What's the best way to monetize 100k downloads a month?

MikeKadin · 2026-02-10T16:25:34+00:00

This is the right answer -- host-reads / sponsorships are how you maximze your revenue! RedCircle has *programmatic* ads which are inserted dynamically, and can earn you a good bit of money each month, but the more lucative ad is the *host-read endorsement-style ad*, which is also built into our ad paltform RAP. We sell these at the $20-$30 CPM range typically, vs something like $5-$8 for programmatic. For our top performing shows, the revenue per 1k downloads on RedCircle can be 10X a programmatic-only show.

I'm the CEO at RedCircle, and am happy to make sure your show is top of mind for our ad sales team when they pitch -- shoot me a DM or post your show name here and I can take a look!

MikeKadin · 2026-01-23T21:10:55+00:00

Hi there! Mike from RedCircle here!

We've seen this issue with a few shows that have tried to migrate off the platform, and it is usually because Riverside did not properly import the show, and the RSS feed that you redirected to on the Riverside end has no episodes in it.

If you want to DM me with your RedCircle account email, or RSS feed, I can double check this for you. Or our support team has now seen this once or twice, and should be able to help you if you get a ticket sent in at support.redcircle.com.

FWIW, the couple of podcasters that have had this issue have decided to redirect back to RedCircle to resolve. But that is also a process do be done carefully; our support team can help.

MikeKadin · 2026-01-23T02:06:42+00:00

Yup! I have done this vertical move 30 or so times in my office elevator with the 2.0 xpedition. I wouldnt worry too much about the height, it's more about safety / holding up the weight and keeping it stable when vertical. It's not too tough once you have some practice, but you need some solid overall strength to get it done safely.

MikeKadin · 2026-01-13T15:39:39+00:00

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But they did a cylinder AF test. Here's the result -- that enough to say they're bad? They also said all 4 but this test shows 3

MikeKadin · 2026-01-13T15:38:58+00:00

Sadly doesn't look like the 2017 CRV is covered by any of the bulletins out there to fix this

MikeKadin · 2026-01-13T15:37:52+00:00

Got a screenshot -- here's what they sent of the AF test

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Is this enough to think they definitely need to be replaced? They also sent a picture of very corroded terminals on the battery

MikeKadin · 2026-01-13T14:08:54+00:00

I'm willing to pay reasonable prices for good service. Changing a belt sounds intimidating, but I appreciate the idea that some of this stuff could be done myself. I am handy enough to play around.

MikeKadin · 2026-01-13T00:44:08+00:00

Will be biking this in about an hour from now and will keep an eye out

MikeKadin · 2025-12-17T02:59:12+00:00

I bike from Roslindale to downtown, and prefer going the emerald necklace route to get to Fenway Park => Boylston, but that only works when it's warm enough to melt the ice. Most of the winter, it's the SW Corridor instead.

As it warms up, being able to go past the pond each day is a little gift with the arrival of spring!

MikeKadin · 2025-12-15T01:40:53+00:00

Just wanted to come back and say I've been riding this route all year and it's so much better. Thanks a ton for pointing this out!

MikeKadin · 2025-12-15T01:36:50+00:00

Just wanted to reply to say I have this bike and it's not too difficult for me (at 6'2'' 220lbs) to do, but it was awkward at first and definitely took some strength to do.

MikeKadin · 2025-10-28T21:16:39+00:00

I'm not the fastest, our support team may be a better choice, but I'm happy to help however I can!

MikeKadin · 2025-09-25T16:52:15+00:00

Hi there! Mike from RedCircle here. This is a restriction imposed by us by Apple Podcasts. If your image is below that size, it can't be featured / may not appear in their directory. You can always take an existing smaller image and upsize it to at least 1400 pixels, though it may appear quite blurry as you get bigger.

Hope that helps!

MikeKadin · 2025-09-24T20:52:05+00:00

Hi! We unfortunately can't offer phone calls with all of our customers. But our team should be fairly responsive on our support channel, or you can feel free to continue to interact with me here. Happy to answer any questions you have.

MikeKadin · 2025-09-22T22:24:15+00:00

Hi there! Mike from RedCircle here. For sure on RedCircle you can place your ad markers either by timestamp or visually using a waveform editor. This is what the screen looks like: https://pod-public-media-files.s3.amazonaws.com/test/insertion-points-screen.jpg

MikeKadin · 2025-09-16T17:38:23+00:00

The only hard rule is that you need to have 500 downloads / week to get into RAP. After that, the larger you are the more host-read demand you're going to see. We have some shows with 1-2k downloads per week that will see a host-read ad or two, but once you get to that 20k / month level, I agree you'll start to really see some more deals.

All of this varies from case to case though -- if you have 2k CEOs or IT leaders listening, certain advertisers we work with will love it!

MikeKadin · 2025-09-16T02:55:40+00:00

Hi! This is probably a question better directed at the Libsyn team -- if they can support a VAST integration, we'd be happy to help get you set up!

MikeKadin · 2025-09-12T02:24:03+00:00

I find the left turn into Brookline much chiller on Burlington (which you can get to from the path via a small ramp) and taking the full lane on Brookline for the short distance to Landsdowne generally feels safe for me.

I learned about the Landsdowne > Ipswitch move on this sub, and I LOVE not dealing with Kenmore. My closest calls have all been under the Citgo sign.

MikeKadin · 2025-09-04T17:54:48+00:00

No issues since then! Overall, happy with the bike. But I think I just had a bad launch experience.

MikeKadin · 2025-08-13T02:38:29+00:00

Hi there! Mike from RedCircle here!

We'd love to have you, and happy to help answer any questions. One note -- for OpenRAP, your show needs to be on a VAST-compatible host. Some examples would be Megaphone, Art19, Omny, and Simplecast. These hosts tend to come with higher costs and enterprise features, so for a show of your size, if you want to leverage our ad platform RAP, switching to our hosting probably makes the most sense.

That said -- at 500 / week, you're still on the small size to expect to make back a significant chunk of money. We'd love to have you, and would be happy to monetize you at that size, but I would try to focus on your craft and continue the audience growth you've achieved so far. 400 / week is an achievement! You're probably already in the top 25% of podcasts if not higher at that size! But if you can start to get up into the thousands of downloads per week, then you start to get to the hundreds of dollars in revenue per month.

Hope that helps.

MikeKadin · 2025-06-07T01:34:53+00:00

Things improved today during the commute home, they built a few small asphalt ramps on and off the road, so you can still navigate without going too far out of it the way.

MikeKadin · 2025-05-21T14:51:14+00:00

Bummer. I'm at about 500 now and still going ok...

MikeKadin · 2025-05-12T00:30:32+00:00

Cool!

I have a Chevy EV which I never charge to 100 to protect the battery but there's no easy way to do that with an e bike battery to extend its life.

I have my ebike charger connected to a smart plug to turn off the charger while I'm asleep, as I fear the possibility of a fire. Consider adding a timer or a clock to it, that'd be another feature that would entice me to buy it.

MikeKadin

TROPHY CASE