Why You Hear Ads

A discussion about ads on my podcast.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, April the twenty second,
twenty twenty five. It is currently one six pm Central time,
and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central
studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, for many
of you, whenever you hit play on an episode of

(00:23):
the Theology Central podcast, you hear something like this.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is
the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
However, others of you, here's something like this.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
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(01:07):
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Speaker 1 (01:11):
Us out online. Now, why does some of you just
hear my intro and some of you hear ads, Well,
it all depends on which podcast feed you are listening from.
If you're listening from our podcast feed that originates from Speaker,
our podcast hosting site, there are ads at the beginning

(01:33):
and at the end of every single episode. If you're
listening to the podcast feed that comes from Sermon Audio,
there are no ads at the beginning or the end,
two completely separate podcast feeds. I do that for the
specific reason of giving people an option. Now, in some
ways I probably should not do that, but I do that,

(01:56):
and because I know some people don't like the ads,
So why are the ads there. We're going to talk
about it because it seems that we have a little
bit of well not a controversy, but something that gets
brought up numerous numerous times. So here's what we're going
to do today. Today, I'm going to do my very

(02:18):
best to not get I'm not going to be giving
you any teaching. I'm not going to be giving you
any exposition of scripture. I'm not going to be giving
you a little any theology. I'm going to try to
give you a bit of behind the scenes conversation. Maybe
we'll call this a family talk if you will allow that, okay,
because I want to talk openly. I want to be
honest about why you sometimes hear ads I want to

(02:42):
talk about the cost of producing this podcast, and well,
you can decide if you want to be a part,
how what you're thinking, how you feel about it, what
you can do not do, and and I'm going to
try to once again try to explain how I've done
everything in my power to try to consistently make the

(03:03):
Theology Central podcast as freely accessible to as many people
as possible. I've done everything in my power. So I've
just mentioned the two platforms, So let me talk about
the two approaches. All right, Theology Central, I'm going to
be I'm going to be more specific here. Theology Central
is hosted on two different platforms. As I mentioned, Number

(03:24):
one is Speaker. This is our main platform. It's where
most of our episodes are published first. It's also monetized,
which means there are ads at the beginning and the
end of an episode. All right, that's our main podcast
hosting side. We've been with Speaker now forever. They are there.
I mean all the podcasting feeds. You go to any

(03:46):
podcasting app, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, podcet cast, you go to
any podcast app, you will see that feed because it's
been there forever. They have been there. They used to
allow us to the option of broadcasting live through their platform.
They went away from the live broadcasting, but they're still
our main podcast hosting site. To get rid of that

(04:10):
feed would save us money, but then it just wipes
out all of the I mean, all those podcasting apps.
That's the feed that that's been there forever. I mean,
do you really want to mess with that when that's
the number one way you've built your audience. Now, the
second platform is Sermon Audio. This serves as our secondary host.

(04:31):
It's where the podcast is available ad free. It's where
we broadcast live from. Well, it makes our content available
on their website, on the Sermon Audio app, and through
the Church one app. Those are the two different platforms,
two different approaches. Now, what some people may not understand

(04:51):
is this, I do not control what ads are played
on their speaker platform. I don't select them, I do
not approve them. I do not get to reject them.
They're inserted by speaker. Now, some listeners have reached out
with concerns either one. Here's basically the way I will

(05:15):
get I'll get an email saying I don't like ads.
Why you got ads in front of your content. They're irritating,
and I just skip them anyway, and I just fast
forward there. Get rid of the ads. I don't want
to listen to ads when I listen to a podcast,
get rid of them. Some of them will be just
very aggressive and kind of just tew me off. Then
I'll get the others who will be bothered by the

(05:37):
content of the ad and they will feel that it's
not appropriate or that they feel like it should not
be a part of an ad for a theology podcast.
And I do understand those concerns, and some of those
people they tend to reach out in many cases in
a very I think it a very careful way. They're

(05:58):
not mean, they're not nass. The In fact, the one
I just received just the other day as a voicemail,
they were very kind. They were just letting me know that, hey,
you this, I don't really know if this is appropriate.
You need to know about this. They were very nice.
So I get some that are very rude and aggressive,
some that are well meaning. And I understand people don't

(06:21):
want to hear ads, and I understand people if they
do hear ads, they want the ads to be oh
well appropriate, and so I understand that and I understand
that some of the ads may feel jarring, some may
not align with the content that I'm covering, and I
wish in some ways I could fix that. I wish
I could. But here's what people tend to forget. Right.

(06:43):
You know that there's a cost in doing all of this,
So why do I even have the ads at all? Because,
and I say this, and I'm trying to be as
transparent as possible, it costs me over one hundred dollars
a month just to keep Theology Central up and running.
Over one hundred dollars a month hosting fees for spreaker

(07:04):
and sermon audio website domain the domain names cost money,
just anything that we have to do to keep things going,
trying to all the different things app integrations, storage and streaming,
recording software and hardware upkeep. And that does not include
the cost in my time and my energy and the

(07:28):
emotional labor. There's no team here in the Theology Central studio.
I'm not outsourcing anything. I don't recycle content. I've got
almost four thousand episodes available and I've in all of it,
for the most part, has been researched, put together, written, recorded, published,

(07:53):
Everything by one person. That's me the end. There's no team,
there's nobody else. Now. The ads on Spreaker they bring
in a whopping amount. They bring in between fifteen dollars
and forty dollars a month. We've never received a payment

(08:14):
above reaching fifty dollars. So it's somewhere between fifteen and
forty dollars a month. Now, that's not a lot. That
doesn't even cover the total cost. So this is why
that's and I hope you understand that. That's why I'm
asking for some sense of understanding. If you hear an

(08:34):
ad and feel its intrusive or inappropriate, I get it,
I really do. But I also to help you, I'm
asking you to possibly see it, maybe as a small
trade off that helps me keep doing what I'm doing.
I'm just trying to pay I'm not making any money
for all of this time and all of this effort.
I'm not getting a dime. Any money that comes in

(08:55):
goes right back to trying to just pay for things.
I'm just trying to pay for things, all right, That's
all I'm trying to do. So maybe you don't perceive
what I do is worth very much. And I can
understand that right. I mean, look, you're you're the listener.
You just open an app and you just hit play,
and then you like it or don't like it. You

(09:16):
just go to the next thing. You just go to
the next thing. And look, this is not even about me.
I see this if you go to the Spotify community
and look at the posts that are being made, if
you go to the Pandora community and look at posts
to be made, it is a common thing. I don't
want ads on my podcast. Remove the ads. I don't
want stinking ads on my podcast. I just want to

(09:38):
hear the pot. Remove the ads, and everyone will yell
and scream, and I just want to say, people, what
do you want the podcasters to do? What? What do
people want the pot? Everybody wants the podcaster to sit
here produce hour after hour after hour after content. And
we're not supposed to get paid. We're not supposed to
make any money. We're just supposed to be everyone's beacons

(09:59):
call to give and whatever they want, and nobody has
to pay for it. And it sometimes it can become maddening,
like I don't know what people want me to do.
So let's just talk about value, all right. Over four
thousand episodes are available to you four thousand. That's in
many cases it amounts to dozens of hours each week

(10:22):
of work. I try to go as in depth as
I can. It's still philological teaching. I'm challenging mainstream ideas.
I try to do hermeneutics, exegesus, church, church history. I
try to do interesting things current events. I mean, if
Theology Centric was just a course at a seminary, you'd

(10:44):
be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars. But my goal
has always been to make deep, honest, challenging theology accessible
without a paywall and without having to compromise. Right. So
that's where I don't want some sponsor because they would
get mad at me in five seconds. Well you can't
say this, and you can't say that. And I mean,
I always have to be careful that I'm not gonna

(11:04):
say anything that's gonna get me thrown off the sermon
audio platform or banned from YouTube. I always have to
worry about, oh, now this is gonna Oh I'm gonna
get in trouble here. I'm gonna get in trouble here.
But I've never pushed for a Patreon page where I'm like, hey,
if you subscribe to Patreon and you give me this
much money, you can ask me a question, or you could.

(11:26):
You can send me up a pod an episode I did,
and I'll do an episode on that. No, I've never
put anything behind a paywall, all right. I try never
to demand donations. I don't. I try not to bother
you with that. I try not to ask too much.
But I'm not going I'm you know, I'm not gonna pretend.
It takes a toll after a while, financially, emotionally, spiritually.

(11:54):
It's just like, you know, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce. Hey,
you haven't done an episode in three days? Hey, hey, produce, produce, produce, produce.
I want more. I want more. I want more, I
want more. I want more. Well, I understand, and that's awesome,
that's great, But it's like, man, when more money goes

(12:18):
when if I'm basically paying to broadcast, I'm paying. I'm
not making money. I'm paying money to broadcast. So you know,
here's the best I can offer. If you don't like
the ads, you don't like them, hey, you know what,

(12:39):
please consider the ad free content. How can you do that?
I don't know which podcast app you may be using.
Look up Theology Central. It's very simple. You're gonna see
two different feeds. One has the green background with the
white lettering the Bible in the middle. It says Theology Central.
There's no breading on it. It's just says Theology Central.

(13:02):
That's coming from Speaker that will have the ads. If
you look at the other feed, it's a black background,
green lettering. There's a microphone, and you'll see the branding
across it. It says sermon Audio that comes from the
Sermon Audio feed. No ads, no commercials. You have nothing
to worry about at all. Nothing. You can avoid the

(13:25):
ads perfectly. You can download the Church one app free
Church on E Church O n E. The app is
free for you. Cost US sixty dollars a month for
you to have that, but it's free for you. Do
you can get all the episodes, no commercials, no ads,
not monetized, and you're free from that. You won't hear

(13:46):
any ads that you do not like. All right, So
if you're listening on Speaker or any platform that runs
the ads, please know these ads are trying to offset
the cost. And I'm grateful with your patients for them.
I am, I am ground, but I you know, like
like I said, I I'm giving you two options. I'm

(14:09):
giving you two options. That's the best I can do.
I don't know what else I can do for people.
And and look, I'm hurting myself. If I just put
everything under under the spreaker feed, then then either people
stop listening or they're gonna hear the ads, which then
would increase the ad revenue. If you break down the numbers,
you know a lot of people listen via the sermon

(14:31):
audio feed. All if all those numbers were going to
the others, I would I could possibly double the ad
Maybe I could be bringing in eighty dollars or one
hundred dollars a month. But here's the thing. If you
at all believe the podcast has value, if you believe

(14:52):
it's helped you, even even if it's just helped you
a little bit, if you believe it's challenged you a
little bit, even if it's ticked you off little bit,
if it's taught you even one little thing, you could
consider supporting it, right, I mean, just think if it's

(15:15):
just had twenty listeners, just twenty people giving ten dollars
a month, if I had twenty people, like if I
got today twenty people, not people who already support, But
if I had twenty additional people who just gave ten
dollars a month, that's it, twenty dollars ten dollars a month.

(15:35):
Twenty people ten dollars a month, and the current people
would continue to support because some of the current people
are very faithful to do that. But if I had
twenty people at ten dollars a month, I'll get rid
of the ads today. I'll go to speaker right now
and turn them off right now. I'll say no longer
monetize my But I would need that twenty people ten

(15:56):
dollars a month to not show up once every six months,
but be every single month. I'll get rid of the
ads and you'll never hear another ad ever again, ever again.
And twenty dollars twenty people at ten dollars a month
pretty much will get us added to what people are
already giving, what we would be doing pretty well. But

(16:17):
I can't even get twenty people to give me ten
dollars a month. I can't even get that. But then
I get complaints about the ads. Well, I don't know,
nobody wants to give, but nobody wants the ad. I
don't understand what I'm supposed to do. This podcast has

(16:38):
existed for one thing, to challenge people to try to
provide in depth teaching, historical teaching, philological analysis, discussion. It
tries to be real, it tries to be raw, tries
it's not professional. It's supposed to be that way, right.
I mean, even just doing this episode, the intro was

(16:59):
all messed up by I had to start it over
three times because I kept messing it up because I
was trying to do a little I was trying to
be creative and how I did the intro right? Instead
of coming in with my normal intro, I would I
would do it a little differently. I'm always trying to
come up with new ideas, trying to be creative. Work work, work, work,
work right. You know. I just put together an entire

(17:19):
book on Isaiah forty two. I made it available for
everyone for free. Oh it's not perfect, it needs to
be edited, but I made that free for everyone. I've
tried to do the interesting discussion about Salem. I've tried
to do all of these things, and it's work, work, work, work.
Is it perfect?

Speaker 2 (17:34):
No?

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Do I make mistakes. Yes, Do I mispronounce things constantly?
Do I mess up subject verb agreement all the time.
It's not perfect, but it's designed to be very real.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Rale.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
I'm just a center with a microphone trying to figure
this out. And I produce lots of content, lots of content,
and I don't ever want to charge, and I don't
ever and I'm never gonna put anything behind a paywall.

(18:08):
So you know, I don't know what else to say.
You don't have to give a dime, and that's perfectly okay.
And you can listen on the Sermon Audio platform and
it's free. You can download an app. The app for
you is free. You can go to Theology. I don't
remember the solo site. There's a solo site from Sermon Audio.
I don't have the web address. Oh we also have

(18:29):
I forgot. We also have the Theology Central Study Bible,
the Electronic Study Bible that you can download as well.
And we had to pay money for that to be
made available to people. I mean, I'm constant. We've always
trying to give things to people. I just don't and listen.
This is not about the voicemail, because the voicemail was

(18:50):
very nice This is just about the totality of this discussion,
because it's more than a one time thing ninety percent
of the time, and just like whatever, whatever, whatever. I
just don't know what people want. I just don't know
what people want. They want the content, they don't want

(19:10):
to pay for the content, they don't want to support
the content, but they don't want ads on the content,
or they will criticize. Oh. I've even had some really
nasty emails. Oh you say this, and you say this.
All you do is just try to make money. I
heard the commercials, and so then I get attacked and
it's used against me, where my own spirituality, my own

(19:32):
motives will be called into question because I have ads.
So I'm either a greedy sinner because I have ads,
or like I cannot win. It's either used against me.
It's either criticized either people are bothered by it. So
here's what people actually want. They want me to sit
right here in this room an hour after hour after

(19:55):
hour after hour produce the content they want that they
lie and they want it for free. I I'll do

(20:24):
my best, That's all I can say. I mean, I think,
I mean, for almost four thousand hours of content, you
never had to pay for a dime of it. We
tried to make digital curriculum free for everyone. Finally we
ran out of money. We couldn't do that anymore. I
used to. I've tried to do a book giveaways, giving
away dictionaries and reference tools. We don't have the money

(20:46):
to do that anymore. I've tried to do everything in
my power to give and to give. Am I perfect?

Speaker 3 (20:52):
No?

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Am I a sinner? You don't even know the half
of it, right, But man, I don't know what people want.
I just don't know what people I know what they want.
They want content, they want it free. They don't want
to be bothered with ads, and they don't want to
give to support it. So to those criticizing the ads,

(21:21):
please go to the other option and then you don't
have to worry about it. To those offended by the ads,
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I really am. I don't want
you to be offended, but I don't what do you?

(21:41):
I don't know what you want me to do, so
I can't. There's a no win situation in this, so
I can ignore it. But then it's like you know,
you can ignore one, you can ignore two, you can
ignore three you can, but once you get to like
ten or fifteen complaints, then you feel like, well, I've
got to say something now, right, So I apologize to

(22:02):
anyone who is offended by any ad that's been played
at the beginning or the end of a Theology Central
podcast episode. I truly am sorry. I do not control it.
I don't get any prior Notice what. There are advertisers
out there who want advertisements on podcasts. They contact podcast

(22:22):
hosting site and say, hey, we've got we would like
to do an ad campaign. And then that podcast hosting
site says, great, we'll take your ad, and then they
they insert it on the podcast they want to insert
it on. Do they care what my content is about?
They don't care. They are wanting the ads listen to.
That's what the advertisers want. That's how the podcast hosting

(22:46):
site makes money. How do they make money? Not only
by charging the podcast podcasters to host on their site,
but then by selling advertising. Advertisers make money when people
listen to the advertising and then go support their product.
It's all. It's all a business. Everything's a business because
everything requires money. It requires money for me to do

(23:08):
what I'm doing right now, to be able to broadcast
live right now, sixty dollars a month, just this now,
for this to be uploaded on all of those podcasting
hosting or all the different podcasting apps that cost money
from spreaker, to be on the Theology Central website that
costs money, all the different things. Everything, there's a there's

(23:32):
a dollar amount. So yeah, am I a little frustrated?
I am a little I'm just I do I do
it because, man, because what you know what you'll get
you'll get. You get the emails that don't like your episodes.

(23:54):
You get the emails that people are complaining about the content.
You get, you get emails from people who don't like
the ads. You know what you rarely get. Thank you
for all the work. Thank you for doing that many
hours on that content. Thank you. Here's here's five dollars,
here's ten dollars. Thank you. No, no, no, no, no,

(24:17):
you don't I'm getting a phone call in the middle
say how unprofessional it is. Don't you don't get that?
You don't get like, hey, I really liked that episode.
Here's here's ten dollars. Hey I really like this series.
Here's twenty dollars. Hey, you don't get that and trust me,
I wish if this, if this podcast was kind of

(24:40):
more connected the way it used to be. It used
to be basically completely funded by the church. But that
whole situation of we talked about it in twenty twenty four.
This is really now just me, myself and I trying
to make this work. And the money still goes to
the church, but the the money that goes to the church,

(25:01):
then it's immediately taken from the church simply to pay
for this podcast. It's not like the church in and
of itself can pay for the podcast. So the money
that comes in has to immediately come out to just
pay for the podcast, because I mean, the church, for
all practical purposes, we're just waiting. I mean we're waiting
for the building to sell in it's over. So and

(25:24):
I've said before once when the church is gone, when
that ends, and it may be the end of this podcast,
it really it may be, because I'm not going to
be in a situation where I'm gonna beag and plead
for money week after week after week, and I'm not
gonna sit here and go into financial debt simply to
try to broadcast hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
and thousands of hours of content for people who could

(25:47):
care less. I mean, like, that's just the bottom line.
So I know it sounds I'm not trying to be harsh,
but I'm just trying to be very transparent and very real.
So to those who complain, I'm sorry. But as as
long as the podcast exis, you have an option. And
I've how many for those who listen to this podcast.
How many times have I mentioned the Church One App?

(26:08):
How many we spend an entire year telling everyone about
the Sermon's two point oh app, the Sermon audio app.
I've done everything in my power to point people to
the free option. I've spent more time trying to get
people to go to the free option. So download the
Church One app today, Church O n E. Once you

(26:28):
download it, type in Theology Central. There you have it,
all the content free, and you can listen to me
when I'm live. You'll never have to worry about another
commercial ever, ever again, ever, ever again. As long as
the podcast exists, I can't guarantee you how long it's
going to exist. I've told everyone. I don't know the when,
I don't know the where, but one day you're going

(26:49):
to open up your app, and it's not going to
be there anymore. And because I'm going to delete it
all without any goodbye, and it's just going to be gone.
I don't know when that's going to happen, but when
it does, it'll be over and then I can move on.
But in the meantime, I'm going to continue to produce
content and the same way that I have, being raw, real,
not sugarcoating it, not trying to win, win over people

(27:14):
and influence people and make friends, and whatever happens happens.
But we had to address this today, and I apologize
that you can hear my frustration. I just man, I
just don't I just don't know. I can get the complaints,
I can't get the support. I don't want the ads,

(27:35):
but I'm not offering to help you get rid of
the ads. And again, I'll say it again. If twenty
people today, twenty people would say, Okay, I'll give you
ten dollars a month, no questions asked, every single month.
Ten It won't be maybe i'll give it, maybe I won't.
You'll get the ten dollars every month I'll get I'm
literally I'll get rid of the ads. They'll be gone.
They'll be gone in the next hour. They'll be gone

(27:55):
in the next as soon as speaker can turn them off.
Be done. And then we don't ever have to work.
And then you can listen on all the platforms to
your heart's content for free. But you already have the
free option. I don't know now, and trust me, if

(28:16):
if if if, if, if I don't, I don't play
the lottery. But if I was to win the lottery,
or if I was just to if I was just
to get I've always said before, if I could get,
if if I was just to get a check for
like two hundred thousand dollars, right, I'd pay off my house,
do some some repairs around the house, do some things.
Uh oh, probably get a car, because you know my
car is going to die at any point. Okay, I'd

(28:38):
pay off my house, get a car, and then then
I then the rest of the money I could just
support the podcast, and I'd be said, so, you know,
if someone was to send me two hundred thousand dollars,
then you never have to worry about it ever again. Okay,
my house is paid for, I get a car, and
the podcast would be free from that point on. Two
hundred thousand dollars. You could take care of everything, my house,
a new car, and the podcast for life. So has

(29:01):
anybody got two hundred thousand dollars? And you'll never have
to work hear another ad ever again, ever again. You
won't even have to ever hear money mentioned ever again,
just for a low, low price of two. Okay, Yeah,
nobody's gonna send me two hundred thousand dollars. Okay, so so,
but I'll do my best. I'll do my best. You
have the free option. Please take the free option. I'm

(29:23):
sorry the ads are bothersome. I'm sorry the ad and
I am truly sorry that they offend, but I have
no control. Thanks for listening. Next time we'll get back
to doing what I do fairly well, which is take
people off on other subjects. Have a good day.