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# How to Make Money Podcasting
- URL: https://thepodcastsetup.com/how-to-make-money-podcasting/
- Published: 2026-10-20T14:11:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T14:11:58.000Z
- Author: Matt Medeiros
- Tags: Matt Has a Podcast about Podcasting, How-To

A few weeks ago someone left a comment on The Podcast Setup YouTube channel asking a fair question: how did I get Buzzsprout to sponsor a channel with about 150 subscribers and a few hundred views a video?

[How to make money as a podcaster - Matt Has A Podcast About PodcastingIn this episode, I explore how podcasters and YouTubers can make money through sponsorships, even with a smaller audience.The idea came from a comment on one of my videos on the Podcast Setup YouTube channel. Someone asked how I managed to land a…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e5/b9/e5b94a26-40cb-4546-943e-153aba8164df/content/images/icon/favicon-65eb81bd-3e87-45fc-be8d-d470e1b847df.ico)Buzzsprout![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e5/b9/e5b94a26-40cb-4546-943e-153aba8164df/content/images/thumbnail/Matt-20has-20a-20podcast-20about-20podcasting-20cover-e0aada6c-2d97-42e0-b9a8-bc76b1a24feb.jpg)](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2623703/episodes/19967614?ref=thepodcastsetup.com)

The honest answer goes back to how I started podcasting. About 18 years ago I was running a web agency, and the podcast was how I sold myself and the work we did. I came up through sales, the non-pushy kind, and I've never stopped thinking about my shows as a small media business. That's how I've run The WP Minute for the last five years, and it's how I run The Podcast Setup.

So the Buzzsprout deal was never one video. It's a video, an audio episode, a blog post that keeps working in search, and a newsletter sponsored graphic, from someone who spent three years at a competing host and knows the space. That's a package a sponsor can say yes to, regardless of what how many YouTube subscribers I have.

In the episode I get into why I don't buy the industry's logic that you need tens of thousands of followers to earn anything, why a niche audience that trusts you can be worth more than a big one that doesn't.

I also make the case that as AI makes everyone's marketing look the same, real people making real content will be worth more, not less.

The part I keep coming back to is simple. You have to care about what you're putting out, because sponsors can see it. That isn't a growth hack. It's the thing you're actually selling.

Listen on [Buzzsprout](https://matthasapodcast.buzzsprout.com/?ref=thepodcastsetup.com), Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. If you'd rather get paid by listeners directly, my earlier episode on the funding tag is a good companion ([fundingtag.link](https://fundingtag.link/?ref=thepodcastsetup.com)). 

And I'd love to hear how you've landed sponsors with a smaller show.