How Much Can You Really Earn from Newsletters, Podcasts, and Blogs?
A data-driven look at advertising, sponsorships, and memberships across audience sizes.
“Can I really make a living with a newsletter?”
“How much money do podcasters actually make?”
“Do blogs still pay, or is the golden era over?”
The truth is that monetization in content is not one-size-fits-all. Each platform—newsletters, podcasts, and blogs—comes with different revenue dynamics, different advertiser behaviors, and different paths to scale.
In this article, we break it all down. We’ll look at ads, sponsorships, and memberships—the three main ways creators turn attention into income. We’ll also show how revenue scales at 10,000, 100,000, and 1 million engaged audience members.
To make things clear, we’ve created a heat map of monetization potential that lets you compare platforms at a glance before diving into detailed category analysis.
The Heat Map
Before diving into the details of each platform, let’s look at a simple visual comparison of advertising potential (ads only) across newsletters, podcasts, and blogs.
We’ve built this heat map to show how much you could earn from ads at three different audience sizes—10,000, 100,000, and 1 million engaged followers or listeners.
What it measures. This heat map focuses only on ad-based monetization. Sponsorships and memberships follow different dynamics, which we’ll explore later.
How to read it. Darker cells indicate higher earning potential. The numbers represent estimated annual ad revenue based on industry-average CPM (Cost per Mille, or cost per 1,000 impressions).
Why it matters. Ads are often the first revenue stream new creators encounter, so this snapshot helps set realistic expectations before layering in sponsorships or memberships.
This chart is not the whole story—but it provides a quick, at-a-glance sense of which platforms are ad-heavy (like podcasts) and which rely more on loyalty and direct monetization (like newsletters).
👉 In the next sections, we’ll break down sponsorships, memberships, and strategic considerations for each platform so you can see the complete picture.
FAQ: Fast answers before we dive in
What’s the most profitable platform between newsletters, podcasts, and blogs?
It depends on audience size and monetization model. Podcasts attract higher CPM (Cost per Mille, or cost per 1,000 impressions) from advertisers, newsletters tend to convert better on direct sponsorships and memberships, while blogs scale best with ads thanks to SEO and evergreen content.
How much can a newsletter earn with 10,000 subscribers?
At open rates of 30–50%, ad revenue can range from $300–$1,000 per issue, with sponsorships adding more. Membership conversions (typically 2–5%) can drastically increase revenue if the audience is loyal.
Are podcasts still growing in revenue?
Yes. U.S. podcast ad revenue surpassed $1.8 billion in 2022 (IAB/PwC), and CPM rates remain among the highest in digital media ($18–$50 per 1,000 downloads).
Do blogs still make money in the AI era?
Yes, but mostly niche and authority sites. Display ad RPM (Revenue per Mille, or per 1,000 views) is $5–$25 depending on niche, but blogs also open doors for affiliate marketing and product sales.
Which model is more stable: ads or memberships?
Ads fluctuate with markets and algorithms. Memberships offer recurring revenue but depend heavily on content quality and loyalty. A hybrid approach is most resilient.
Why do different sources show very different CPMs?
Because monetization depends on niche, geography, engagement, and advertiser type. For newsletters, for example, sources like ConvertKit suggest $3–10 CPM, while Morning Brew or niche B2B newsletters command far higher. In this article we show ranges and explain how they were calculated.
💡 This article is part of Side Hustles & Businesses — a series of practical guides to help you start and grow your next project.
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