CO-HOST | Make Money With a Podcast: What the Highest-Paid Shows Teach Us

Summary

Episode Overview

Episode Title: CO-HOST | Make Money With a Podcast: What the Highest-Paid Shows Teach Us
Podcast: Travis Makes Money
Host: Travis Chappell
Guest/Co-host: Eric (Producer)
Theme: An entertaining and insightful breakdown of the recently published Top 20 Highest-Paid Podcasters of 2026 list—what these podcasters have in common, how fame/niche/strategy factor into monetization, and what regular podcasters can learn from these industry titans.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fame, Timing, and Niching Down

• Fame First, Podcast Second?

  • Eric remarks: "A few of these I think are just really rich people that also have podcasts...it pays to be already very famous, start a show." (00:34)
  • Travis acknowledges, "That is true," emphasizing how pre-established celebrity helps.

• The Value of Longevity

  • Starting a podcast "a long time ago" is highlighted as a massive advantage. (01:02)

• Niche Audiences Can Blow Up Earnings

  • TVPN’s surge is discussed—a highly technical, low-download podcast with a tiny but affluent and influential audience, leading to huge sponsorships and eventual acquisition by OpenAI.
  • Travis explains: "Because, like, 100% of their audience were some of the highest net worth people in Silicon Valley, they were getting these massive sponsorship deals..." (03:12)
  • Eric: "OpenAI was influential to the right people." (04:27)

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2. Who’s on the Highest-Paid List? Notable Inclusions & Surprises

• Joe Rogan Still Dominates

  • Number one with $82 million/year.
  • Eric jokes: "Honestly, there's never been a bigger indictment of our nation...and he's still at number one, right?" (01:32)

• Unexpected and Expected Faces

  • Ashley Flowers, Crime Junkie: "Ashley Flowers. That's a beautiful name for true crime." (02:17)
  • Travis reacts: "$42 million a year from Crime Junkie. That's insane." (02:23)

• The Power of Celebrities

  • Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes (SmartLess), Mel Robbins, Amy Poehler, Dax Shepard: Celebrity-hosted shows do dominate—but Travis notes some less “typical” paths to success.

• Sports & Pop Culture Crossovers

  • Jason and Travis Kelce (New Heights Podcast) leverage both NFL and pop-culture fandom (notably, Taylor Swift connections) for a $35 million podcast. (11:34–12:44)

• Political, Business & Wellness Shows

  • Pod Save America, Tucker Carlson, Scott Galloway, Andrew Huberman—a diversity of political perspectives and topics get massive contracts, but politics is less dominant than expected.
  • Travis observes: “I actually like that there’s not many politics podcasts. I thought...there’d be like five or six...” (19:29)

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3. Sponsorships, Disclosure & Media Manipulation

• Unusual Valuations: The TVPN/OpenAI Deal

  • Acquisition of small, targeted podcasts by tech giants raises questions about influence and transparency.
  • Eric reads from Reddit: “Why did OpenAI buy the tech bro podcast for hundreds of millions of dollars?...Same reason Elon Musk bought Twitter.” (04:30–04:44)
  • They debate whether these moves are about controlling narrative, influencer access, or just audience targeting.

• Disclosure Issues in Podcasting

  • Unlike legacy media, podcasts often lack disclosure about funding, sponsor motives, or even ownership changes.
  • “There's really not a lot of disclosure in podcasts...that is one thing I'm surprised the hammer hasn't come down harder on yet.” (05:41–06:06)

• Historic Patterns in Media Control

  • Travis & Eric note this isn’t unique to podcasts: “It's a tale as old as time since the newspaper began.” (09:50)

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4. Is Podcasting a Good Way to Make Money?

• The Harsh Numbers

  • Travis: “Only 10% of podcasts that have existed still exist. Less than 10% are able to monetize to any degree.” (20:51)
  • Eric reads: “It's 0.1 to 5% of all podcasts make a meaningful profit...90-99% of podcasts never make money.” (21:12)
  • Travis: “If you want to make money, starting a podcast is not the best thing that you can do in order to make money now. It can make money later on...I'm much more curious about what it can do for you in terms of opening doors that allows you to make more money.” (21:54–22:08)

• Perspective for Aspiring Podcasters

  • The show’s hosts are in the rarefied air of the profitable, but, “You want to make more money...a podcast in and of itself is not...the easiest road to victory.” (22:08)

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5. Worthiness, Influence & Takeaways for Listeners

• Who Deserves to Be There?

  • Travis: “They all deserve a spot on that list because…” (19:11)
  • Eric: Playfully teases about picking who has “done the most damage to society.” (19:17)

• Encouraging Signs

  • Travis was “encouraged” that only a few highly-paid podcasts were overtly political—most were entertainment or advice-centric.
  • Eric highlights: “I was encouraged by the list because...we’re not making tens of millions, but we’re getting closer to the...seven-figure mark.” (20:09–20:15)

• Final Practical Message

  • Money matters—but only solves money problems. The journey is about opportunity and enjoying the process, not just chasing statistical outliers.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Niche Value (TVPN Podcast):

  • “It's not even a show that anybody listening to this probably has even heard of...but because it was such a niche space with such a high value audience, they were closing these seven figure sponsorship deals.” —Travis (03:12)

• On Media Ownership:

  • “There's really not a lot of disclosure in podcasts...that is one thing I'm surprised the hammer hasn't come down harder on yet.” —Eric (06:06)

• On AI & Control:

  • “It's the same thing as when Bezos bought Washington Post...trying to control messaging around people like them.” —Eric, quoting Reddit (04:41)

• On Celebrity Podcasting:

  • “Do you think that the Kelce brothers are more known for their podcasting and, like, being connected to Taylor Swift now than their athletic career?” —Eric (12:07)

• On Podcasting Economics:

  • “If you want to make money, starting a podcast is not the best thing that you can do in order to make money now...It's not the easiest road to victory.” —Travis (21:54–22:08)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:33–01:14: Introduction to the “highest paid podcasters” list; fame as a major factor
• 02:13–03:47: Discussing Crime Junkie’s $42 million, impact of niche crime podcasts
• 03:00–05:05: Deep dive into TVPN/tech podcast, value of niche affluent audiences, OpenAI acquisition
• 05:41–06:06: Podcast sponsor transparency & disclosure issues
• 09:29–10:04: Media ownership patterns across history, podcasting as latest iteration
• 10:09–15:53: Rapid rundown of Top 20 List—reactions, surprises, and analysis on each
• 19:11–21:22: Worthiness, influence, and the ethics/damage question; fewest political podcasters than expected
• 20:44–22:08: The reality of podcast monetization, odds of making money in the field

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Being a successful podcaster is usually about timing, fame, or finding an extremely valuable/underserved niche.
• Direct income from podcasting is rare: Under 5% of active podcasters make meaningful money.
• Corporate and sponsor influence in podcasting is growing—transparency is lagging behind other media.
• Podcasting opens doors (networking, business deals) more reliably than it delivers direct riches.
• The podcast landscape still values authentic voices and entertainment, with only a small slice dominated by politics.

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“Money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got more money in the bank. So let's solve that one first here on the Travis Makes Money Podcast.”
—Travis Chappell (22:29)

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the Travis Makes Money Podcast. What is going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money Podcast, where it's a mission to help you make more money on this episode of the show. My producer, Eric is here in studio. What's up?

[B]

Hey, Travis. I was thinking I could talk about something that you wanted to talk about.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

So I'd just bring that in here.

[A]

That's new.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Thanks for allowing that to happen.

[B]

You're welcome. Now, you sent a thing the other day. It was the top highest paid podcasters of 2026. This came out July 31st of 2026.

[A]

We barely missed the list.

[B]

Yeah, this is. Wait, what? Oh, yeah, yeah. There's a big deficit between the lowest paid on this list and us. I will say it is funny. A few of these I think are just really rich people that also have podcasts. I'm curious to know if this is all directly money podcasts. What I can tell from the list is that it pays to be already very famous.

[A]

That is true.

[B]

Start a show.

[A]

That is true.

[B]

Or to have started a show a long time ago.

[A]

Have you looked at the full list yet?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, okay. I was going to say you should guess them.

[B]

I guess who they are.

[A]

Yeah. Well, like, yeah, guess if you could see if you can name.

[B]

Have you looked at the list? Or just blind and say, we should talk about this.

[A]

I sent you the thing, but I didn't look at the full list.

[B]

Okay. Who do you think?

[A]

But I know, I know that there's a few that should be like, staples that are on there, but there might be some that surprised me. I don't know.

[B]

Well, number one, you know?

[A]

Yeah. Rogan is number one, I assume.

[B]

Honestly, there's never been a bigger indictment of our nation. And he's still at number one, right?

[A]

In your opinion?

[B]

In my opinion. In my humble opinion. It's crazy.

[A]

I did see. I guess Chelsea Handler came out and said something about how ridiculous it was or something, that he was making that much money from a podcast or something like that.

[B]

She is not on the list.

[A]

But it's also strange coming from somebody who's also in media in Hollywood, who makes a lot of money to, like, share her opinions. I thought it was a really weird take from her. Anyway, Rogan is on there. I gotta imagine there's at least one true crime podcast there.

[B]

I actually don't think there is.

[A]

Really? Like, what's that big?

[B]

Oh, yeah. Crimejacky.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Crime junkie.

[B]

Crime Junkie.

[A]

Yeah. Who's the host?

[B]

Ashley Flowers.

[A]

Ashley Flowers.

[B]

That's a beautiful name for true crime.

[A]

How much is she making?

[B]

$42 million.

[A]

42 million a year from Crime Junkie. That's insane.

[B]

Am I not talking about crimes enough?

[A]

Yeah, you should be speaking about more crimes.

[B]

I'll take two. Give me two million. You know. Yeah. The top top five are Joe Rogan. The Joe Rogan Experience with $82 million. John Coogan and Jordy Hayes are number two with TBPN. What the hell is that? Oh, a million dollars.

[A]

Yeah, that was the one that, that was the one that made the news cycle very recently because it was bought by OpenAI even though it was like really, really small. Podcast.

[B]

That's what I was saying is like some of these are not a direct correlation of viewership.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What is AI?

[A]

But I find that to be cool. I find that to be interesting because tvpn, from the way I understand was like technology, very in depth technology and investment show. So essentially all of the people who listened, even though it was, I think it was less than 10,000 downloads an episode or something like that to get this type of a deal. It was a massive, massive gap between what most people would do to be able to monetize a show like that versus what they were able to do. But because like 100% of their audience were some of the highest net worth people in Silicon Valley, they were getting these massive sponsorship deals and then OpenAI came in and basically paid, bought the show.

[B]

Why acquired the show to have them still run it and then bring attention to AI.

[A]

I don't know if it's to bring attention to AI, but I think they just realized that the audience capture of that particular segment of the audience was worth a lot of money to them. So they paid a hefty price for it. Although, I mean, it's not like they weren't making money before. Like they were selling multiple seven figure sponsorships to that. Like that. That's one. That's why I think it's cool, because it's like you, it's. It's not even a show that anybody listening to this probably has even heard of and from hosts who aren't, who weren't famous celebrities or anything like that. But because it was such a niche space with such a high value audience, they were closing these seven figure sponsorship deals.

[B]

And then Open AI was influential to the right people.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

This is something interesting. I just open Reddit and that's where all the smartest comment times. No, this is an interesting theory because someone said, why did OpenAI buy the tech. Why did OpenAI buy that tech bro podcast for hundreds of millions of dollars? And they said they feel like it doesn't make sense. Here's some interesting banter theories here and I tend to agree when I see stuff like this happen. Someone said it's the same thing as when Bezos bought Washington Post. It's trying to control messaging around people like them where it's like, if you can buy a tech podcast that's influential, they're not going to be as critical about AI or OpenAI. Someone else said, same reason Elon Musk bought Twitter. All kind of saying the same thing. And then someone said, won't people who watch the podcast know it's owned by OpenAI, thus rendering the buying positive media coverage angle pointless? And someone said, if history and current events are any indication. No, not really. They said, there's. I'm reading this part for the first time, so we'll see where they go. So there's really not a lot of disclosure in podcasts, which is true. That is one thing I'm surprised the hammer hasn't come down harder on yet. As far as like, knock on wit, there's really not a lot of disclosure on podcasts. There are health podcasts, quote unquote. Health podcasts have been pushing anti vax nonsense at the behest of their sponsors. Right wing podcasts for years been partially funded by Russian money. That was a big story that we should have covered years ago. Did you know any of that that was there was to give a really brief 10,000 foot view. That's gonna be too vague and people are gonna be like, you didn't talk about it. There was one guy in particular among these names who got really, really big doing a lot of very turning point adjacent. His name is Benny Johnson and he actually spoke for a couple Turning point events. But he has his own show. And when the Ukraine Russia conflict was going, he was one of the people that's like, we should stay out of it and blah blah, blah and come. Oh, Tim Pool was in this category too.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

They had this massive sponsor that was paying them like hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it was basically Russia. It was like Russia through a company paying. And basically two versions of this are possible. Either they didn't know, which means they did no due diligence on their sponsor, giving them hundreds of thousands of dollars to realize very quickly it's just Russia paying them to do PR for them. Yeah. Which makes them look bad, especially considering they're political commentators. Or they knew, which means they were taking money from a foreign. So either way, it looked really bad for Tim Pool. And. And I believe it's Tim Pool. I should probably double check. But.

[A]

But also, like, that's just something that's happened since the news. Like this. This isn't new to podcasts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, but families buying Fox News or starting Fox News versus or. Or buying shares.

[B]

But it's particularly bad if you're somebody that's like, we're on the outside, you know, like, that's kind of the thing is you're.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like Rogan being. You know, regardless of what side of that you think of Rogan, it's like he is in many ways come full circle to be like, he is big media now. Like, he's not this, like, guy that's not getting money. You know what I mean? Or not rubbing shoulders with the elite. You know, it's just. It's kind of the weird thing about any corporation or person. It's like, you get big enough, it's hard not to become the thing that you're. That made you big, which is, you know, I'm an outsider and now I'm. I have to think about corporate and sponsor money and.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

All that sort of thing. But anyway, why did I talk about Russia?

[A]

You're reading that Reddit comment.

[B]

Oh, yeah. But, yeah, so they said there's that absolute.

[A]

I'm not saying that that wouldn't play any role in it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But I do think. I do think that. I mean, Open Air is unlimited money.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

So for them, couple hundred million is nothing. And so if you're trying to reach this particular audience with this particular messaging or not messaging, just to have more availability of capital, if you run up against a bad quarter or something like that, like, of course it might help them control the narrative to some degree, but I also think it's mainly like a marketing thing because they know that this particular audience is perfect for the. For their intents and purposes down the road.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, and they sit in here because. Oh, that's right. Because I was reading this comment, said the health podcast getting pushes here, Right wing podcast getting funded by Russian money. Tech podcast getting under the table, kickbacks for pushing certain startups. The list goes on and on and on. The podcast doesn't lead with this show is made or funded by OpenAI. The majority of listeners will never know. I think that's. I think all this is like. You don't think it's true?

[A]

I don't think that the majority of their audience doesn't know that OpenAI bought them.

[B]

I mean, depending, again, I think depending on how they grow like that, they would not know this comes from this, you know, like this maybe. Again, I think it was such big

[A]

news and again, that audience is very affluent and intelligent. They. I think they're able to put two and two together.

[B]

But yeah, again, it's what I was talking about off mic. It's like you hear things and you hear news stories and you have a cynical side of your brain and then you have the rational side, and the truth is always somewhere in the middle. There's certainly no reason to buy media if you don't want to have some influence on media. But also, it's like the Washington Post still runs stories.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Part of their clauses.

[A]

It's a tale as old as time since the newspaper began. Even with the big guys, though, Hearsts and those guys. Yeah, they were controlling public narrative and media. And that's been happening for a really long time. It's not new to podcasting, so.

[B]

So that's Coogan and Hayes. That's number two. Number three. Stephen Bartlett, the Diary of a CEO.

[A]

He's number three.

[B]

Yep. $45 million. Ashley Flowers, Crime Junkie. $42 million. Number five, Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes. Smart list. $37 million.

[A]

Yeah. Example of a celebrity. Yeah, but this is the first celebrity on the list.

[B]

I mean, Joe Rogan, but.

[A]

Yeah, but he's more famous for his podcast than he ever. Than he. Than being the Fear Factor host. But I get what you're saying.

[B]

Mel Robbins. Have you seen. Have you seen. She's number six. $35 million. Have you seen the. The. The lady that does the. Every Mel Robbins podcasts.

[A]

No.

[B]

Oh, my God. Every email I actually posted you talking about Mel Robbins. Trying to get stoke some Mel Robbins fans, but I don't think they watch your stuff.

[A]

Yeah, Every film, not a ton of crossover.

[B]

Let me see if I can find this really quick while I find that Ed, who do you think is right underneath Mel Robbins?

[A]

I feel like we haven't touched on a political one yet. I felt like there's got to be at least the Daily or something or Ben Shapiro or.

[B]

Well, Ben Shapiro is not going to be on. He's, yeah.

[A]

Going down struggling right now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He probably only made a measly 18

[B]

million and I don't think Israel's paying him. I think he does it for love of the game.

[A]

I'm going to go with some political something. Political?

[B]

No.

[A]

Comedy?

[B]

No.

[A]

Who?

[B]

I feel like we're in that game where you have a cut out of someone's head on your front. Do I know them? It's Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[B]

New Heights podcast. Oh, Here we go.

[A]

30 something million. Let me see if.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Slamming this mic down like it's Thor's hammer. So. Yeah, this lady does a bunch of these and it's every episode of the Mel Robbins podcast. I had to link it to the. Do you. Would you say that the Kelsey brothers are more known for their podcasting and, like, being connected to Taylor Swift now than they are their athletic career?

[A]

I would think so, for sure. I mean, what's. What's unique about them is that they both had extremely impressive NFL careers.

[B]

It wasn't like he was some random guy on the bench and they started dating.

[A]

Yeah. Who just switched to motivational speaking after an injury or something. Yeah, I mean, like, they were both very successful Super Bowls.

[B]

Are they both retired now?

[A]

I don't think Travis.

[B]

Travis is still playing.

[A]

He's still playing. Yeah.

[B]

His brother is, though.

[A]

Yeah. But I mean, he's in the conversation of, like, best tight end of all time already in his career. And then his brother was one of the best centers to ever play the game. And. But like I said, both of them

[B]

played Super Bowls, so we have that in common.

[A]

Or won Super Bowls. So they, like, they. They were very well known already for sure. But the audience crossover, though, is nowhere near as great as it is now because of the, you know, Taylor Swift age.

[B]

Yeah. Here's. Here's.

[C]

Dates are there to help not heal. And when you're looking at true healing, it's going to take some time and perhaps a different shoe. My feet easily blister. And do you know what that means? That's a metaphor for not being able to get your heart hurt if you can't walk in someone else's shoes. Who has blisters, very rarely is a brand also the name of the actual product. Band Aids. Band Aids, you will not forget.

[B]

So.

[A]

Oh, that's brilliant.

[B]

It's been so good. I keep getting them on my feet. And then she had one where she had like five microphones around her. Like, it just. It started getting absolutely absurd. But yeah, it's. It's super funny. I'm sure that's well received. Shout out Mel Robbins next.

[A]

That's crazy. She's that high on the list, though.

[B]

What's the 35 mil?

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

So right above Jason, Kelsey, Kelsey Brothers. Well, same. Both 35 million. Alex Cooper. Call her daddy. $32 million. Yeah. I mean, with all the touring this last year and all that, I feel like that helps. Number nine always confuses me when I see it. Jon Favreau. But it's the guy from Pod Save America that has the same name. Every time I see his name, I'm like, jon Favreau. Jon Favreau. Jon Levitt. Not Jon Levitt. Jon Levitt.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vidor. Pod save America. $28 million.

[A]

So there's the political one.

[B]

There's the political number 10. Charlemagne. The God, the Breakfast Club. 27 million. Talk about the little engine that could just for years, just keeps pumping along.

[A]

He started, like, terrestrial radio before the podcast even.

[B]

Yeah. Rogan is trying to do extraterrestrial radio with all that alien. Dax Shepard, armchair expert, 25 mil. Amy Poehler. Goodhang. 24 million. Bill Simmons, the Bill Simmons podcast. 22 million.

[A]

I will say for Amy Poehler, that one deserves it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, like, it's a celebrity starting another celebrity starting a podcast. But, like, she's so cool and good and like, and she's been so deeply embedded in Hollywood for so long that, like, all the people she brings on, they all just have, like, common stories and things to share, you know, like, very Conan esque to me.

[B]

Yeah, she's very cool and good.

[A]

Conan's not on the list.

[B]

No, it doesn't deserve it, honestly. I mean, what's he been doing?

[A]

It's a travesty.

[B]

Let's see here. Amy Poehler, Bill Simmons. Who's. Who's Bill Simmons? Is that a sport?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Sport guy. Who's that?

[A]

Well said.

[B]

American sports writer and cultural critic. Wow, he looks like a snooze. Bill Simmons, a Jay Shetty on purpose. This one makes me. I don't want to talk about it. Yeah, Jay Shetty. That was on purpose. That was on purpose. Jay Shetty. $21 million because he's living like a monk, baby.

[A]

Yeah. I think that was because of that recent deal that he got, the Netflix Spotify combo deal.

[B]

Joe Budden. That's a sports guy. $20 million.

[A]

Sports.

[B]

H. Tucker Carlson. The Tucker Carlson show said, like, Mel Robbins. $20 million. Crazy. Tucker Carlson. Okay, I don't want to talk. It's crazy to me that Tucker Carlson still has credibility.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Given all the. We don't yet talk. I just say given the things he's. He's very clearly said on air and then said privately to people that contradict everything he said on air.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's so weird. To me that he's, like, viewed as this outsider that just tells it like it is.

[A]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

He's a fixture of mainstream media that

[A]

would just say, goes with the flow of what people are feeling.

[B]

And he was. But to be fair, he was attacked by demons in his sleep. So I wanted to get. You know, he's been.

[A]

There's nothing else. Something else that could be.

[B]

I was very surprised by this. Scott Galloway, number 17. $19 million.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

I did not know he was that big.

[A]

That's crazy.

[B]

I love when you see a podcast and you're like, he's my little secret. I enjoy.

[A]

And then everybody listens, like, oh, $20 million. I think he does have like three shows or four or something. Not to say that. That. Yeah, we could all zero in here with four shows. Right. But that's.

[B]

We do three episodes a day here on the show and we're not.

[A]

Those are the ones that give me hope, though, because he mainly talks about, like, business and quote, unquote, boring stuff.

[B]

Number 18. Known for his illicit affairs, Andrew Huberman. I'm just kidding. Was that a thing? Affair scan or something?

[A]

It was a thing.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. Known for his illicit affairs, Andrew Huberman. That's all he's known for. Andrew Huberman. Huberman lab 18 million DOL. That was the weirdest almost cancellation thing was that people were like, this guy's health advice is whack because he had an affair.

[A]

Yeah, that was strange.

[B]

I think it says something that he had the energy and the stamina to carry on so many affairs. So he's clearly doing something well with his health. Tan Katz and Eric Sullenberger from. Pardon my take. I don't know who that is.

[A]

Sports. We can safely assume that if you don't know who it is, it's a sports podcast.

[B]

That sounds like football player. Who? Dan Katz?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is that a football player?

[A]

I don't know, actually.

[B]

Oh, wow. You don't know anything about sports. And then Last 1, number 20, do you know who it is?

[A]

Nope.

[B]

Rick Glassman.

[A]

Really?

[B]

No, I'm just kidding. That would be so good.

[A]

That would actually surprise me.

[B]

No. Hannah Burner and Paige Desorbo, I think I.

[A]

She's a comedian.

[B]

One of my favorite podcasts of all time. Giggly Squad. I'm just kidding.

[A]

That does sound like a podcast.

[B]

I was so pissed when I saw the name of their show, Giggly Squad. Cause that's the name of your and I, our group chat that we have.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

We're the Giggly Squad and we send each other funny Little jokes and limericks.

[A]

Yeah, that make us giggle.

[B]

When's the last time you said limerick in a sentence? That was the first time I've ever said it in my life.

[A]

I actually think I said it recently because I watched an episode of spongebob.

[B]

Of course you did.

[A]

Where Gary tells a limerick.

[B]

Well, okay, let me ask you. Okay, you have to. I want you to pick worthy or unworthy with this list. Who do you think is on this list that does not deserve to even have a podcast and they should quit and they should just retreat from the public spotlight, and who do you think most deserves a spot on this list?

[A]

I'll be very, very boring when it comes to this because, I mean, they all deserve a spot on that list

[B]

because who do you think has done the most damage to society on this list? To be seen. The TVPN podcast is going to help Usher in Skynet.

[A]

I actually like that there's not many politics podcasts. I thought there. I thought there'd be like five or six. If you're going through a list of top 20 highest paid, I like that there's only a one. There's only the one, right?

[B]

I mean, America, Tucker Carlson.

[A]

Oh, yeah, two. But that's not that. That makes me happy. I like that. I like that most people are listening to it for entertainment or value.

[B]

Unfortunately, there's like, political discussions. Most of the podcasts I listen to are political.

[A]

You know, I also was encouraged when I saw this.

[B]

What.

[A]

What's the number for the number 20 in terms of money?

[B]

What's the number for number 20? 22. 0.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

18 million.

[A]

Okay. So I was, I was encouraged by the list because I was like, well, we're making some decent money off of the show then.

[B]

17 million.

[A]

We were like, so we were number 21. But no, it was, it was encouraging at least to me to look at it and go like, well, I mean, I mean, we're not making tens of millions, but we're getting closer to the. To the seven figure mark on, you know, if you look at. On a monthly basis. I was like, well, that's gotta put us in, like, top 0.01% of all podcasters. You know what I mean?

[B]

Well, I read a stat the other day. What percentage do you remember? It's what percentage of podcasts actually make money?

[A]

Oh, yeah, but that by itself was super low because it's like only 10% of podcasts that have existed still exist. Only 10% are. Actually. There's like 5 million total. There's like half a million that are currently releasing episodes still today. And then if I remember right, it was less than 10% who are able to monetize to any degree.

[B]

Yeah, I. Yeah, it's.1 to 5% of all podcasts make a meaningful profit or significant revenue. Roughly 95 to 90%. 99% of podcasts never make money.

[A]

Yeah. So out of. So we take those numbers. Cause I'm not doing 5 million total. We have half a million active. And then if you take 1 to 5% of half a million, that's like 5 to 10,000 podcasts that are making anything which you can throw yourself on Spotify Ad Network if you host on megaphone and make something. So I don't, you know, I don't know exactly what metric they're using for that. Does it count if you're making $12 a month or, like, how do they define that and how are they pulling those reports? But yeah, it was. Needless to say, if you. If you want to make money, starting a podcast is not the best thing that you can do in order to make money now. It can make money later on. I'm much more curious about what it can do for you in terms of opening doors that allows you to make more money. But a podcast in and of itself is not. It's not the easiest path. It's not the easiest road to victory. You want to make more money. That's true, but we're both in that percentile, bro, so.

[B]

Dude, we did 20 names in 20 minutes. Look at that.

[A]

Wow. Wow. Super hyper efficient.

[B]

Close this out so we can make more episodes and make more money and get on the list.

[A]

That's it for this episode of the show. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got more money in the bank. So let's solve that one first here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. We'll catch you next time. Peace.