The most loyal fans of podcasts aren’t just good listeners — they’re paying customers.
While podcasters often earn money from advertisements that run during their episodes, many are finding success turning listeners into paid subscribers.
Patreon, a community subscription platform, has become a go-to tool for content creators with podcasts to do just that.
“Most podcast listeners and podcast fans are just familiar with Patreon,” Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, host of the “Therapy for Black Girls” podcast, told Business Insider. Her podcast launched a Patreon in April.
Patreon now has more than 6.7 million paid memberships under the podcasting category, the company said. In April, Patreon announced a new partnership program with podcast networks like Amazon-owned Wondery and Sony Music.
Podcasting is also Patreon’s highest-earning category. In 2024, podcasters on the platform collectively earned more than $472 million, Patreon told BI.
Patreon, which takes a cut of earnings from paid memberships ranging from 5% to 12%, isn’t the only platform creators use to monetize their podcast audiences. A slew of community-focused platforms, like Mighty Networks and Fourthwall, offer tools around paid memberships. Larger social media platforms, such as YouTube and Discord, have also dabbled in paid memberships for creators.
BI spoke with the creators behind three podcasts that host memberships on Patreon. For each of them, maintaining a paywall around some of their content and offering perks like access to a Discord helps diversify their incomes.
“Because we get so much of our revenue through Patreon, we have a lot of leeway with the ads we get to choose,” said Aiden McCaig, a cohost of “The Yard” podcast, which has over 412,000 subscribers on YouTube. “We say no to a lot of ad reads and a lot of companies that ask to work with us because we have the financial flexibility to do so.”
Here’s how three podcasts are using Patreon — and how much money they earn:
Note: Business Insider verified creators’ earnings with Patreon.
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‘Therapy for Black Girls’ is using Patreon to connect with its community.
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What it is: “Therapy for Black Girls” is a podcast hosted by psychologist Dr. Joy Harden Bradford. The brand was founded in 2014 as a blog and launched a podcast in 2017, as well as a Facebook group and a network of therapists.
The podcast joined Patreon in April. Before moving to Patreon to host its paid community, the podcast used Mighty Networks. It also has a licensing partnership with iHeartMedia, which handles the podcast’s advertising.
“Community really has always been at the heart of what we do with ‘Therapy for Black Girls,’ specifically with the podcast,” Harden Bradford said.
How much they earn from Patreon: about $2,000 in May
How they do it: “Therapy for Black Girls” offers two tiers on Patreon — one is $10 a month and another is $14 a month. Paying members get access to ad-free versions of the podcast, as well as access to podcast episodes that aren’t available elsewhere, such as its “So My Therapist Said…” series.
“We’re definitely doing content release drops when there’s a new episode of one of our segments,” COO Ashley Cherry said. “But we’re also posting outside of that … to get people talking in the comments to really cultivate a sense of community.”
Its higher tier also unlocks more virtual events for its community, such as weekly check-ins where members can talk about their lives or do journaling prompts together. Members receive perks like early access to tickets for in-person events, merch, and giveaways.
True crime podcast ‘RedHanded’ became a full-time job for its cohost because of Patreon.
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What it is: “RedHanded” is a true crime podcast hosted by Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire, who are both based in the UK. The podcast launched in 2017 and joined Patreon the same year. Maguire told BI that if it weren’t for the podcast’s earnings on Patreon, she wouldn’t have been able to quit her previous job to pursue podcasting full time.
“RedHanded” is part of the Wondery podcast network and gets paid a guaranteed minimum as part of its deal.
How much they earn from Patreon: about $59,000 a month
How they do it: “RedHanded” offers three tiers, which start at $4 a month and go up to $18 a month.
“We spent a long time, many years, really finessing the tiers that we now have on there and the way in which we monetize it,” Bala said.
The lowest tier unlocks ad-free episodes that fans can listen to a day early, and access to audio episodes of the team’s second podcast series, “Under the Duvet.” The middle tier also unlocks a monthly bonus episode of “RedHanded” and a video version of “Under the Duvet.” “RedHanded’s” most expensive tier gives subscribers access to the podcast’s full library of content.
“RedHanded’s” Patreon accounts for about 25% of the podcasts’ revenue now, Bala estimated.
Comedy podcast ‘The Yard’ earns 6 figures a month.
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What it is: “The Yard” is a podcast cohosted by four friends, including Twitch streamer Ludwig Ahgren. The podcast launched in 2021 and is one of the top podcasts on Patreon, with more than 58,000 members — about 37,000 of whom are paid subscribers. The Yard is part of The Roost podcast network.
How much they earn from Patreon: about $242,000 a month
How they do it: The Yard offers four tiers on Patreon, ranging from $5 to $69, which each unlock bonus episodes of the main podcast and access to the podcast’s Discord group. Its higher tiers unlock exclusive shows, like one where two of the cohosts share commentary on Disney Channel Original Movies, as well as merch discounts.
“The main bonus episode is probably the root offer of what you’re getting,” McCaig said. “The community element grew a lot over time, and there are a lot of people that like the Discord community that we have, and that’s probably a part of the reason that they keep their sub is so that they can be there.”
McCaig said that compared to YouTube, where keeping viewers’ attention can plateau over time, running a Patreon lets The Yard protect itself from user churn.
“Any superfan, once you convert them into a patron, is less likely to leave that than someone who watches your podcast for free sometimes on YouTube,” McCaig said.
