Is It Profitable to Start a Podcast in 2026?

[00:00:00] If you don’t have a podcast yet, but have considered starting one and wondered, can I make money from this? And how fast can I get an ROI? Well, this episode is for you. Welcome to Profits through podcasting, where we help health-focused entrepreneurs generate leads and revenue for their businesses through podcasting.

[00:00:18] I’m your host, Joel Oliver. And this question of can I make money by starting a podcast? First of all, it’s not a great sign. If you’re focused specifically on that and you just think that the podcast is going to be a source of income specifically, you know, it’s not a great sign. But of course the answer is also that.

[00:00:34] It depends. Now anything we do in business, yes we do want to get an ROI from it. Otherwise we should likely be doing something else. We should not only be getting an ROI, but actually maximizing our ROI in terms of what we get for the time and money we invest into our business. We do want to see some sort of return.

[00:00:54] Doesn’t necessarily need to be money though, but it depends on the situation. Now, when it comes to podcasting, there are a number of ways that you can get an ROI that aren’t necessarily just dollars. It all depends if the. Ways to get the ROI aligned with the goals that you have. And then how do we go about doing that in a podcast and is it realistic?

[00:01:15] Because I’ve heard people ask questions before, like, uh, I’d like to make some side income, or I just lost my job and I was thinking about starting a podcast to make a few grand a month. It doesn’t just work like that unless you’ve got some sort of notoriety or following already. A podcast is not an overnight source of income.

[00:01:35] It is an uphill battle to build. But just like anything, right, a business, a social media following, anything like that, nothing is simple. So podcasting can work in a variety of ways, but you’ve gotta be realistic about what it is that you wanted to deliver and if that is possible, and then if you actually have the motivation and commitment to hang in there and build it.

[00:01:54] To the level that you need. So on this show, profits through podcasting. We talk about using podcasting to generate leads and income specifically for your business through podcasting. And that’s what I wanna focus on. So let’s get into that. How could we generate leads and revenue through podcasting?

[00:02:12] While there are multiple ways. First of all, your podcast could be attracting ideal clients of yours, and then you’ve got a call to action in the episodes where they either come download a lead magnet from you, or they book a call, they buy a service. That’s pretty straightforward and quite common.

[00:02:28] Another method is to invite potential clients on as guests as a way to make connections. There are ways to go about that properly. I’m not always a huge fan, especially if it’s done wrong, because it can kind of feel offputting to the guests when you invite them on to be a guest and then you pitch them something later.

[00:02:45] But it depends on how you do it. You can still do it properly, you can still get them within your network, so that’s an option. Another one is you could get sponsorship money, which if you’ve already got your own business that you’re trying to promote through the podcast, that often isn’t the best route.

[00:03:00] To go, but in some situations it can actually beneficial for both you and the sponsor so it can work. You do need a large enough audience for it to make sense as well. But it is possible, it is a possible way to monetize or add more revenue to your podcast than your business. And you could also charge for access or do things like a private podcast feed or bonus episodes or early episodes for people who pay to subscribe to your membership or your upgraded podcast, however that looks.

[00:03:29] Now one of the caveats of podcasting is it can be a little difficult to track or say definitively where a lead actually came from. What if they did discover your podcast first, but then they followed you on Instagram and then they got on your mailing list and then they clicked in a link in your email sequence a month later?

[00:03:46] Or what if they came through your YouTube channel but then sent you an email? So there’s no way to track.

[00:03:51] You don’t necessarily know where these people are coming from, so you can’t always say, my podcast made me X amount of dollars, even though it may have or contributed. To that money somehow. You know, you just don’t really know. So even if the podcast is helping, you can perhaps feel like it’s not, or not be aware of the full value it’s delivering to you.

[00:04:11] But, a lot of times I see in those situations, even if it’s not a definitive, trackable number, people just kind of get the feeling. They’re getting a lot of feedback from people saying, Hey, I heard the podcast, that sort of thing. So it feels right overall and feels like it is actually contributing now.

[00:04:27] Aside from the monetary aspect, there are those other benefits that I alluded to that you can get from podcasting, which don’t even have an exact dollar figure tied to them anyway. That will be things like making connections that are gonna be valuable to you in some way at some point in time. It helps you appear as an authority when you’re doing this stuff.

[00:04:46] You’re getting content recorded that you can then repurpose for social media, and some people just enjoy. The whole podcasting medium and just preparing their episodes, recording those, and then letting a team do all the repurposing and creating a whole bunch of other content from that podcast.

[00:05:03] And that leaves you with very little to do, aside from just preparing and making those episodes. Great. In terms of the connections I mentioned, let’s say you met someone through podcasting and then a year later they send you a client or they come to you a year later and they need something, they want your services.

[00:05:18] Or somebody’s been following you on LinkedIn and you’ve been doing this smart thing of repurposing content, and that didn’t require any extra effort from you, but it kept your social media alive and in front of people, and now that person there on LinkedIn needs your services or another option. What if you have a doctor’s office, you are sending Patients from there to listen to your podcast episodes because there there’s a certain topic that they’re really interested in that you’ve been chatting about, but you run outta time in the office or you want them to do some additional homework after the fact. There’s podcasters that send their clients these sorts of links to a series or some specific episodes, and then that patient or client can listen to that on their own time and get more informed, so you’re able to give them a lot more value.

[00:06:03] Than you would’ve been able to just in person. So all this is great stuff, but again, it’s difficult sometimes to track or put a number on exactly what the ROI is that you’re getting from the podcast. Although, like I said, you can kind of make that judgment over time if you feel it’s working for you or not, if it’s adding value or not.

[00:06:22] ’cause you, you can even see your download number stats, but still, it’s not just about the download numbers, it’s about getting the ROI that we want to be able to keep that podcast viable and make sense to continue it into the future.

[00:06:34] If you expect to podcast for just a few months and then feel like you’ve got a lot going on, you’re getting a big ROI, you’re becoming a big authority in your space. You’re reaching a lot of people, you’re getting a lot of leads. That’s almost never coming that fast. It takes time. Like anything, like I said, any form of marketing or growing a business, it takes time to build up.

[00:06:56] So if you’re looking for a quick fix, that’s one red flag. I always tell people, listen, maybe podcasting isn’t for you because it’s not going to happen that quickly. Over time, yes, you can build it up and then it can generate an ROI in perhaps multiple ways or whatever way that you’re looking for, but it’s not coming quickly.

[00:07:14] It takes time. You’ve gotta be committed. You’ve gotta enjoy the process. You’ve gotta set up proper systems so that you can get the episodes out consistently without stress and just let the podcast do its magic. But it’s not just a matter of putting it out and forgetting about it. You do also need to market it.

[00:07:30] You need to help your guests promote the episodes that you have them on. You’ve gotta actively try to grow the audience. Aside from just doing those episodes, be engaged on your social media. If people are commenting or sending you emails. Make sure you are responsive and over time, dial in your content.

[00:07:47] Get it spot on to where it needs to be for your ideal type of clientele. Make sure it is very appealing to them, and over time it will start paying off. But you’ve just gotta give yourself that time to, to get it dialed in and grow the audience. it doesn’t even have to be a giant audience, but whatever it is, it’s going to take time.

[00:08:07] Now, like I mentioned earlier, if you have an existing following of some sort, that is very, very helpful. If not, it’s okay. You’re starting from scratch essentially. people do that, that’s totally cool. You’ve just gotta give it the time to gain traction and make your tweaks as you go and perfect things.

[00:08:25] We had a client join recently who actually told me they don’t even care how many views their stuff gets, even if it stays low. They’re working with high ticket clients. They just wanted an outlet to share their thoughts, use the content on social media, just show the right people that they are here and they’re actively doing good work like they would tell stories from clients that they’re working with now and their experience in business and that sort of thing.

[00:08:48] So when that right high ticket client comes along. They just see, okay, yep. These people, I like them. They have a personality I’d feel compatible with working together. I see. They’re actively doing things on the regular, that’s all good stuff. And they don’t need a giant audience for that. And to them, they just, they don’t even care to look at numbers or anything like that.

[00:09:07] they already had a podcast. They felt it was working for them, and that was it. Right. So they’re not even looking at numbers, they just want to do it. The time is important to consider as well, ’cause it takes time to record and produce a podcast. Some people want to do things on their own, like editing and show notes all by themselves, and then it takes some five times longer than it would to delegate that to, uh, a company or someone else.

[00:09:32] And in that time, they should have spent it working on their business or doing something more important that they’re really good at. I do see that frequently or well, ’cause it’s typically people who come to us because they’re frustrated at the time that they’re, they have been wasting, they start a podcast, they try to do it all on their own, and one day they realize, I don’t even specialize in this.

[00:09:51] Why am I doing this on my own? And it should be delegated and it’s an easy thing. To delegate, but not everyone can do that, at least not right away. Sometimes they wish they could, but they don’t have a budget yet. So especially when you’re just starting out, you’ve got time, but no money. You’ve gotta do those things on your own and figure it out.

[00:10:07] But eventually it should be just running like a well-oiled machine where you are focusing on producing your content, like recording your episode, and pretty much everything else can be systematized, delegated. And you don’t have to think about it. Your episodes just go out and everything happens and you get the ROI, whatever it is that you want.

[00:10:25] So to summarize and wrap up here, is it profitable to start a podcast in 2026? I have to go back to what I said at the beginning is that it’s hard to sum up in a single yes or no answer, but the idea of this episode was to give you some food for thought and understanding around how it all works and how it can work for you.

[00:10:44] Can it be profitable? Yes, but what is profitable to you? Is it money, you know? Or is it something else? Is it connections? And then whatever it is, can you. Solidly track that to know for sure that the podcast actually helped you or not. But in any case, you’re going to have to be committed and give it time and make the right moves in order to optimize the podcast to actually get what you want from it.

[00:11:07] So it can still be very lucrative in multiple ways to have a podcast, but you’ve gotta know. The expectations and the demands that will be put on you to create it and then have realistic expectations in terms of how long it’s going to take for it to actually pay off and start delivering exactly what you were hoping to get out of it.

[00:11:26] Now, if you want to talk further about this and understand a little more specific to your situation whether podcasting could be a good idea for you or not, I’m happy to chat about that. Please check the show notes. There’ll be a link there where you can book a call and we can talk further. East Coast Studio helps you launch a podcast professionally with as little technical knowledge as possible.

[00:11:46] We do all of that hard upfront work for you. We guide you through the entire process and get you off to the races with a professional podcast setting you up for success well into the future. So if that sounds like something you’re curious about, click the link in the show notes and we’ll chat soon.

[00:12:01] Thank you for listening.