Not every media business should chase sponsorships.
If you're reading this, you've probably thought about monetizing your newsletter, podcast, or social following. Maybe you've seen other media businesses land brand deals and wondered when it'll be your turn….
Here's the truth: sponsorships aren't always the right move.
There are two things to check before we get into sponsorships:
Are we too early?
Should we leverage other ways of monetisation?
Let's first break down the answers to both of these questions and assess whether sponsorships are actually right for you -
Question 1 : Are we too early?
The Baseline: Are You Sponsor-Ready?
Subscriber count: 5,000+
If you're under 5K subscribers, focus on growth first. I know that feels frustrating, but here's why: most brands won't take you seriously below this number, and the ones that do will lowball you. You'll burn energy chasing sponsorships when you should be building.
Once you're above 5K, the next question is: are people actually opening your emails?
Open rate: 30-40%+
This is what brands really care about. A 10K subscriber list with 15% opens is less valuable than a 5K list with 45% opens.
If your open rate is below 30%, pause on sponsorships. Clean your list: remove inactive subscribers who haven't opened in 6+ months. Work on subject lines. Figure out why people aren't engaging.
Click rate: 1-3%+
This one matters the most when closing performace based ads, but over time, brands want to know: does your audience act on what you share? A consistent 1-3% click rate tells sponsors your audience is engaged, not just passive.
For Podcasts:
Listens per episode: 1,000+
If you're below 1K downloads per episode, you're not quite there yet. Focus on consistency, content quality, and distribution. Podcast sponsorships are harder to close than newsletter sponsorships at small scale because tracking is murkier and brands want proof of loyalty.
Once you cross 1K, you're in the conversation. But like newsletters, engagement matters. Are people finishing episodes? Are they coming back each week?
Followers: 10,000+
Social is trickier. Follower count gets inflated easily, and brands know it. What they really want to see is engagement.
Engagement rate: 2-5%+
If you have 50K followers but get 200 likes per post, that's a 0.4% engagement rate—not sponsor-ready. But if you have 10K followers and consistently get 500+ likes and meaningful comments? That's 5%+ engagement. That gets attention.
Social sponsorships also face a trust problem. Audiences are more skeptical of paid posts on social than they are in newsletters or podcasts. So if you're going to pursue social sponsorships, you need both the numbers and the authentic integration.
If You're Below These Thresholds: Don't Chase Sponsorships Yet
I know you want revenue now. But going after sponsorships too early creates three problems:
You'll underprice yourself because you don't have leverage.
You'll say yes to bad-fit sponsors because you feel desperate.
You'll waste time pitching brands who won't take you seriously.
Instead, focus on growth. Get to the baseline. Then come back.
Question 2: Should we leverage other ways of monetisation?
If you have or have not hit the numbers above, there are multiple other strategies to close sponsors. We'll cover this in the next post.