Most podcasters still rely on advertising dollars to monetize their shows, but a growing number are looking elsewhere. Patreon says podcasters make up the second-largest group of creators on its platform and collectively earned more than $350 million from fans in 2023. Patreon says creators have benefited as they’ve moved beyond just audio to video, live shows, books, and merchandise lines, broadening their appeal.
“They’re joining Patreon to get all the exclusives they can’t get anywhere else, and oftentimes, they’re opting to pay for those extras because real fans know that creators’ work is worth it,” it says in a blog post. When creators can truly connect with their fans and impact their lives in a positive way, they’re able to turn their work into successful, sustainable businesses.”
Patreon’s Policy Team has also released several midyear updates to its Community Guidelines, which it says are designed to be the “guardrails to keep Patreon safe” and detail the sorts of works and behaviors that are and are not permitted on the platform. Most do not impact podcasters, however.
Following a March update that was geared to make things more clear, the latest update now explicitly says Patreon opposes human trafficking and sex trafficking, and it finetuned its rules around topics like eating disorders and bestiality. It also added a new participant consent form for Adult/18+ creators to obtain the required written consent from any real human participants visually featured in creative works, among other changes. It has also made it explicitly clear that all rules apply to creators and fans.
Patreon says that as generative artificial intelligence evolves, so are its policies. Due to what it says are updated credit-card network guidelines, Patreon is no longer able to support AI or machine-learning generators, tools, or software focused on the creation of sexually explicit imagery.