Year One of Paid Listens

It’s been a year since we announced Paid Listens, the first program that directly pays podcasters for every episode of their podcast heard. Over the last twelve months we developed a scalable system to streamline podcaster onboarding, verification, listening reports, and payment processing––building blocks for our growing podcaster marketplace.

And what a year it’s been!

There are now thousands of participating podcasters from all over the world in the program. Since we launched last February, joining has become even simpler: any podcast can enable Paid Listens and earn at a $20 CPM for each listen in our apps. It’s one more thing you can opt-in to when you create your free account on RadioPublic. Nearly half these folks have also completed our podcast marketing program, making them downright dangerous when it comes to promoting their podcast to the world.

We’ve paid out thousands of dollars to podcasters who have reached the $25 threshold. This minimum payout was reached even more quickly following the announcement of the Loyal Listener bonus, an indicator of a listener who has heard three or more episodes of the show. We added hundreds of podcasters to the program in December alone, when we introduced the month-long Paid Listens upgrade, doubling all earnings (the Paid Listens rate and the Loyal Listener bonus) for all participating podcasters.

We ❤️ seeing podcasters joining Paid Listens, and every time our house ad plays at the start of a participating podcast, it’s music to our ears as we know that yet another listener is sending a (love) note to a show they enjoy.

Thank you to all the podcasters and listeners who have joined us during this first year of Paid Listens. Stay tuned for more to come. Opt-in to the Paid Listens program by creating your account on RadioPublic today.

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