Planning and buying
We build the plan from your unit economics, then negotiate each placement until its price, guarantee, make-good and rights are written down.
Media plan
One row per placement: channel or show, format, date, price basis, cost, guarantee, make-good term, exclusivity and rights.
How a plan is built
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Set the ceiling
We start from what a new customer is worth to you and what you can pay to acquire one, so every rate in the plan is checked against a number your finance team already uses.
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Shortlist from vetted channels
Only channels and shows that passed vetting make the shortlist, ranked by how closely their audience matches the customer you sell to.
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Choose a price basis per placement
Three bases are available: flat fee; CPM on delivered downloads or views; flat fee plus a minimum view guarantee. These match the YouTube pricing models ThoughtLeaders describes (ThoughtLeaders, 2026-04-14). We pick the basis that leaves the least risk with you.
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Benchmark the quote
Each quote is set against published seller rate cards. For baked-in host reads, Libsyn Ads lists CPMs of $18 to $22 (30 seconds) and $24 to $26 (60 seconds) (Libsyn Ads, 2026). Acast lists host-read sponsorships at $25 to $40, and from $40 upward on business, finance and B2B shows (Acast, retrieved 2026-10-05).
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Write the guarantee and the make-good
Every flat-fee placement carries a delivery guarantee and a make-good term: what the seller owes if delivery falls short, in what form, and by what date.
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Define exclusivity
Exclusivity is defined campaign by campaign, as the IAB recommends: which competitors, which ad types, which episodes and for how long (IAB, 2023-10). It is priced in the plan like any other term.
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Agree rights before production
Usage rights, paid amplification windows and approval rounds are fixed in writing ahead of production. Where a creator video is to be run as an ad via Creator Partnerships, Google assigns the duty to obtain those rights to the advertiser (Google Ads Help, retrieved 2026-10-05).
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Flight it long enough to read
Per Right Side Up, a first podcast flight typically takes around three episodes to perform fully (Right Side Up, updated 2024-02-15). Each show therefore gets a minimum of three episodes in a first flight.
Media plan
Flight 1, test across four placements
| Placement | Format | Price basis | Cost | Guarantee | Make-good |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast B | Host-read mid-roll, 60 s × 3 | CPM $26 on 30-day downloads | $11,700 | 450,000 downloads | Extra episode within 30 days |
| Podcast C | Host-read pre-roll, 30 s × 4 | Flat $2,400 per episode | $9,600 | 360,000 downloads | Pro-rated credit |
| Channel D | Integration, 90 s | Flat with view guarantee | $14,000 | 450,000 views by day 90 | Second integration |
| Channel E | Integration, 60 s | CPM $30 on views to day 90 | $7,500 | Capped at 250,000 views | Not needed on CPM |
| Media | $42,800 | ||||
| Our fee | $6,000 | ||||
What a rate card leaves out
Two podcast CPMs can be compared only when both count the same thing. Libsyn Ads takes reach from 30-day downloads (Libsyn Ads, 2026), and Acast charges more per thousand as targeting is added (Acast, retrieved 2026-10-05). Format also affects price: the IAB buyer checklist reports that an announcer read in keeping with the show’s tone often matches host-read results for a lower cost per thousand (IAB, 2023-10). We put the counting window, the targeting and the format next to every rate in the plan, so two quotes can be compared line for line.
Terms used on this page
- CPM
- Price per 1,000 delivered downloads or views. Libsyn Ads prices a podcast campaign as CPM × reach ÷ 1,000.
- View guarantee
- The seller’s commitment that a flat-fee placement reaches a stated minimum of views inside an agreed window.
- Flight
- A set of placements scheduled, bought and measured as one unit, typically a test ahead of a larger budget.
Start with one flight
Send us your category, budget range and what your finance team needs to see. We reply with how we would vet, buy and measure a first flight.
Submit a brief