For podcasters that offer a premium option, so where you can get stuff like exclusive content, early access to episodes, bonus content, etc., one of the things that can be a problem is what to call it. Do you call it memberships? Do you call it premium listeners or premium members? Do you call it premium subscribers or even just subscribers? While it can come down to your own preference, as well as what you think your audience will understand better, the most recognizable option is probably to
call it something where subscriber is a main term. And this is for one simple reason. People already associate the word subscriber with paid content. So Netflix, YouTube Premium, newspapers, streaming services, etc. All of them use the word subscribe when it comes to getting content only made for paid subscribers. So it makes sense to use the same for your own premium content, whether that's Patreon, Substack or memberships from Captivate, where I'm Head of Podcaster Support and Experience.
So when it comes to your paid content, think about switching to using something like "Become a paid subscriber for premium and exclusive content" and see how that goes. The best thing about podcasting is you can easily experiment and see what works and what doesn't, and change it up pretty quickly. Until the next time, happy podcasting.