How to offer ad-free episodes to your Patreon supporters

Ads are set per show, not per listener, so one feed cannot carry ads for your public audience and a clean version for your supporters. Giving supporters ad-free episodes needs a second delivery path, and there are two. If you are new to how our ads work, start with What are Programmatic Ads Inserted Dynamically (PAID).

If your supporters listen in Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts Subscriptions does this from your dashboard, with no second upload. You choose which episodes go out ad-free to your subscribers, and you can publish subscriber-only episodes for them. Early access and exclusive episodes are delivered without ads by default, which What is the difference between Early Access, Exclusive, and Ad-Free? explains in full.

Set the subscription up on Apple's side and wait for Apple to approve it, then connect it in your dashboard. Setting up Apple Podcasts Subscriptions walks through it. Apple handles the subscription billing. This is available on Plus and above.

Important: mark episodes as ad-free only once your Apple subscription is approved. Set it before that and the episode will not publish.

If you want to use Patreon

There is no automated Patreon integration, so this one is a manual setup. You run a second podcast on RSS.com holding the ad-free version, and Patreon pulls that feed in as the private feed your patrons get. Your patrons can then listen in the app they already use instead of only in Patreon.

1. Create a second podcast for the ad-free version. A second podcast is available on Pro and above.
2. Leave its ad positions switched off, so nothing gets inserted. Can I disable PAID? covers the setting.
3. Publish each episode to both shows, the public one with ads and the second one without.
4. Keep your patron-only bonus episodes in the second show.
5. In Patreon, connect the second show's feed as the source for your patron feed.

Important: whatever sits in that second feed is what your patrons hear, so keep its ad positions off. That feed is also an ordinary RSS.com feed and anyone with the link can read it, so do not submit it to directories. If you need content that is properly restricted, Apple Podcasts Subscriptions is the option that controls access.

Which one to pick

• Most of your supporters listen in Apple Podcasts: use Apple Podcasts Subscriptions and avoid publishing everything twice.
• You already run a Patreon, or your supporters use a range of apps: use the second show.

The same second-show setup works for other membership platforms that can pull in an external feed.