The podcasting industry is evolving, and at the heart of this transformation is the Podcast Standards Project—a grassroots coalition dedicated to enhancing the open podcasting ecosystem. Their mission is to keep RSS feeds central to podcast distribution while introducing new metadata tags that make them more useful for creators, apps, and listeners alike.

The Rise of the Funding Tag

One of the most promising additions to the podcasting landscape is the Funding tag (learn more). This simple yet powerful tag enables podcasters to specify donation or funding links directly within their RSS feed. Podcast apps that support the tag can then display a dedicated “Support” or “Donate” button in the listening interface, making it seamless for listeners to support their favorite shows directly.

At Supporting Cast, we strongly believe that podcasters thrive when they have financial backing from their audiences. Listener contributions provide independence and creative freedom, ensuring that great content continues to flourish. With the Funding tag, monetization becomes more seamless, allowing podcasts to integrate subscription and donation links directly within apps.

Industry Momentum

Until now, the biggest obstacle to the Funding tag’s impact has been adoption: podcast apps and podcast hosts both need to support it for listeners to see real benefits. That’s finally starting to change.

One of the largest independent podcast apps, Pocket Casts, now supports the tag. At the same time, NPR, one of the world’s largest publishers, recently added the tag across its catalog. With this one-two punch, the Funding tag is now reaching millions of listeners. When a Pocket Casts user visits shows like Up First and Planet Money, they’ll see a prominent link to support NPR via their Supporting Cast-powered subscription flow.

How You Can Get Involved

If you're a podcaster interested in adding the Funding tag to your subscription strategy, start by checking with your podcast hosting provider. Some hosts may already support the tag, while others might need a little encouragement. If your host hasn’t implemented the Funding tag yet, reach out and ask for the update—your request could help drive industry-wide adoption.

The more podcasters we have championing Podcasting 2.0, the stronger the podcasting ecosystem will be. Let’s make direct audience support a core part of how shows and creators succeed!