10 Episode Ideas for Your Premium Podcast Subscription
So, you’ve decided to launch a premium podcast and start monetizing off listener subscriptions. Great! But now, you actually need to start creating some premium content.
Well don’t worry, we’re here to help! In this article, we’ll give you 10 simple ideas for premium podcast episodes that can help you launch your new podcast subscription.
And don’t worry, these are all relatively easy episodes to produce…and probably not much different than your normal free episodes.
Just remember, to have a successful premium podcast subscription, you’ll want to publish premium episodes consistently…at least once a month and ideally weekly. And make your subscribers feel like they belong to your special club.
Alright, here we go!
1. Ad-Free Episodes
This is probably the easiest of all our episode ideas. Just take the same episodes you publish in your normal podcast feed…and strip out the ads. Viola, many of your listeners will actually appreciate listening to your content ad-free
2. AMA Episodes
AMA (ask me anything) episodes is probably our favorite premium episode idea. It’s a great way for you to engage your fans, while producing premium content.
Get them to ask you questions right through your PodInbox fan page, and produce an episode where you answer their questions. You can even design an entire bonus episode just off 1 fan question.
3. Exclusive Interviews
Every once in a while, you’ll get an interview guest you know can drive paid subscriptions. Make sure to leverage a portion of these interviews as a premium episode.
Let’s say you schedule a top tier guest, but you also want to feature them on your main free podcast to drive more downloads. We totally recommend that! But consider making a 2-part interview, where you save the 2nd part as a premium episode.
4. Early Access
Some fans just want to get your episodes several days early than everyone else. This falls into the category where some fans just want to feel special. Reward them for their support and let them access your normal episodes a couple days early.
5. Behind-The-Scenes
Some podcasters record a lot of things outside the main edited recording. These can be things like chit chat with an interview guest before and after a recording, or discussions with the production team that typically gets edited out. Share some episodes that include all that stuff.
6. Bonus Content
If you edit your episodes a lot, and leave a lot of content on the cutting room floor…consider creating episodes with some of that extra edited content. Think of it like the “director’s cut” in movies.
These episodes can include things like bloopers, outtakes, and even episodes you left out completely from your normal feed. You’ll be surprised, your avid fans want to hear it all.
Some podcasters even purposely schedule an “off-topic” segment before or after the normal show to capture that bonus content for every recording. These podcasters would often use this recurring bonus segment as a teaser to get their listeners to subscribe to their premium feed.
7. Masterclass
Many podcasters invariably become subject matter experts in the niche they cover. If you have such a podcast, consider producing a premium episode that takes a deep dive into a subject you want to teach.
8. Solo Episodes
If your normal podcast episodes aren’t solo, consider switching it up and producing some solo episodes for your premium podcast. A lot of listeners are tuning in to hear your voice and your thoughts. Script out some episodes where it’s just you without any guests and cohosts.
Don’t worry, these could be short, just like a blog post. In fact, to practice, just write a blog post and read it out into the mic. That’s basically what solo episodes are.
9. Collab Episodes
Do you follow a podcaster covering the same topic? Consider having a recurring segment where you produce a bonus episode with that other podcaster. It’s an effective way to cross-promote your podcasts, while creating some premium content for your subscribers.
10. Live Episodes
YouTube is a great platform for live content, and an effective way to engage your audience in real-time. A lot of times though, once that live recording ends, you don’t necessarily want to keep it on your YouTube channel.
A great way to preserve that valuable content is to edit it, and put in on your premium podcast feed. Most times, these live episodes don’t work too well on your normal podcast feed, but are completely appropriate on your premium podcast feed.
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