How we match your ad to the right podcast — by meaning, not keywords
Keyword targeting keeps missing the shows that actually fit. Here's how 10AM reads a script and a show for what they mean, scores the fit, and places the ad where it belongs — embeddings, guardrails, and the honest failure cases included.
Turn one episode into a week of clips
A repeatable workflow for pulling five to seven shareable moments out of a single recording — and scheduling them so the show stays in feed all week.
Write, voice, and design an ad in minutes
Inside Ad Studio: draft a host-read script, generate a produced voice track, and lay out the companion graphic — without leaving the campaign.
What podcast monetization actually looks like in 2026
A clear-eyed map of how independent shows actually earn money in 2026 — the real revenue streams, honest numbers, and where most creators quietly leave money on the table.
The five ways a small show makes money
A practical breakdown of the five real income streams for small podcasts — what each pays, when it switches on, the honest downsides, and how to stack them into a real living.
You don't need 100k downloads to get sponsors
The 100k-download rule is a myth. Here is what advertisers actually pay for, why niche shows win, and how a few hundred of the right listeners can land real, well-paid sponsorships.
How to price your ad inventory
A step-by-step playbook for pricing podcast ad inventory — how CPM works, real 2026 rate benchmarks by format and placement, a full worked example, and how to charge for fit instead of racing to the bottom.
What advertisers actually look for in a show
A playbook from the buyer's side of the table — the real signals advertisers evaluate beyond download count, with the data behind each one and how to make your show the obvious, low-risk yes.
Get discovered for what your show is about
Keyword matching misses what your show is really about. Here is how semantic, meaning-based matching connects your episodes to the right advertisers and the right new listeners.
From pitch to paid: the placement lifecycle
Every step of turning your ad inventory into revenue on the Ads Marketplace — listing, matching, approval, the read, and getting paid — with the real numbers behind why host-read placements are worth the work.
Brand safety without losing your voice
How to stay advertiser-friendly without sanding your show down to nothing — the real difference between brand safety and brand suitability, why keyword blocking backfires, and how meaning-based matching plus host approval protects both sides.
Which 30 seconds of your episode actually travel
Most of a great episode is context; only a few moments are portable. Here is how to find the 30 seconds that stand alone and spread — what makes a moment travel, the retention math behind it, and how to let meaning-based clip ranking do the scrubbing for you.
Captions, hooks, and the mute majority
Most of your clip's audience is watching with the sound off. Here is how to design for the mute majority — the caption and hook data that proves it matters, and a practical checklist for making silent-first clips that still earn the unmute.
A clip posting cadence you can actually keep
Consistency beats intensity, and the data proves it — but only if the schedule survives a bad week. Here is how to set a clip cadence you can sustain, batch it so it runs itself, and grow without burning out.
Repurpose without a video editor
One recording can feed a whole week of content without touching a timeline. Here is the no-editor repurposing loop — from a single episode to captioned clips, cross-platform posts, ads, and merch — with honest notes on what this approach does and does not do well.
How to buy podcast ads without a media agency
A direct-buying playbook for brands that want to run podcast ads themselves, keep the agency margin, and know exactly when hiring one still pays off.
Targeting by meaning, not keywords
Why keyword and category targeting quietly misses the shows that convert, how meaning-based matching finds them, and the failure cases nobody advertises.
Reading CPM, reach, and fill
A plain-English decoder for the three numbers every podcast buyer sees — with worked CPM math and what a good buy versus a bad buy actually looks like.
Measuring podcast ad performance honestly
Pixels, promo codes, surveys, and brand lift each tell a partial truth about podcast ads — here is why any single number lies and what an honest measurement stack looks like.
Why niche beats reach
The math of relevance: how a small, engaged podcast can out-convert a big passive one, when reach still wins, and how to tell which game you are actually playing.
Host-read vs. produced vs. DAI, explained
The three podcast ad formats decoded — what each costs, what each is good at, and the honest tradeoffs between a host's trust and a producer's control.
The anatomy of a great host-read
What actually separates a host-read that listeners act on from one they skip — the hook, the proof, the promise, and the single spoken call to action.
Should AI voice your ad? (when yes, when no)
AI voice reads are fast, consistent, and cheap to scale — and exactly wrong for some placements. An honest decision guide for when to use a generated read and when to insist on the host.
One brief, three assets
How a single short brief becomes a finished spot — a host-style script written for the ear, a natural voice read, and a matching graphic — all editable, in one pass.
Testing ad variations that actually move numbers
A practical playbook for testing podcast ad creative — what to vary, how to attribute honestly with pixels and codes, and how to read results without fooling yourself.
The honest guide to podcast sponsorship
A plain-spoken, no-hype guide to how podcast sponsorship actually works — download math, ad positions, host-read versus programmatic, honest attribution, disclosure law, and the tradeoffs nobody puts in the sales deck.
Migrating your show to 10AM without losing subscribers
A calm, detailed walkthrough of moving your podcast to 10AM while every subscriber keeps listening — how the redirect works, the real timeline, and the mistakes that actually lose listeners.
Dynamic ad insertion in plain English
What dynamic ad insertion actually is, the real economics behind it, how the margin math works on a mid-roll, and the honest tradeoffs between dynamic and host-read ads.
Own your audience: RSS and why it matters
RSS is the quiet backbone of podcasting and the single reason you — not a platform — can truly own your audience. Here is how it works and what owning it protects.
Analytics that matter (and ones that don't)
A no-nonsense guide to which podcast numbers actually change your decisions, how downloads are really counted, and how to read a drop-off chart instead of panicking at it.
Your show, everywhere: distribution 101
How podcast distribution really works, how one feed reaches every major app, where listening actually happens today, and the metadata that decides whether you get found.
Merch that ships itself
How print-on-demand lets an independent show sell branded merch with no inventory, no upfront cost, and no trips to the post office — plus the products and margins that actually work.
Turning listeners into buyers
A practical funnel for converting a passive audience into paying supporters — the psychology of the ask, why one clear call to action beats five, and how to move listeners somewhere you own.
Selling tickets to a live taping
How to turn an episode into a live event your audience pays to attend — pricing tiers that create urgency, why charging even a little slashes no-shows, and a timeline you can run start to finish.
Pricing your first product
A no-nonsense guide to setting your first price — why you should price on value not cost, how anchoring and charm pricing quietly shift what buyers will pay, and the common mistakes that leave money on the table.
Short links that tell you what's working
How branded short links plus a simple naming system turn every mention, post, and newsletter into data — so you finally know which channel actually drives clicks and buyers, and can reward the people who send them.
Run a referral program for your show
A practical, honest playbook for turning your existing listeners into your best growth channel — payouts, attribution windows, tracking, and the failure cases nobody warns you about.
UTMs for people who hate UTMs
A no-jargon guide to the five little tags that tell you where your listeners actually came from — with the small, unforgiving rules that make the difference between clean data and a useless mess.
Grow with partners, not ad spend
Paid ads rent you attention until the budget runs out. Partnerships compound. Here's an honest playbook for finding, pitching, and structuring partner growth — including where it's slower and harder than buying clicks.
Why we self-host the whole stack
The search engine, the meaning model that powers ad matching, and the ad serving itself all run on our own infrastructure. Here's the honest reasoning — the quality and privacy we gain, and the operational cost we take on to get it.
What an embedding actually is
The idea behind meaning-based matching, without a single equation. Think of meaning as a location on a map, where things that are alike sit close together — and see how that map gets learned and where ours runs.
Guardrails: how targeting rules always win
Meaning-based matching is powerful, but it must never override an advertiser's hard requirements. Here's why our system runs the absolute rules first and lets the smart ranking only reorder what survives — and why that order is the safe one.
Find your niche and own it
Trying to reach everyone reaches no one. This guide shows how to find a niche specific enough to own, prove there's demand, and then grow outward from a base of people who actually care.
The bi-weekly from 10AM
One email, twice a month — what we shipped and what we learned. No spam.