Getting the most from your ad inventory may seem a bit tricky, but it’s not as difficult as you might think. Simply put; the more inventory you have available on your show, the more opportunities you have to earn revenue!
The key to maximizing your revenue is to understand balance. A balance between filling your inventory space and keeping your listeners engaged with your content. A Goldilocks conundrum, you might say! Luckily, we can guide you to ensure you earn revenue without tiring out your audience.
Programmatic or Host-Read? Why Not Both?
You may be tempted to opt for one over the other, but don’t underestimate the value of Programmatic ads just because their CPMs are typically lower than Host-Read ads. Some revenue generation is better than no revenue generation.
Only opting for Host-Read ads means that there may be open inventory in your podcast depending on the campaigns you have running. If your brand partner is running a campaign with frequency capping, then folks binge-listening to your show may end up hearing 0 ads meaning you lose out on potential ad revenue. Having a mixture of Host-Read and Programmatic ads means that a different ad can be substituted for specific situations. So, if a frequent listener is exempted from hearing the Host-Read ad due to certain parameters, then having a Programmatic ad play instead ensures that that ad spot isn’t missed.
OpenRAP goes even further beyond by allowing podcasts on other hosting platforms to fill their inventory with Host-Read ads. Our OpenRAP product allows you to widen the pool of potential advertising partners and fill open ad spots with Host-Read ads rather than Programmatic ones from your current hosting platform. This means that you can insert ads with higher CPMs in spots where Programmatic ads, with historically lower CPMs, may be inserted.
Investing in multiple ways to fill inventory is one of the best ways to ensure you’re generating the most revenue you can!
Don’t Forget Your Past
An often overlooked place to monetize your podcast is your back catalog. You’d be surprised how many listeners you might have who frequent your old episodes (even we dip way back into the archives of our favorite shows!) This is especially true for narrative-driven podcasts where seasons may be one, long continuous story. Think about your content and how it’s ingested by your audience. If you have some required listening in your back catalog, then don’t forget to set up ad inventory there, too!
Another way to monetize your back catalog is to make some episodes “exclusive”. This works for podcasts of all kinds! You can take your most popular episodes from the past and make them a bonus to subscribers. You can even re-release old episodes with fresh commentary and insights and make them bonus episodes.
There are plenty of ways to monetize your old episodes without alienating your current audience or bombarding them with dozens of ads!
Gotta Have All Three
An important practical piece is to have at least a minimum of three Insertion Points per episode; 1 Pre-Roll, 1 Mid-Roll, and 1 Post-Roll. The definitions of these Insertion Points depend on the length of your episode.
For episodes 20 minutes or longer:
- Pre-roll is the first 5 minutes of your episode
- Mid-roll is any point after the first 5 minutes and before the last 5 minutes
- Post-roll is the last 5 minutes of your episode
For episodes less than 20 minutes:
- Pre-roll is the first 10% of your episode
- Mid-roll is after the first 10% and before the last 10%
- Post-roll is the last 10% of your episode
Having at least one in each position for each episode is an easy way to ensure you’re maximizing your potential revenue. But if you only have room for one, then we cannot stress enough how important Mid-Roll Insertion Points are compared to the other two. These are often the most highly sought-after by brands since this is when your audience is most engaged. They also typically have the highest CPM! So, if you can only pick one, then you can’t go wrong with a Mid-Roll slot.
Find the Balance
The final piece to this puzzle is understanding the balance of ads per break and per episode. We wrote a couple of other pieces that talk about the best spot(s) in your episodes to place an ad and the recommended number of ads per break. So, there isn’t too much else to add on after reading through those two blogs!
An important thing to keep in mind is the balance between the number of ads in your episode and the fatigue of your listeners. A short episode with dozens of ads is going to be a turn-off for many listeners. Studies have found that most folks drop off a podcast if there are too many ads. You want to strike the right balance between the number of ads you have and the tolerance of your audience.
This might seem an almost impossible task, but we’ve found that most listeners don’t actively skip well-written and well-performed Mid-Roll Host-Read ads. Creating advertisements with the same level of care and attention as your episodes can help to improve your Host-Read ad performance.
Finally, it’s especially important to ensure that you don’t overbook yourself with campaigns, both on and off-platform. Be cognizant of your available inventory and ensure you have the right number of ad slots to fulfill the requested campaign! RedCircle helps you to keep track of all your campaigns and our Advertising team makes sure to check your inventory before pitching your show!
Ready to take your podcast to the next level and monetize like never before? Sign up to host your show on RedCircle, or join OpenRAP if you’re currently hosting your show on a VAST-enabled platform. Let us show you how much revenue we can help you earn!
