Podcasts have been around for ages, and they haven't slowed down in terms of growth in popularity year after year. There are now over 2.7 million active podcast shows, and over 160 million Americans who have listened to them.

One of the allures of podcasting is the potential for generating income with your show. How nice would it be to talk for hours about things that you're passionate about, and have someone pay you to do it? The stats suggest that this isn't exactly a pipe dream, since ad spending for podcasts in 2021 was an estimated $1.3 billion.

But who actually gets those advertising dollars are based on the pure number of downloads a podcast regularly has. Ad revenue is usually established by CPM, which is cost per thousand downloads, with podcast hosts typically charging $15-30 per thousand.

If we look at some of the download statistics from the podcast hosting site Buzzsprout, you see that there's a major discrepancy between top producers and the median podcast.

Episode Downloads (First 7 Days):

Top 1% of podcasts: 3,763

Top 5%: 755

Top 10%: 321

Top 25%: 88

Top 50% (Median podcast): 29

Based on a CPM model, only the top 1% of podcasters are even making any ad revenue within the first 7 days of releasing an episode.

Some podcasters try to move away from ads and sponsors and try to monetize on an external donations site like Patreon - but even an estimated 55% of podcasters on Patreon make $30 or less per month.

So how can a new podcaster approach monetizing their content with such grim stats stacked against them?

No Filter Network is a unique podcasting solution that puts monetization in control of the host, and offers new creative ways to generate revenue with their shows.

Zero delay live interactive video streaming, which makes your audience feel like they can be part of the show... meaning you can build better relationships with your listeners and grow your audience

Sell tickets to streams, which lets you monetize the live recordings of episodes

Sell stream replays, so if you hosted special episodes, created webinar series with guests, etc, you can continue to make passive revenue on pre-recorded content

Collect live tips right in the stream, so you can monetize your audience's engagement... paid Q&A, trivia and contests, and near infinite other creative ways to create literal buy-in with your listeners

Create paid subscriptions to your live streaming channel, so if your listeners want to watch the live recordings and get to participate directly with you, they can pay a small monthly fee to join your live streams

These are, of course, only tools. But they are tools that come with a myriad of different configurations for successful business models to monetize your podcast.

By changing your podcast recordings to a high quality, interactive live stream, you add the element of direct connection to your audience. You can create deeper relationships, cultivate a sense of community and belonging for listeners, and make the experience of being part of your audience something worth paying for.

Maybe you have free live streams where you collect live tips for a regular trivia episode, field paid Q&A sessions, and occasionally charge a premium ticket price when you're interviewing a special guest. Maybe all of your live episodes come at a premium, and people can pay you a subscription fee for unlimited access to your regular shows.

This can all coexist with having show sponsors and still building to a point where you CAN generate ad revenue through other platforms. Since the streaming platform has high quality Dolby Audio, you can record your streams on No Filter, then easily export the recording to be distributed across other streaming platforms.

This is a paradigm shift for those discouraged about needing a larger following to start making even minuscule amounts revenue. Now, can leverage your existing audience using interactivity and monetization tools to create more value and turn your podcast into a unique offering. It puts the power of monetization into the hands of the creator, instead of relying on other companies to pay out based on raw numbers alone.

For those who want to experience No Filter Networks streaming and monetization tools firsthand, they can get a free creator account simply by verifying their email, and start creating their own show in minutes.

We hope to empower more podcasters to monetize their content and create more special experiences for their viewers.