We figured some of you may have additional questions about ad-free feeds, so we wanted to answer them. Here is what we expect may be on your mind if you clicked through to this page. If you have questions that aren’t answered here or in our FAQ, please email us at hello@maximumfun.org.

Why now? 

We know that other services like Patreon and Wondery+ and even Stitcher Premium (RIP) have long-offered ad-free podcasts, and MaxFun has not. It’s not that we have never considered it before.

Here’s an awkward secret about the business case for ad-free feeds at most places: For years — years! — it has been based on the idea that “a listener is more valuable as a monthly member than as someone who hears our ads” (true), and “if we make our ads annoying enough, maybe we can coerce folks to become monthly members because they’ll hate the ads so much,” (possibly true, but also: gross).

We have never tried to ruin the listener experience with ads. Some other folks have, in order to promote their membership programs, which largely rest on ad-free. Our philosophy has always been that shows should be in control of their ads, and that they should be limited; that’s why, when other networks might give you six to 10 ads before, during, and after your episodes, we have far fewer, somewhere in the middle.

The financially optimal way to introduce ad-free feeds might be to do what others have done: invest in the new product offering and then push people to it by making the ad experience awful. We never wanted to do that, and we will not do that now. We expect that folks who opt into the ad-free episodes will do so because it’s something they want and appreciate, not something they feel forced into. But, for the longest time, having an ad-free offering was synonymous with being openly hostile to your audience, and punishing anyone who didn’t have the money to avoid ads; that’s not something we were into, and it still is not.

Why is this only for $10+ members? Why not for all members?

Making ad-free episodes available to our members comes at a significant cost. There’s the upfront expense of adding new features. Also, if fewer people hear our ads, we cannot charge as much for them, so it costs money in that way as well.

We set the threshold for Ad-Free Feeds at $10 to try to ensure that adding this offering doesn’t have a negative financial  impact on MaxFun or our shows. We think it’s a nice benefit to give folks who have already been supporting us at higher levels; hopefully, some folks who really don’t like ads will find it meaningful enough to upgrade from $5-per-month to $10 (or become members in the first place). There are also members who like our host-read ads, or at least don’t mind them. Ad-free podcasts might not be compelling to those folks, and that’s totally fine, too.

As always, the main reason to be a MaxFun member is to support the shows and creators you love, and the work that they do in the world. We think Ad-Free podcasts are a nice thank-you to folks who can support, and we’re glad to be able to offer them, but your support, at any level, means the world to us.

Why is my favorite show not included?

MaxFun as a network started looking at making episodes available without ads because a few of our shows wanted to be able to offer this for their members. At the same time, we’re not mandating that every show on the network offer ad-free episodes (as a network, we don’t mandate much from shows; that’s pretty important to us).

Specific shows might choose not to offer an ad-free feed for a variety of reasons: some shows have worked really hard to make entertaining ad reads, and think of them as part of the episodes they release. Other shows are just starting to get interest from advertisers, and ad-free episodes might jeopardize those efforts. 

Also, while we have tried to make sure that ad-free episodes will not hurt our shows financially, they still could! If all members giving $10 or more choose ad-free feeds, and no one upgrades to access ad-free feeds, then that will cost the shows ad money that helps pay themselves and, in some cases, their staff. They might want to take it slow.

These are just some of the reasons shows might opt out of ad-free episodes. Ultimately, creators on the network own their shows and can make their own decisions when it comes to stuff like this. If the show you listen to does not offer ad-free feeds right now, they’ve likely got a very good reason for that. Please respect their choice. We certainly do!