On this site, I serve a large audience of teachers, and one of the ways I help them is to recommend products that can make their teaching more efficient, powerful, and fun. In the past, I have offered both sponsored posts and podcast sponsorships, but for the time being, I am limiting my promotional offerings to only podcast sponsorships.
About the Podcast
The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast offers a mix of interview-style episodes and solo episodes, all hosted by Jennifer Gonzalez. The topic of every episode is intended to help teachers do their work better — this can include instructional and classroom management strategies, educational technology, and research on cognitive science, along with regular explorations on how race, gender, religion, culture, and ability impact the quality of education our students receive.
Audience
The majority of our listeners are teachers, instructional coaches, university professors, and school leaders. They work in public, private, and charter schools. Here are a few other demographics based on surveys and interacting through social media over the years.
Gender: About 70% female, 30% male
Largest Age Groups:
25-34: 20%
35-44: 30%
45-54: 30%
Public School Teachers: Over 75%
Location: The biggest audience is in the U.S. (over 90%), followed by Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and India.
Reach
Since its launch in 2013, the podcast has been downloaded over 8 million times (IAB) and over 12 million times (unique). It currently averages around 200,000 unique downloads per month. By the time an episode has been out for a year, it typically accumulates well over 45,000 downloads. Episode length ranges from 5 minutes (for EduTips) and over an hour for regular episodes. Here are the IAB download statistics for some recent episodes:
This document provides a more detailed look at our download numbers.
How Sponsorship Works
- First, I need to decide if your product is a good fit for my audience. It needs to be a high-quality product that will appeal to a wide audience of teachers and is somewhat established; I do not take on sponsors that are still in beta or have been around for less than a year. Some people are just discovering my podcast this very minute and will work their way through years’ worth of archives, so I try to only run ads from companies I trust will be around for a while.
- Once we decide to work together, I will assign your ad to a particular date. I do not know my episode topics very far in advance, and sponsors often sign on months ahead of time, so I am unable to allow sponsors to choose particular episodes by topic. This is why I recommend purchasing a batch of four episodes, rather than just one, so you can ensure that your ad is heard by people with different interests.
- When you sponsor an episode, we work together to write a 45-to-60-second script about your product. I offer my own guidance about what will work for my audience so that we end up with a message that speaks their language and makes it easy for them to follow up on your call to action. At this time, you may also decide to offer a special discount to my listeners or create a unique link to your site with trackable coding, so you can measure the traffic that comes from the ad. Keep in mind, however, that many people will come to you “fresh” without using the link I provide, so these numbers will likely be lower than the true traffic and interest generated by the ad.
- The script will be read by me in the first five minutes of the show, after giving a few introductory remarks. I only feature two ads per episode and I read both of them, one after the other, during that time.
- Your product will also be featured on my website: All of my podcasts are produced as supplements to blog posts, and a player is embedded in that blog post. Text that reads “Episode sponsored by (your company)” will appear under the podcast player, with a link to your site. (See example here.)
- Additionally, I will put your company’s name in the show notes for my podcast, which will appear on whatever podcast app the audience listens on. Keep in mind that every app is a little different, with some offering hyperlinking capabilities (which means that on those, your name will be linked to your site). Others are more streamlined and may not provide active hyperlinks. Either way, you will be listed as the sponsor for that episode right after the episode summary.
- What about the cost? Sponsorships are available on a per-episode basis, but I strongly recommend purchasing them in batches of four at a time. This ensures that your ad will be heard by the widest audience possible and that many listeners will hear it several times, resulting in stronger brand recognition. The current demand for spots is high: Ads are scheduled several months in advance, and the ad rate is adjusted every year to reflect that demand.
Ready to Work Together?
After reading all of this, if you’d like to sponsor the show, please fill out this form and we’ll see if you’re a good candidate for sponsorship!