The Podcast Sponsorship Calculator turns audience size into sponsorship money: enter downloads per episode, how many ad spots you sell in an episode, your CPM, and episodes per month, and it returns revenue per episode, per month, and per year. It is the media-kit arithmetic every podcaster and sponsor negotiates from.
How It Works
Monthly revenue multiplies by episodes per month, and annual revenue is the monthly figure times twelve. CPM is the price per thousand downloads for one spot, so each additional spot in the same episode multiplies that episode's revenue linearly.
Parameters
| Input | Required | Meaning | |---|---|---| | Downloads per episode | Yes | Typically downloads within the first 30 days of release | | Ad spots per episode | Yes | Number of sold placements in the episode | | CPM | Yes | Rate per thousand downloads per spot | | Episodes per month | Yes | Publishing cadence |
Worked example
A show averaging 20,000 downloads per episode sells three spots at a 1,500**; monthly revenue is 72,000**. The same show at a 2,400 per episode and $115,200 a year, showing how CPM, the niche variable, matters more than any plausible change in episode cadence.
Downloads, CPM, and spots: setting honest inputs
Use the download figure sponsors use: per-episode downloads within about 30 days of release, measured to the IAB podcast measurement standard where possible, not lifetime catalogue downloads. CPMs cluster by placement and niche: host-read mid-rolls command the strongest rates (commonly 50 or more in business niches) because the audience is settled and attentive; pre-rolls price somewhat lower, and post-rolls least, because a share of the audience leaves before the credits. General-audience shows often transact nearer 30. Programmatic dynamically inserted ads pay less than host-read direct deals but sell without a sales effort. If your episodes carry mixed placements, price each at its own CPM in separate runs and add them.
Sell-through and the annual number
The annual figure assumes every spot in every episode sells. Real shows sell a share of inventory (sell-through), and back-catalogue episodes with dynamic insertion add a long tail the per-episode model ignores. A prudent planning number applies your historical sell-through rate (at 70%, the example's 50,400) and treats catalogue revenue as upside. Sponsors, for their part, will ask about audience geography, completion rates, and past sponsor renewals; have those beside the calculator's output in any negotiation.
Limitations
The model is linear and pre-tax: no agency commissions (commonly 15 to 30% when an agency or network sells for you), no production costs, no platform fees, and no allowance for downloads decaying or spiking after release. It prices the spots you specify at one CPM; mixed-placement episodes need the separate-runs approach described above. Actual rates are set by negotiation against the audience evidence you can document.
Frequently Asked Questions
What downloads figure do sponsors expect?
Downloads per episode within roughly the first 30 days, consistently measured. Quoting all-time catalogue totals is the fastest way to lose a media buyer's trust.
Is a higher CPM always better than more spots?
Up to a point: CPM reflects audience value and is hard to fake, while piling on spots degrades the listener experience and eventually downloads, the base every figure multiplies. Most shows settle at two to four spots per episode.
Do I charge for back-catalogue episodes?
With dynamic ad insertion, yes: evergreen episodes keep accumulating downloads and are sold as catalogue impressions, usually at a lower CPM than new-release host-read spots.