I spent some time looking into this business model a while ago and most of the top podcasts on Patreon simply have loyal subscriber bases and then offer a bonus

I spent some time looking into this business model a while ago and most of the top podcasts on Patreon simply have loyal subscriber bases and then offer a bonus show each week/month for $3-5 a month and thousands sign up because of FOMO/being fans. It seems to work really well. A similar scheme has worked in the screencast space as well, I recall Railscasts followed a similar approach of free "shows" and then you got more of the same if you paid. It seems to work really well as a format.