Adam Corolla recently appeared on  “Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.” They spoke about how his podcast has remained number one (or close to it) in iTunes since he launched it three days after being let go at CBS radio. He mentions that he cant' take sponsors until his contract runs out at CBS Radio, and currently it is costing him $9,000 a month for bandwidth. This calculate to .009 per download.

$9,000 / 1,000,000 downloads = .009 per download

As he publishes (what looks like) 20 episodes a month that calculates to .18 a month.

.009 X 20 = .18 a month per listener. (cost per listener)

If Adam could talk his audience into donating $1.00 that would be .82 profit per listener.

$1. – .18 (cost per month) = .82 profit.

According to an article (Adam Carolla Podcast Makes Radio Irrelevant – May 1st, 2009 podcastingnews.com) he has approximately 130,000 listeners.

.82 profit per month X 130,000 = $106,600 profit per month.

His contract with  CBS radio ends soon, and it will be interesting to see what monetization method he chooses. CBS Radio (the people who fired him) have been in contact with him to help him find sponsors.

The interesting thing is the “Feel” is getting people to pay $1 a month is like asking them to cut off their right arm. I'm following these types of situations for my book More Podcast Money which will be coming out soon.

Your thoughts?