Do this before you call anyone
Ad income can change what you owe for music, so look at that first. On our royalty fees guide, ASCAP's digital fee steps up with service revenue, BMI sets its fee from the revenue and streaming hours you expect, and SESAC prices on revenue if you earn from the stream. All of them may want your financial figures, and those have to come from you.
If your station is a nonprofit or runs on noncommercial SoundExchange terms, ask your adviser whether selling spots affects that status before you take any money. None of this is legal or tax advice.
Which audience numbers are fair to show?
Show numbers that describe a normal week, and say what each one means.
| Number | What it honestly tells a buyer | Don't use it to claim |
|---|---|---|
| Listener hours for a show | How much listening that show really gets | How many people heard it |
| Average listeners (listener hours ÷ hours on air) | How many are connected at a typical moment, which is the number a spot actually meets | Total reach |
| Unique listeners | Roughly how many different listeners came over the period | That all of them heard the ad |
| Average listening time | Whether people stay long enough to hear a spot more than once | Loyalty to the advertiser |
| Peak | Your busiest moment, useful only with its date | Your usual audience |
| Countries | Whether the audience can actually buy from this business | Local reach inside a city |
On a Primcast radio station, the Audience screen shows listener hours, sessions, unique listeners and your peak. Premium adds countries, devices, listening time and results for each show, and keeps 30 days. Platinum keeps 90 days and adds CSV downloads and scheduled email reports. On Free you have 7 days, without the per-show results, so a station selling by the show needs Premium or above.
Look at the country split before you pick who to call. If most of your hours come from abroad, the bakery down the road gets little from you. An online shop or a touring band that sells to those countries may suit you better.
Pick what you are selling
| Offer | What the advertiser gets | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Show sponsorship | A name mention tied to one programme, which the trade calls a billboard, plus spots inside it | A local business with one audience in mind |
| Spot run | A set number of 15, 30 or 60-second spots across chosen hours between two dates | A sale, an event, an opening |
| Podcast ad | Their spot in your episodes on Premium and Platinum, counted separately from the stream | Advertisers who want to reach on-demand listeners |
For a first deal, a show sponsorship is usually the easiest to explain, because the buyer can tune in and hear it. Keep the run short enough that saying yes feels safe, and long enough that listeners hear the spot more than once.
Work out what a run delivers
Multiply airings by average listeners, and call the result estimated plays, never people. Here's an invented breakfast show that airs 40 hours a month and gets 3,200 listener hours.
- Average listeners: 3,200 ÷ 40 = 80.
- The run: 4 spots a show across 20 shows = 80 airings.
- Estimated plays: 80 airings × 80 listeners = 6,400. Some of those are the same person hearing it twice, which is what the advertiser wants.
One simple pricing yardstick is cost per thousand: divide your asking figure by the thousands of estimated plays, then compare it with what that business pays for its other advertising. If you can't defend the result to the owner's face, lower it or add airings.
Write the offer on one page
- Who listens: one sentence, plus the country split if it helps you.
- The show or hours, with average listeners and the period you measured.
- What they get: number of spots, length, start date and end date.
- The estimated plays, labelled as an estimate, with your working.
- What you need from them, and by when: the offer wording, the call to action, and written approval of the script, including any price or date in it.
- What they get afterwards: a report of every airing Auto DJ played, and your own log for any spots in live shows.
- The price, your payment terms, and what happens if a spot misses its slot.
Make the spot
A short script with one offer and one thing to do works better than a list of everything the business sells. On Premium and Platinum, Production writes and records 15, 30 or 60-second spots from the brand, the offer and the action you type, and files them in your Auto DJ library. It says only what you typed and never invents a price. It uses an OpenAI or ElevenLabs account of your own, which charges you separately. You can also record a local voice and upload that.
- Ask for proof of claims. The FTC says advertisers need evidence before an ad runs, and that an ad agency can also be held responsible for misleading claims. The FTC doesn't say this about stations, but it does weigh how much an agency took part in preparing an ad. If you write the copy, it's sensible to ask what "lowest prices in town" rests on.
- Say so when a presenter is paid. If a host praises a business that pays them or the station, treat it as a paid endorsement. The FTC's guidance covers TV hosts and live streams rather than online radio, but its logic carries over: if listeners wouldn't know about the payment and it would change how they judge the praise, say so in plain words, unless it's obviously an ad. For live streams it suggests repeating the disclosure, because people join at any time. This is US guidance, so check your own country's.
- Keep other people's music out of spots unless every rights owner has said yes in writing, or the track is licensed for advertising. Ask your adviser if you're unsure.
Prove it aired, then ask for the renewal
With Auto DJ on Premium or Platinum, the Commercials tab lists every airing of a spot that Auto DJ played, with date, start time and length in your station's time zone, as a CSV or a printable report. Send it at the end of the run, with the actual figures for the same measures you promised, even if they came in lower.
One gap to plan for: if a spot runs inside a live show, whether it's read out or played by the presenter, Auto DJ didn't play it, so keep your own log of the date and time. To get it on the report, schedule it in hours Auto DJ runs. Say which kind you're selling in the offer. If a spot was missed, say so and make it good with a replacement airing before the advertiser finds it.
Then ask what worked, and whether they'd like to try a podcast ad next.
Questions people ask
- Who should I offer ads to first?
- Try businesses that already know the station: a presenter's local shop, a venue that hosts your DJs, a label or promoter in your genre. A warm conversation with someone who has heard you beats a list of cold emails.
- Can I sell ads on the Free plan?
- Free has no Auto DJ, Production or proof-of-airing reports, so you'd read sponsors live and keep your own log.
- How do I get an ad on the radio as a small business?
- If you're on the buying side, ask a station for its one-page offer, its average listeners in the hours you'd buy, and proof of airing afterwards.