The Cost of Podcast Production: Breaking Down the Numbers
If you’re wondering what it would cost to create a podcast for your brand, the first question to answer is: How sophisticated do I want my podcast to be?
You see, there’s no such thing as a ‘standard podcast’. To determine your budget, you need to consider where in the production process you will get the most bang for your buck based on your goals. Where can you skimp, and where should you invest? For example, your budget will look different if you prioritize crystal-clear audio quality over marketing spend. Once you’re clear on the quality level you want to achieve, you can decide how to spend your money wisely.
How much does a podcast cost?
Because there is no ‘standard podcast’ — your show could be monologue, interview, roundtable, or scripted; it could be recorded on your iPhone, $50 mics, or $5,000 mics; it may or may not have a video component with Zoom or fancy cameras and lighting — production costs vary widely. Each part of the process has a cost associated with it either in time or cold, hard cash.
It all depends on your skills, your goals, and whether you want to save some money by DIYing, or save yourself some time and bring in the experts. You could spend the time learning the skills and doing it yourself, or you could pay a podcast production studio to help you along the way.
Here are the 5 main areas of the podcast production process that will impact your budget:
1. Research and planning
This one can be a bit of a black hole. It’s really a matter of how many hours you want to spend, but your time is money. The researching and planning stage is vitally important, but it also needs to lead to real action. This stage includes:
Defining the purpose of the podcast
Creating a winning format that episodes can follow
Identifying and contacting guests to book your first episodes
Researching your guests and the topics they’ll talk about
Writing scripts or talking points for your episodes
Creating a budget for the setup and ongoing operations of your podcast production
Developing a marketing plan for your show (the launch, and ongoing)
Creating an evaluation framework to measure how well your podcast does over time
2. Equipment
This one will vary wildly depending on the quality standards you’re aiming to reach. Some of the obvious equipment needed include:
Microphones
Headphones
Recording devices and consoles
A decent camera (if you want to include video)
Audio editing software
A studio, or remote recording software subscription
There are cheap and expensive versions of each of these pieces of equipment, so do your research and match it to your budget. For a new host, we usually recommend a cardioid dynamic USB mic; a couple of our favorites include Audio-Technica’s ATR2100 (less $$), and the Shure MV7 (more $$ but worth it!).
3. Production
The cost of podcast production depends on who does it. Someone has to edit the recording into something worth listening to. You could choose to do the editing yourself, or you could hand it over to the pros, like a content production company that provides podcast production services. Podcast editing rates range wildly, but it all comes down to skill. The focus of a podcast editor includes:
Editing out mistakes, long takes, unnecessary noises, and filler words (um, like, etc.)
Cutting, moving, or adding in segments to make the podcast cohesive and aligned to the intended format
Adding in background music or sound effects
Packaging the podcast for publishing and distribution
Creating additional creative elements for marketing
4. Hosting and distribution
Once the podcast is ready for publishing, it needs to be “hosted” somewhere. Most podcasts are hosted on a third-party platform like Simplecast, Buzzsprout, or Megaphone, which automatically distributes the podcast to all major platforms like Spotify and Apple. The podcast hosting costs for these third-party companies is generally a fairly inexpensive monthly subscription fee (between $15-$50 per month, depending on your plan).
5. Marketing
Lastly, you should consider spending some money on making sure that people know your podcast exists. Your marketing strategy could include ads on podcast apps, newsletters, social media spend, PR outreach, or editorial promotion on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Growing a podcast organically is a slow and difficult process, so you’ll want to dedicate the right amount of planning (and cash) to finding your show’s intended audience.
In-house or outsourced?
With all these considerations rolling around your head, you’re probably wondering if there is an easier way. Well, there is. You can outsource some or most of these elements—it just depends on how much your budget is, and how much time you want to spend vs. save.
Doing it yourself
If you want to keep control of the process, save money, and do most of the work yourself, then DIY-ing is the best option. However, make sure you take into consideration what your time is worth. Creating (and marketing) a podcast takes a lot of time, and requires a wide range of skills. Think about whether you can afford to take the time needed to learn the necessary skills and produce your own show.
Hiring an agency
You could choose to hand over the aspects of the production process to a dedicated podcast production company, like Pod People. This will cost money, obviously, but it saves you a ton of time. It also means that you will have quality episodes produced by creative specialists who know exactly how the business works, and what kind of content performs well. It’s worth assessing your budget to see whether you want to bring in the experts — especially for the first season — to help you figure out the perfect blueprint for your show.
Measuring return on investment (ROI)
Measuring the success of your podcast depends on what your goal is. Podcasts generate a ton of helpful metrics, but to measure your return on investment, you need to define what matters most to you. Is it establishing yourself or your brand as a thought leader in your industry? Generating inbound inquiries or increased traffic? Changing your brand perception or finding a new audience? These are all great goals for a podcast.
You could choose to focus on the qualitative feedback from listeners and other stakeholders — is it generating thoughtful discussion on social? Getting rave reviews? Making your boss proud and boosting the team’s morale? If the podcast is about being informative and entertaining, this could be enough.
On the other hand, you might look at the quantitative metrics to see how many people within your total potential audience listened to the podcast and for how long. You could set predefined goals using these metrics, or even track other organizational metrics (e.g. website traffic to a landing page, or social media followers) to measure whether the podcast has a more holistic impact.
Get started
You can definitely create a podcast on a shoestring budget or you can put some serious cash into it — but the choice should be based on your goals. If you're feeling unsure where to start, get in touch with Pod People and we’ll help guide you in making the right decisions. And when you’re ready for help, our team will make sure you're spending your money where it counts to create a top-notch podcast that finds its audience!