Interviewing For Your Podcast

There's a lot of hoopla around starting your own podcast. The first question on most people's minds is "how much does that cost and what do I need?"

This post will help answer those questions! Learn about the costs of starting a podcast from logistically to monetarily, the things you'll need but may not think about, and finally the steps in actually starting your podcast from day one.

How much does starting a podcast cost?

Starting a podcast is not a cheap endeavor. In fact, I'd say it's not really feasible for people who are at the beginning stages of their careers or on the margins as freelancers. Unless you have significant savings or means to obtain funding, expect to need to spend around $1000 on your own podcast.

While that may seem like a lot, it's a tangible amount of money that you can save and put towards your podcast. You just need to be committed to doing so.

The costs vary depending on what types of equipment you decide to purchase but here are the main categories of costs:

Equipment Equipment is the number one expense of starting your own podcast. This comes from purchasing microphones, mixers, stands, software, and other accessories needed to get started. Expect that these will all cost about $500-700 in order to have good quality equipment for your first season.

Utilities and Services These are costs associated with getting your podcast online and shared to the masses. Costs vary but expect to pay around $50 for a website domain and hosting. If you decide to use a service such as Podbean or Blubrry, they will take a percentage of your revenue in exchange for their service. This is usually around 8-15%. You'll also need to purchase an SSL Certificate from places such as GoDaddy or NameCheap that will cost you about $70 every year. And finally, you'll need an email address for your show's domain (e.g. [email protected]), which will cost about $20/year for Gmail or Outlook accounts. If you decide to use a hosting service such as Libsyn or AudioBoom, expect to pay around $50 per year for hosting.

Production Costs Podcasting is a time intensive hobby. To produce each episode of your show, you'll need to spend about 30-45 minutes roughly every 2-3 days. While it's possible to produce more hours of content throughout the week, during your first season, production will require more time than any other expenses and should be paid for in the form of money:

This is a rough estimate of how much time you'll need to spend on podcasting per week in order to produce an average episode during season 1 with an hour long format.

Conclusion

The cost of starting your own podcast is not an easy one but it's a good idea to consider, especially if you want to start sooner rather than later if you're unsure or have limited time to establish yourself as a media professional. While you can try and do it on the cheap, the costs of equipment and servers will quickly outweigh any savings. If that still sounds like too much for you, I'd suggest getting the majority of your gear and hosting from somewhere like Libsyn or AudioBoom and saving your extra money in this city for other things such as taxes (if applicable) or a nice dinner.