
- It offers cross-promotion so that you and other podcasters can promote each other’s shows, such as through different campaigns, to help you gain more listeners.
- Red Circle offers users different ways to monetize their content. For example, you can choose to accept listener donations or sell subscriptions for exclusive content.
- To guarantee the quality of your content, you’re in full control of it. You can choose when and in what order your content will appear in your show, and where you want to insert ads. This gives you full control over your podcast content and monetization opportunities.
Other Features To Enjoy From Red Circle
- By providing you with in-depth analytics of your listeners, you’ll be able to better tailor content to them, which can help you to earn more money.
- Red Circle links to existing websites where you’d like to distribute your podcasts, such as Apple and Spotify, so you can reach more listeners with greater ease.
- Red Circle gives you instant payments via Stripe, which are made within one business day. This is a feature that users on paid plans can enjoy.
Transistor
Another popular podcast host is Transistor. It gives you all the tools you require to increase your podcast audience.
Here are some of its key features to know about if you want to monetize your podcast.
- Transistor takes your uploaded podcast and automatically distributes it to big podcast directories, such as Apple and Spotify.
- It allows you to build a branded website with your own domain name. This helps you to build your brand and a fanbase.
- It ensures your podcast can be integrated with newsletter companies like MailChimp, which will help you to get word out of your podcast and new episodes that are available.
- You can host multiple podcasts from one account, which helps you to grow in the future if you’re just starting out. The more podcasts you have, the more listeners you’ll get, which can boost your income.
- You can connect Transistor to Patreon so your listeners can pay you for exclusive content. This is easy to do – you can simply add your Patreon link to your podcast show notes.
Other Benefits Of Transistor
- You can integrate your podcast’s RSS feed with third-party analytics services, so you’ll be able to see your podcast rankings as well as reviews in other countries.
- It has a Podcast Website Builder. This gives you a website for your podcasts to help you to promote your podcast in a professional way.
Anchor
Anchor offers unlimited and free hosting, but it also has great features to help you to start earning more money with your blog.
These include anchor sponsorships, which match sponsors with your podcast; and listener donations that can be done monthly via a donation button that’s added to your podcast.
- It’s easy to get started with sponsorships via Anchor. All you have to do is select this feature, then wait until the podcast host finds advertisers for your podcast.
- Anchor offers the Ads by Anchor feature. When you record ads in your voice or choose to insert sponsor-read ads into your podcast episode, you can earn more money. As a bonus, you can choose where in the episode you want the ads to run.
- Anchor provides different ads you can use. These include performance-based house ads that generate hype about Anchor and automated ads, which allow you to make use of the Spotify Audience Network. This gives you access to ads from brands that target your podcast listeners.
- You can offer your listeners podcast subscriptions that they pay monthly. This ensures you can be supported by your listeners, and you can offer them perks in exchange for their support.
- Anchor lets your podcast listeners support you by making monthly donations. This is a great monetization feature that you can offer to your most loyal listeners.
Other Features Available From Anchor
- You can host an unlimited amount of episodes for free, and you always own your content rights.
- You’ll receive in-depth listener analytics, such as at what point in your podcast episode listeners lost interest, so you can tweak your podcast in the future to ensure you remain engaging.
BuzzSprout
BuzzSprout is a popular podcast host for beginners. It offers three main monetization features.
- It has an affiliate marketplace where you can promote affiliate programs.
- It enables you to put a donation button on your podcast, and it’s linked to payment services such as PayPal for increased convenience.
- It matches your podcast to sponsors via the Podcorn network. This will ensure that you can find people to support your podcast.
Other Features You’ll Enjoy With BuzzSprout Include:
- A visual soundbite to make your podcast stand out and grab more attention on social media.
- BuzzSprout gives you the chance to add segments to your podcasts, such as intros, special announcements, and sponsor spots.
- It gives users a variety of data so that you can better understand your listeners, such as how many subscribers have downloaded your podcast, how long they’re listening to the episode, and more.
- It’s user-friendly so it’s ideal for beginners. Even if you have no experience with using a podcast host, you’ll be able to get the hang of it quickly.
- Buzzsprout is recommended by Podcasters from beginners to experts.
- Podcast Hosting made easy!
PodBean
If you’re steadily growing your podcast, you’ll want to check out PodBean. It provides various monetization features of which you can take advantage. Here are some to know about.
- You can make use of instant, real-time monetization. Your listeners will be able to buy content as long as they’re listening to your podcast via the PodBean app.
- Your listeners can pay monthly donations to support your podcast.
- PodBean offers users a free ads marketplace where you can be sponsored by big brands around the world.
- PodBean lets you make use of an “Advertise on my Podcast” badge that you can share on social media, websites, and blogs. If brands click on it, they will view your podcast details and create an ad campaign to run their ads on your podcast.
- You can set up premium podcast content behind a paywall, such as special episodes, to attract new listeners or keep current ones interested in your podcast. Premium content is a popular way of monetizing your podcast.
- You can earn money when live streaming your podcast. Podbean Live gives you a chance to stream live content to your followers, who can interact with you in the live chat. You can use live streaming to earn money, such as via live show admissions. This feature ensures you can better connect with your listeners while also finding ways to gain their financial support.
PodBean Offers Other Features For Podcasters
- You get a free podcast website when you set up a PodBean account.
- PodBean helps you to create custom cover art with fonts and images so that your podcast has a professional appearance.
- PodBean automatically posts your podcast’s new episodes on social media. You just have to connect your YouTube, Facebook, and other social media accounts to your PodBean account. You can also create videos to reach, and engage with, your audience.
- Easily start your own podcast today!
- There is a reason Podbean is used by 570,000+ Podcasters!
Spreaker
Spreaker is focused on helping users make more money with their podcasts. Its monetization features include the following:
- Spreaker has programmatic ads that don’t feel awkward when placed in your podcast. They ensure a seamless flow in every episode, which bolsters their effectiveness.
- Spreaker inserts ads into your podcast from the first episode.
You therefore don’t have to build a large audience before you can start earning money. - It offers a marketplace where advertisers can provide relevant ads for your podcast.
- Ads are inserted into your back catalog so that you can monetize your catalog in its entirety, giving you more opportunities to earn money.
Other Features To Enjoy With Spreaker
- Spreaker enables you to do everything for your podcast in one place: you can record, edit, live broadcast, monetize, and distribute your podcast without a fuss.
- Spreaker offers a wide podcast distribution network so your podcast will get listed on all major podcast directories.
- This podcast host is easy to use with a clean, intuitive interface.
Libsyn
Libsyn has some valuable tools that you can use to increase your podcast monetization. Although it doesn’t boast as many features as other podcast hosting sites, it’s easy to use while giving you control over your content. Here are some of its monetization features (also see, “Is Libsyn Good For Podcasting?“).
- Libsyn offers users the AdvertiseCast marketplace. This connects you with companies that are looking for podcasts where they can advertise their products or services.
- You can use podcast subscriptions. Thanks to Libsyn’s Glow feature, your listeners can pay for a subscription or membership so that they can support your podcast.
- You get to choose the advertisers that you want to work with so that you’re in control of what ads are mentioned on your podcast. This ensures that you direct the monetization of your podcast in the way you want it.
- Libsyn’s ad campaigns are tailored to your advertising goals. For example, Libsyn picks the correct podcast for advertisers based on various criteria, such as listener demographics and budget restrictions.
Other Features That Libsyn Offers
- Libsyn has an integrated Canva button to make your podcast artwork easier to produce to attract more listeners and grow your audience.
- Libsyn is intuitive. A great beginner-friendly feature is that you can set podcast episode defaults so that creating and publishing episodes is streamlined and easy.
- Libsyn has a variety of user-friendly features. For example, you can produce a new podcast episode from any page and make use of drag-and-drop uploads for increased convenience.
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Related Questions
Do You Really Need A Podcast Host?
A podcast host is essential as it will store your podcast episodes and generate your RSS feed so you can get your podcast into directories, such as Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. It also gives you valuable information, such as listener analytics.
Should You Host Your Podcast On Your Website?
You shouldn’t host your podcast on your website. Podcast files are large and this can cause issues with your bandwidth, which can cause you to lose listeners. It’s better to use a podcast host.
Conclusion
If you want to start earning money with your podcast, you should choose the best podcast host that has valuable monetization features to offer its users.
In this article, we’ve featured seven of the best podcast hosts for monetization and also looked at other features to make your audience grow.
