Two Ways to Make Money From One Podcast Episode

 

If you've ever thought about offering an ad-free version of your show, you probably also thought about the extra work involved. Recording two versions. Editing twice. Uploading twice. It's enough to make most podcasters give up on the idea before they start.

This RSS.com video, a resource from our friends and partner RSS.com, walks through a much simpler way to do it. Joe Casabona, the evangelist over at RSS.com, breaks down a feature that lets you send an ad-free version of your episode straight to Apple Podcasts subscribers, without creating a second file or doing any extra edits.

The Problem With Traditional Ad-Free Options

Most podcasters who want to offer an ad-free feed have had to build it by hand. That means recording a version without ads, or manually cutting them out after the fact. It works, but it eats up time you probably don't have.

Joe has tried a lot of these methods over the years. His take is simple: none of them were ever this easy before.

What You Need to Turn It On

Before you can send ad-free episodes to Apple Podcasts subscribers, you need two things set up on your account.

First, you need paid ads turned on. On RSS.com, this is the dynamic ad program. It inserts ads into your show automatically, so you don't have to bake them into the audio file yourself. You can qualify for this with an active show that gets at least 10 downloads a month. That's a low bar on purpose. RSS.com wants it easy for most podcasters to start earning.

Second, you need an Apple Podcasts subscription set up for your show. This takes a few steps. You'll need to claim your show in Apple Podcasts, then build out your subscription offer, including your show name, custom artwork, and what subscribers actually get for paying. RSS.com has a guide that walks you through this part, and they keep it updated whenever Apple changes the process.

How the Ad-Free Feature Actually Works

Once both pieces are in place, the process is simple. When you go to publish an episode in your RSS.com dashboard, you'll see a section for Apple Podcasts subscriptions. From there, you have a few choices:

• Make the episode free for everyone
• Give subscribers early access, so they hear it before it goes out to the public
• Make an episode exclusive to subscribers only, which is great for bonus content
• Mark the episode as ad-free for subscribers

That last option is the one this video is about. If you use RSS.com's paid ads program, you can just check a box that removes the dynamic ads for anyone who subscribes on Apple Podcasts. No second file. No extra edit. You publish once, and RSS.com handles the rest.

One thing worth knowing: this only works if you're using the paid ads program for dynamic ad insertion. If you bake your ads directly into the audio file yourself, RSS.com can't pull them back out. You'd still need to create a separate ad-free version in that case.

Why This Matters for Monetization

This feature is really about stacking two ways to earn from a single episode. You get revenue from dynamic ads on the free version, and you get subscription revenue from listeners who pay to skip them. Both come from the same recording and the same upload.

If you're on the fence about starting a podcast, or you're already podcasting but haven't thought much about how it might make money, this is a good example of how the right host can remove a lot of the friction. RSS.com's paid plans start under $12 a month when billed annually, and they include the tools for both dynamic ads and Apple Podcasts subscriptions right out of the box.

The Bottom Line

Offering an ad-free option used to mean more work for podcasters who wanted to reward paying listeners. Now, with RSS.com's setup, it's a couple of settings in your dashboard. If you're already using paid ads and thinking about adding a subscription tier, this feature is worth a look.

Ready to start your podcast? You can do it for free at rss.com.

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