We negotiate every podcast booking show by show and write the terms down in plain words so nobody has to remember what was agreed. The terms vary more than a rate card suggests. Some shows sell through a network that sets prices across its catalog, some through a marketplace, and others directly, and a read can be priced on CPM, the cost per thousand downloads, or as a flat rate per episode, and recorded into the episode or inserted dynamically.

What we negotiate

We negotiate the rate, the placement and the length of every read. Acast’s pricing guide, which gives 2026 prices, ranks mid-roll as the most expensive placement, pre-roll in the middle and post-roll the cheapest, so the price of each position has to be weighed against the attention it gets. Length matters because a 60-second read gives a host room that a 30-second read does not.

Beyond price and position, every booking needs agreed terms for the format, whether baked-in or dynamic, the dates, the number of episodes, exclusivity and make-goods. The IAB’s Podcasting Buyer-Seller Checklist, published in October 2023, says exclusivity has to be defined campaign by campaign, and we define it narrowly enough that the show can agree to it and broadly enough that a direct competitor does not follow the brand in the same break. For shows that also publish on YouTube we settle which audience the rate covers and whether the brand may reuse the video read in paid media.

Buying in flights

We buy in flights, a run of episodes over a set period, so that each flight answers a question before the next one is booked. The first flight is a test across a short list of shows, and the second moves budget toward the shows that earned it. Renewals after that are where the terms can improve, since a host who has read for a brand before needs less briefing, and a longer commitment gives us something to negotiate with.

We hold renewal options where a show will give them, so a brand that finds a good show is not left waiting for the next open slot.

Paying a fair price

A fair price for a podcast read depends on who is listening, how many of them, and how much the read is likely to do. We judge each rate against the show’s own delivery, the published ranges for its category, and the rates similar shows ask for, and we would rather recommend a smaller show at a fair price than a larger one at a rate its audience cannot support. Our pricing page sets out the arithmetic in full.

What you receive

  • An insertion order for each show with the rate, placement, length, format, dates, exclusivity and make-good terms in plain words.
  • A flight calendar across every show in the plan.
  • A running budget showing booked, aired and outstanding spend.