Marketing · free calculator
Podcast ad CPA calculator
Compute the cost per acquisition (CPA) on a podcast sponsorship buy — listener count, CPM, episode count, and conversion rate.
Cost per acquisition
Show the work
- Total ad spend$5,250
- Total conversions600
- LTV : CAC91.43×
Podcast advertising — the CPA math you can't trust until you measure
Podcast CPMs sound expensive ($25-50) compared to display ($1-5). But podcast attention is qualitatively higher and CPAs often beat banner ads by 5-10x. Until you actually buy and measure, though, you're guessing.
The math
total spend = listeners × episodes × CPM ÷ 1000
conversions = listeners × episodes × conversion rate
CPA = total spend ÷ conversionsDefault scenario: 25k listeners, 6 episodes, $35 CPM, 0.4% conversion → $5,250 spend, 600 conversions, $8.75 CPA. At $800 LTV, that's a 91:1 LTV:CAC — outstanding if it actually performs.
The conversion rate range
- 0.1-0.3%: most podcasts (host-read or pre-recorded)
- 0.4-0.8%: highly relevant podcast + product fit (B2B podcast → B2B SaaS)
- 1-2%: niche podcast + perfect product fit + strong host endorsement
- 2%+: rare — usually founder-host doing personal endorsement
Why your first podcast buy probably misses
- Wrong show: relevance > size. A 5,000-listener industry-specific podcast often beats a 50,000-listener general one.
- Generic creative: stock pre-roll ads convert at 1/3 the rate of host-read endorsements.
- Bad attribution: podcast attribution is the hardest in marketing. Use unique URLs, promo codes, post-purchase surveys.
How to test efficiently
- 3 small ($1-3k) shows in different niches
- 6-12 episode minimum per show (frequency builds recall)
- Unique vanity URL per show
- Track for 60 days post-flight (podcast attribution lags)
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