This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to Side Hustle School, thanks for tuning in today. We have talked before about how to get sponsors for a podcast. We've got lots of listeners out there starting podcasts of their own, hoping to get paid for them, which is always nice, you know, getting paid for something you enjoy, something you're good at, some kind of creative project that you produce. But the advice for an existing podcast or really any sort of community or medium that has some traction and is gaining listeners is a little bit different than something that hasn't actually been launched yet. So in fact, what if the podcast is brand new, it hasn't actually released in the episodes yet.
Do you have to wait until you've built up an audience and then go to potential sponsors? Or might there be a way to effectively launch with sponsorship and therefore revenue? Now this could be especially important for anybody out there creating a narrative driven or storytelling series. You know, one of these things that's kind of, you know, eight to 12 episodes long, it's contained, like there's a lot of work that goes in the writing, the research, the production, as opposed to a traditional interview format kind of podcast. But it really could be for any show.
You know, the broad question is, you know, is it possible to get sponsors for a podcast that hasn't actually been released yet? And if so, how? Let's talk about it after this quick message to my sponsor. Thank you, sponsor. And thank you listeners.
[Music]
Hi, Chris, this is Mark from Van Nuys and I've been following the show for a couple of years. I have an idea for a podcast and I'd like to pre-sell it to sponsors. My understanding is that podcasts attract advertisers as they get more popular, but mine hasn't launched yet. Am I being greedy in thinking I can get financial commitments before the show is launched? Or am I being smart?
It seems that some shows are able to do this. So I'd like to know what their secret is. Thanks. [Music]
All right, well, thank you for the question. And as always, I will give it to you straight.
Is it possible to do this? It is sometimes possible to launch a podcast with existing commitments, like to go out of the gate, you know, with sponsorship, but it's pretty rare. And most of the shows you might see that have that, they tend to be produced by big networks. So they might be those, you know, narrative, long-form podcasts that, you know, make a big splash when they first come out, everybody's talking about them, et cetera. That's a coordinated process that, you know, there's a lot of lead time and production that goes into it.
There's an ad sales team, you know, with this network that tends to have existing relationships with ad agencies and sponsors, you know, that they're selling lots of other inventory to. And so when they have a show that I think is gonna be big, their ad sales team goes out and tries to arrange that kind of sponsorship in advance. And of course, this is a risk for the advertiser because they don't know how many people will be listening, but sometimes it pays off well. And so that's how that kind of tends to work. It's a coordinated effort as opposed to something that an individual does.
Like it's a coordinated effort by a network or a company. Could you do it yourself? I mean, again, anything is possible. I think maybe if you had another project or platform, like let's say you had a successful YouTube channel or it could be something else, whatever it is, and you want to expand to the podcast format. You know, if you have enough viewers, readers, subscribers, followers, fans, you might be able to attract sponsors in advance because they see the potential of your audience moving from one medium to another.
But aside from situations like that, you know, when you're going it alone, it's probably best to go the tried and true route of building platform before trying to attract sponsors. Ultimately, if you have the platform, everything else is possible. But if you don't have followers or listeners in the case of a podcast, then it's going to be difficult. So I think, you know, aside from some situation like what I just mentioned, you're not going to have great luck in trying to sell the sponsorship before actually launching the show. So I hope that's not too disappointing, but I do encourage you to develop the show and build the platform and, you know, who knows what will come from there.
So good luck. And of course, listeners, if you have a question or comment or an experience of your own, let me know. sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll continue to feature them along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects and as they get sponsored and make sales and make lots of money. That's my hope at least.
I hope you'll do something today to get a bit closer to that reality for you. And I also hope you'll come back again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You've been listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
