Do Podcast Guests Get Paid?

If the title ‘do podcast guests get paid’ piqued your interest, you’ve probably already listened to a good amount of podcast shows featuring a Q&A with a featured guest. 

You might be wondering: “why are there so many interview-based podcasts and what’s in it for the guest speakers? Is there an easy secondary source of income that I’m potentially missing out on?”

If these are questions you’ve asked yourself then keep reading. 

Before I answer the question “do podcast guests get paid?”, I’d like to first set the stage and explain what podcast interviews are all about and why it seems to be a growing trend. 

What is a podcast interview and how do both parties benefit? 

Currently, we’re surrounded by over 850,000 podcast shows, of which 30% are interview-based. Many podcast hosts constantly look for charismatic candidates to speak on their show with expertise and knowledge to feed their audience of listeners. 

What’s in it for the Podcast? Podcast hosts release content on a regular basis and feel obligated to show up every week with relevant and new content. This can become a headache for hosts if they don’t have a pipeline of lined up guests for their show – This is where guests come in to be their knight in shining armor! Creating a successful interview-based show for a podcast host is their #1 priority and if you can help them achieve this with your personality and expertise. It counts as a win for the host. 

So does this mean that podcast guests are in demand? Definitely!

What’s in it for the guest? The wonderful reality of speaking on a podcast as a guest is that you tap into the show’s fans and their listeners engage with you and what you have to offer. This can potentially increase the number of your followers and your sales if you have a product or a service to sell.

Most people would agree that this is a win-win situation. So do podcast guests still have the leverage to charge for their services?

Being a podcast guest is an investment

Are you investing hours in growing a side business or brand into a full-time enterprise and one day hope to quit your day job? Speaking on the right podcasts is a positive step in a direction to accomplish this because this kind of publicity equals opportunities like talking at a seminar or a summit – which is amazing for exposing your brand!

Most podcast guests speak on shows at no cost and are perfectly fine with not charging the host a fee as they see it as an investment. It’s essentially a highly focused form of marketing for your business or brand. Marketing generates Return On Investment (ROI) and this is a form of payment in itself. But we have to be smart about time investment as we can waste weeks and months grafting in the wrong direction and speaking on shows with a smaller following than yours. This can lead to a lack of growth and can be very frustrating.

Speaking on a podcast show with no compensation is an investment and you should strongly consider changing your mindset from “Do podcast guests get paid?” to “Am I speaking to an audience that matches my target market?” and “will this give me an ROI?”.

Are you starting to see where this is going?

Conclusion – do podcast guests get paid?

The short answer is (unfortunately) no.

I think the percentage of guests who can add a price tag to their voice is extremely small. The investment of speaking on a show is why most of the guests are speaking on 1000’s of shows every day and the ROI they’re receiving is why they continue to do so. 

But is it impossible to charge money to be a guest on a podcast?

With my experience as a podcast agent, unless you’re an iconic public speaker like Antony Robbins or Robert Kiyosaki, you’re pushing your luck asking a podcast host a few hundred bucks to speak on their show. On the other side of the coin, hiring Anthony Robbins for 1 day is $1million and Robert Kiyosaki charges $75,000 per day in the US only. Anyone would have to pay top dollar to get giants of this caliber on their show. This may be an extreme example, but I think you get my point. 

The path to success as a podcast guest is paved with speaking on the right podcasts with listeners engaged in the show. The potential of you sharing valuable information to listeners who feel they should be paying for your knowledge is groundbreaking! Achieving this can result in more followers of your brand and more sales of your services and products, especially if you’re an author, entrepreneur or public figure. This would be the best way to monetize your time speaking on a podcast.

If you still feel you have value to offer a podcast show and you’re not prepared to talk on a show for free, then don’t let me stop you! Become the speaker that podcast hosts want to pay to interview. Make them feel confident that you’ll give them an ROI for their business by having you on their show.

Thanks for reading. If you want to learn about how Podcast Connection helps podcast guests grow their brand, click here.

Stats found here.

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/podcast-statistics    

https://www.quora.com/How-much-do-the-worlds-most-expensive-executive-coaches-charge-the-worlds-most-elite

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