If you look up "how to price podcast sponsorships," the internet will tell you to use CPM—Cost Per Mille (thousand). They'll say you should charge $18 to $25 for every 1,000 downloads you get.
Let’s do the math on that. If you get 1,000 downloads per episode, you make $25.
That’s a trap. It forces you to wait until you have massive scale before you can make a dime.
But remember what we talked about a few days ago? Sponsors don’t just buy reach; they buy access and trust. If you have an owned audience, you throw the CPM model out the window and switch to Value-Based Packages.
Instead of selling a 30-second audio ad, you sell a "Growth Partner Package":
A dedicated shoutout in the audio episode
A featured slot in your weekly email newsletter
A direct recommendation to your WhatsApp list
Suddenly, you aren't selling a platform statistic. You are selling a multi-channel campaign. A show with 1,000 downloads and a tight, multi-channel system can easily command $500 to $1,000 per episode from the right niche sponsor—way above the "industry standard" $25.
To make this work, you need the assets to back it up.
PodHype automatically builds the backend assets—the email lists, the WhatsApp numbers, the high ratings—that allow you to command premium pricing from sponsors, even if your download count is still growing
To your growth,
The Podcast Tonight Team
P.S. If this isn’t for you but you know someone who’d be a great fit, please forward this email. We appreciate your support more than ever.