What hosting tier do I need?
Good question! Let's talk about monthly downloads.
75% of all podcasters get less than 100 listeners per episode. This fits comfortably inside our free tier.
On average, you could get around 200 listeners per episode on our free tier.
Only 5% of podcasters get more than 1000 listens per episode (easily within our 1st paid tier - $10 per month.)
Up to 2000 listens per episode can fit within our first tier, at $10 per month.
At this level, sponsorship earnings could hit around $350 per month
We've taken the 'monthly downloads' approach to pricing, because it's one of the most fair ways we can find to charge for hosting.
That means, if you're early stage, and still working your way through 1 to 1000 downloads per month, we can afford to support you, offering that for free.
You only start to pay for hosting later, once your show becomes more successful and you have a good chance of earning some money from it.
But what does that look like? What tier are you likely to need? Let's look at some average numbers. Here's the main stat to think about:
75% of ALL podcasters get less than 100 downloads per episode
We've taken this number for elsewhere, to keep it impartial, but it comes from one of the biggest hosting platforms in the industry, with more than 100,000 active podcasts. Take a look here for more on average podcast download stats.
So, if you're inside that 75%, then it means 400 downloads per month for new episodes, if you're on a weekly schedule.
Then, we have to count downloads of old episodes, too. Sometimes new listeners will delve into your back catalogue and listen to some older episodes.
Usually, that can account for around 30% to 40% more downloads, if you have a reasonable sized episode list (more than 30 or 40 episodes). So, that might add 160 downloads. Let's say 200, just to be safe. That makes 600 downloads, per month, in total.
This means 75% of all podcasters will expect to get under 600 downloads
per month. That falls inside our free hosting add-on tier.
What if I am successful? Will I have to pay?
Let's look at an example. Take our long-running 'How to Podcast' show, Podcraft.
Podcraft is one of the most successful shows in it's niche, applicable to anyone with an interest in running a podcast.
Podcraft gets an average of around 1750 downloads per episode, which puts it in the top 5% of all podcasts.
We've run sponsorship, we get great listener engagement, it helps promote and sell a lot of the work we do. It's a success for us as a team by almost any measure you can think of.
But, even at top 5% and 1750 downloads per episode, it still works out as between 8000 and 9000 downloads per month. That means it's still within our 1st hosting pricing tier: a $10 add-on to your Alitu account.
What Should you Be Earning by the Time you Hit our Higher Hosting Tier?
To hit our next tier - up to 50,000 downloads per month, a $30 add-on - you'll most likely have to be achieving over 2000 downloads per episode.
At this point, even at basic sponsorship CPMs, you could be charging $80 to $90 per episode, per sponsor. That's a $20 to $25 CPM (per 1000 listeners) x 2 ads: a pre-roll and a mid-roll, with a post-roll chucked in for free.
That means you could be earning $320 to $360 per month at this point.
And, depending on your show format, you can run 2 or 3 sponsors per episode. Many of the biggest get away with 4 or 5, although most of us would struggle with that 😆
Of course, you might be like us and actually you're selling your own products and services. In which case, your earnings can be much higher. Coaches and mentors, for example, can earn a very good living by selling coaching sessions to an audience of just a few hundred people on a regular basis.
I hope that explains how our hosting pricing works, and where you're likely to fit in. But, if you have any questions, please do reach out to support. We're happy to talk it through.