Many of us have thought about starting a podcast. But the question is always: is it financially sustainable? In Gothenburg Media Hub’s fourth Media Session, hosted on April 23rd in collaboration with the Journalists’ Unia Västra frilans section, journalist and podcaster Urban Lindstedt shared his best tips on how to start a podcast and make money from this increasingly popular media format.

Podcasts aren’t new anymore. In Sweden, it is a well-established format, with popular podcasts like “Spöktimmen” making up to 778 000 kr/month of income (according to data from Patreon a platform where podcasters can monetize their content). 

Going from his ten years of experience as a host and producer of podcasts (including the famous Historia Nu), Urban Lindstedt, shared his insights and addressed the most common questions about podcasting.

This established but still growing medium is generating a lot of curiosity and interest – at least judging by number of questions from the audience last week.

A successful podcast requires perseverance

Podcasts about true crime and celebrities (or hosted by celebrities), usually stand out from the crowd and top the charts. But according to Urban Lindstedt, regardless of the field, it is possible to reach audiences and make money as a podcaster, if one knows how to go about it.“Podcasting is marathon. It’s about producing qualitative content in a long period of time, where YouTubers can play by the algorithm” said Urban. 

One of the secrets of success, according to him, is perseverance. Even so, newcomers should not take success for granted. ”Sometimes you start a podcast that is not taking off, despite all the effort”, he said, referring to his own experience with podcasts that he ended up giving up on.

His recommendation is to focus on what works and persevere. 

And to increase the chance of success, the presenter shared some tips. Some of them are related to the audience, the topic, and the importance of finding the audience that will get hooked by the topic. Production quality is also key: sound, studio, video, and supporting text should be carefully considered.

Photo: Rita Cruz

Monetizing in a variety of ways

Urban believes podcasters should take their listeners seriously, by putting some effort and money to get the best audio, and avoiding advertising anything just for the money. Listeners are the mesure of success that brings income opportunities.

According to data Urban shared, the podcasting market is expanding and many options are offered to podcasters to monetize their content, the most common being subscription plans (that is, listeners paying listen without ads), advertisement and sponsoring.

Some advertisement options require that the producers or hosts produce and sell the advertisements.“It’s not fun for a journalist to sell advertisement, but get used to it”, he said Urban. However, there are many platforms Acast, Podspace, BauerMedia that can to handle the selling of advertisement for you.

“Do you really earn money from it or is it just a hobby?”

That is a question Urban says people used to ask him. The answer, according to data, is: yes, there is money to be made in podcasting. 

“As a journalist, you should make a living from your work. You don’t write articles for fun. The same goes for podcasting” Urban Lindstedt said, suggesting that podcasting can be seen as an opportunity for freelancers, in a challenging time for the media industry.

Text by Justin Yarga, photos by Rita Cruz

Thank you to Urban Lindstedt for generously sharing the lessons he learned on his podcasting journey. A big thank you to our guests, who posed thought-provoking questions and shared their experiences. Media Sessions #5 will take place on May 11th, in English. Emma Löfgren, editor at The Local Sweden, will talk about solutions journalism and how to keep one’s audience engaged in an era of doom-scrolling and news fatigue. You can already sign up.