Unveiling the Truth About Programmatic Ads in Podcasting

Dave Jackson [00:00:00]:
Today, we're gonna have fun with math as we look into programmatic ads for your podcast.

Dave Jackson [00:00:34]:
If somebody asked me, hey, Dave. I need you to stand right here. And if you stand right there, that that big person over there, the big strategy person, yeah, there's a 30% chance that they're gonna punch you in the face. Would you stand there? Because I know you're like, well, there's a 70% chance that they're not, but there's a 30% chance that they will. Now, Dave, what are you talking about? Well, our good friends at radio. I I get it. So many podcasters wanna start a podcast and then get ads because depending on how old you are, you grew up listening to the radio, and they would play a couple songs. The DJ would talk a little bit, maybe fill you in about the artist, and then they'd play some ads.

Dave Jackson [00:01:19]:
Well, now you've started a podcast, and your knee jerk reaction is, oh, I'm gonna start a podcast and get ads. And I'm not anti ad. I'm all about getting paid for the value you deliver. And so most podcasters, as in less than 10%, get enough downloads to get what is called a host read ad. These pay somewhere between 20 to $25 per 1,000 downloads. So you're like, okay. Well, what what are the other kind of ads then? These are called programmatic. They're kinda automatic, And this is the GEICO's, the Home Depot's, and things like that, and they're paying you maybe maybe again, maybe 0.004¢ a download.

Dave Jackson [00:02:05]:
That is $4 for every 1,000 downloads. And so I say this because people like, oh, okay. That's great. Well, if you get you know, maybe you have, let's say, 400 downloads for the month. You're gonna make a dollar 60. Yep. Enjoy that. You almost enough to buy a bottle of Pepsi there maybe, and you'd have to have 1,250 for $5.

Dave Jackson [00:02:35]:
And what so what happens is people go, wow. Those don't pay much, so they throw 2 ads at the beginning of their show. Those pay around $2. The mid Growth, if you're lucky, will pay you $4, so those stuff 2 there and then those stuff 2 at the end, and in the end, you're making peanuts. And I'm like, I get it. It's better than a poke in the eye, but this is where I go, there are other ways to make money. One of them is to do what's called either a, a private podcast, a membership podcast, whatever you wanna call it, and so think about this. And there's a lot of people bring up Patreon.

Dave Jackson [00:03:14]:
I have a Patreon account because they were the only game in town back then. If I was doing it today, I would use Supercast, and I'll have links to those out in the episode description. But here's the question you wanna ask. Which one is easier, getting a $5 supporter? Because for some people, $5 I mean, you can't even buy a Happy Meal for $5 right now. So $5 or 1,250 downloads. Which one's easier? And that's the the question I'm asking. For me, I'm like, I think it would be easier to have somebody give me $5 a month than to go out and find an additional 1,250 downloads. So, again, I'm not antiads, but I am very logical about this, and that's just good old fashioned math.

Dave Jackson [00:04:07]:
Keep in mind that sponsor may or may not be aligned with your content. You get the idea here. So I know I'm sounding very anti ad. I I personally for me, I'm not doing a podcast for a dollar 60. I'm just not going to put my audience. I care about my audience more than the dollar 60 that's gonna go in my pocket, but that's me. And you in your financial situation are completely different than mine, and you know what's best. And if you're really looking to make money with your podcast, remember the steps are plan, launch, grow, and then monetize.

Dave Jackson [00:04:46]:
And if you need help with that, I do have a book on podcast monetization called Profit From Your Podcast. I'll put a link to that out in the show notes. You know, because sometimes it's about using the right tool for the right job. I just had somebody today that asked, should I use Substack for a podcast? Because they offer that option. Substack is a brilliant newsletter platform, but I don't take my car into the dentist. I take it to a mechanic, and I'm like, why would you use a company that has a brilliant newsletter platform and use them for a podcast? Oh, because it's free. And I'm like, do you not see that in almost all cases you get what you pay for? You are at their beck and call, and they can do whatever they want. Because what are you gonna do? Not not pay them anymore? So be careful with free stuff.

Dave Jackson [00:05:43]:
For me, I have found, a, there are a number of podcast companies that have tried free hosting, and almost all of them are out of business because I know this is crazy. Free is not a good business model. It it just isn't. So do the math. Do some thinking, and this is where when we start a podcast, we're very emotional about it. Like, oh, this is I can't wait to do this, and it's gonna be podcasting, or maybe we're a little frightened and things like that, but this is where someone like me comes in and goes, hey. Just to, I don't wanna, you know, pee in your Cheerios here, but let's go in with some realistic expectations. And when you're earning point zero, zero four, and that's, again, that's the high end of automatic ads, you might have a hard time making a card payment with that.

Dave Jackson [00:06:33]:
Now if you need some help getting those numbers up, or you go, Dave, I don't even have a podcast. Well, if you need help planning it, launching it, growing it, or monetizing it, that's what we do out at the school of podcasting.com. If you go to school of podcasting.com/consult, consultant that'll save you on either a monthly or yearly subscription. I'm Dave Jackson. I help podcasters. It's what I do, and I would love to see what we could do together because I wanna be your podcast consultant.