Monday Shakeout: How Much Does Doctors of Running Make? (Report #7)

One day, I will have these reports done actually on schedule! Each year since 2022 we try to release two reports a year to share how much the team is making. We believe in transparency and want to highlight where our sources of income are coming from. In our seventh report, we recap the first six months of 2024 and the dreaded early year slowdown. Interested in our last report? Find it here.

Monday Shakeout | How Much Does Doctors of Running Make? (Report #7)
By Social Media Wizard Bach Pham

Doctors of Running Financial Summary
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January Revenue: $8,514
February Revenue: $9,811
March Revenue: $12,203
April Revenue: $9,915
May Revenue: $9,990
June Revenue: $8,465
Affiliate + Sponsorships: $5,528
Total for January - June 2024: $64,426
Prior six months: $61,788

WEBSITE AD REVENUE | RAPTIVE

We use Raptive (formerly Adthrive) as our revenue source for the website. Raptive is essentially an infinitely better Google AdSense for larger websites. It works with hundreds of brands to provide ads on our website. Once we grew to 100,000 page views a month, we were able to apply and graduate from Google Adsense to Raptive.

Raptive has been the biggest reason we've been able to grow and support our team and journey over the past three years. Not only has it helped improve revenue a good deal, but they've also been excellent to work with from a support side.

Here is our past six months of revenue we received monthly from Adthrive:

January 2024: $7,463
February:  $8,389
March: $10,538
April: $8,552
May: $8,414
June: $7.067

We felt pretty good having 400k readership in January of 2023, but continuing off the end of last year's massive growth we've steadily held a 700k readership in 2024 and our income from ad revenues has definitely grown with that. March is always a big time of year on our website with the entire spring and early hints of summer coming out (think Superblast, Endorphin shoes, etc). So it was no surprise that it was our biggest month of the year thus far.

AFFILIATE REPORT | OUR SOURCES OF INCOME

We have four sources of income at Doctors of Running. Raptive, mentioned above, is our biggest source of income. Our other three sources are affiliate links through our partner Running Warehouse, sponsorships through the podcast (if they occur) and our YouTube revenue.

We do not accept compensation for reviews and have no plans to ever do so. We often see a lot of comments about reviewers receiving compensation for reviews. For those who are curious, we have never, ever been offered compensation for reviews at Doctors of Running. We have been offered to join affiliate programs directly by some running footwear companies, but we do not accept those either (we do, however, work with Running Warehouse - more below). We do receive footwear for free from many companies, but do our best to not allow that to affect our final reviews. Our reviews are not provided to companies for review prior to release or altered based on expectations from companies. They are 100% our own thoughts and feelings on the shoe.

We have been offered opportunities to do some sponsored social media posts/videos in the past, but have not delved into that as of 2024 and have not been paid for social media posts/videos in the past thus far. One of the biggest barriers for us is having our background as PTs. We try to be very careful about what we get behind and make sure to consider all the nuances of what a partnership with different products may mean when we're sharing it with the public. That internal conflict has made it fairly hard for us to say yes to partnership so far.

One of the big things we have done this year is partner up with Skratch this second half of 2024 and our podcast. The partnership is not a financial one for us currently, but we have worked with them to co-share content, provide discount codes and test out their line of products. It's been very fun to work with them and their hydration line has been absolute lifesavers for our team this summer.

RUNNING WAREHOUSE AFFILIATE

In 2021, we began working with Running Warehouse, who have been the best in a lot of ways. Through affiliate link sales via our website and YouTube, this is how much money was generated from Running Warehouse in 2023:

(Q1) RW Affiliate Funds: $2,584
(Q2) RW Affiliate Funds: $2,944

As always, I want to be clear that it is not our mission to just go out and sell as many shoes as we can on a daily basis. Our mission has always been to give runners information to help make informed choices and hopefully learn a few lessons along the way that can help their running long term. Getting the right shoe for you is 100% the goal of ours at Doctors of Running. If you purchase using our affiliate links, that's amazing and we really appreciate the support. If you decide to go elsewhere or better yet, to your local run store to try and purchase the shoe, that's all the better in our eyes.

If you would like to continue to help support our work, visit the Doctors of Running Running Warehouse page which features the team's favorite apparel and running essentials. We worked with Running Warehouse this spring to come up with the concept and they did an incredible job of bringing it to life. Please check it out and let us know what you think!

YOUTUBE AD REVENUE

We started receiving our first YouTube ad revenue back in February of 2021 after we passed 1000 followers - the minimum to start earning on YouTube. Here's how we did during this timeframe:

Doctors of Running YouTube Revenue: January through June 2024
January YouTube Revenue: $1,051
February YouTube Revenue: $1,422
March YouTube Revenue: $1,665
April YouTube Revenue: $1,363
May YouTube Revenue: $1,576
June YouTube Revenue: $1,398

This is by far the biggest area of our growth these past six months. We just got into a much better rhythm of figuring out what we wanted to do content-wise on our YouTube, especially with our weekly podcast videos. This had been a form of stress for us for a long time, trying to settle on how to appropriately get a schedule and deliver our podcast weekly here but we finally found our stride. There have been many, many weeks where our video podcast episode has outperformed our audio (typically 5-7k listens) which blows us away. Our Science of Shoe Cushioning video alone has garnered over 35k views which is stunning. We still have some fun ideas in the works for our regular videos and can't wait to keep growing the channel. If you have feedback on what we can do better, hit us up at doctorsofrunning@gmail.com with the tag YouTube Feedback!

REFLECTING ON DOR'S 2024 GROWTH

The biggest thing we've really worked on is both consistency and connection these six months. We streamlined a lot of our work and it's made the weekly content a lot easier to manage. We also worked very hard to make some more routine podcast episodes to help ease our preparation week-to-week and also importantly throw in some variety that's been really fun. Buy/Sell, This or That, and our Mailbag episodes have been a blast and our favorite ways of being able to check-in with all of you more often. Being full-time PTs, educators, and technicians, our team has been stretched thin which makes it hard to interact with folks as much as we want. We're not able to respond to every message, every YouTube and Instagram comment like we want to, and it's likely never going to be a realistic thing for us to do daily. That is why we do the best we can to answer questions we see commonly along the way through our various formats. Know even when we don't respond directly, we do typically see most messages and try our best to work as a group to answer questions through our work. Especially when we are routinely seeing the same questions come up, that's always a red flag for us to respond - so keep sending your emails and comments!

That's it for our seventh summary report. Please shoot us an email to doctorsofrunning@gmail.com to let us know how we can continue to better serve you. Thank you!


PAST MONDAY SHAKEOUTS

Do Shoes Impact the Spine?
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Why Two Shoes are Better Than One
How Running Shoes Should Fit and Toe Path
The Top (Dorsum) of Your Foot
How Much Taller Can Shoes Get?
The Impact of Footwear on Masters Runners
David's Top Shoes of 2024 So Far
Summer Trail Round Up
Andrea's Top Shoes of 2024 So Far
Matt's Top Shoes of 2024 So Far
How Much Does Doctors of Running Make? Sixth Report
What Happens to Midsoles as They Wear Out?
Do Super Shoes Reduce Muscle Soreness?
Chest Straps vs. Wrist Monitors for Heart Rate
Everything is Becoming Maximalist and Super
Do We Adapt to Shoes, or Do They Adapt to Us
Research on Finding Optimal Shoes and the RUN-CAT
About the 1st MTP and its Role in Running
What is Drop and Why It Doesn't Always Matter
The Science of Sole Width
Challenges with Large Toe Spring
Phases of the Swing Gait
Can Running Shoes Reduce Injuries?
The Best Shoes of 2023 for Highly Specific Reasons
Andrea's Favorite Shoes of 2023
David's Favorite Shoes of 2023
Matt's Favorite Shoes of 2023
My Favorite Flat Feet Shoes of 2023
ChatGPT Reviews a Shoe, Volume 2
How Forefoot Rockers Help Toe Mobility
Running with Backpacks
How Much Does Doctors of Running Make?
Changes We're Excited to See
Why Heel Bevels are Natural
Do Heavier Runners Need Different Shoes?
Shoe Rotations for Different Runners
Strength Training to Prevent Injury - A Case Study
On the Impacts of Different Stacked Shoes
The Importance of Heel Bevels in Shoe Design
Low vs. High Drop Shoes
Why is Proprioception Important to Runners?
Best Running Movie Scenes of All-Time, Part 2
Best Running Movie Scenes of All-Time, Part 1
What a Week at DOR is Like
Reflections on Saucony's Running Economy Study
Sustainable is Only Going to Work if It's Good
A Simple Guide to Footwear and Foot Health
Best Flat Feet Shoes by a Flat Feet Runner
How Long Do Shoes Last?

SUPPORT DOR

Check out Gear We Love! (As noted, the following links are affiliate links that help support Doctors of Running. Thanks so much!) 

Ultraspire Fitted Race Belt: The best way to carry your phone and goods on the run. No bounce and various sizes for waist. (Also recommend the Naked belt)
Saysky Running Gear: We were really taken aback by this Scandinavian company's ultra-thin, durable performance clothing
Skratch Recovery, Coffee Flavor: Mental and physical boost post run. Coffee flavor is excellent and goes great straight into a fresh brewed cup
goodr Sunglases: Run in style with goodr's super fun sunglasses.
Feetures Socks: Massively grippy socks that will make you feel more one with the shoe
Amphipod Hydraform Handheld Water Bottle: Perfect for long runs when you need hydration in the summer
Trigger Point Foam Roller: Help get those knots out post-run and feel better for tomorrow
Theragun Massager: This small version is great on the go for working tired legs
Ciele Hat: Our team's favorite running hat of choice!
Fractel Hats: Our team's wider fitting running hat of choice!

GUIDES AT DOCTORS OF RUNNING

Beginner's Guide to Running Shoes: Are you a brand new runner and unsure where to start? Visit this guide first to get started.
Stability Shoe Resource Page: Our comprehensive guide to stability shoes and alternatives for neutral runners as well
Carbon Fiber Plated Shoes Resource Page: Want to go as fast as possible for race day? Visit this page for all of our super shoe reviews
Guide to Walking Shoes: Featuring some science behind walking and the best running shoes for walking based on our everyday testing and clinical experience working with patients.
Getting the Right Fit: Unsure if your shoe fits? Visit this page to help you determine how to find the right shoe for your feet. Comfort is one of the most important things we emphasize at Doctors of Running before you get out the door and on the road. Sometimes the right shoe for you is not what works for many others. That is why it is important to try different shoes when you can to get a better understanding of works best for your needs.
Beginner's Guide to Nutrition/Hydration: Guest writer Jennifer Giles (Registered Dietitan/Nutritionist) helps bring a new guide for fueling to Doctors of Running as part of our summer hydration series.

Find all Shoe Reviews at Doctors of Running here.

Thanks for reading!

FOLLOW DOCTORS OF RUNNING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook: Doctors of Running
Youtube Channel: Doctors of Running
Instagram: @doctorsofrunning
Twitter: @doctorsrunning
LinkedIn: Doctors of Running
Strava: Doctors of Running
Podcast: Virtual Roundtable
Pinterest: Doctors of Running

Please feel free to reach out, comment and ask questions!
Contact us at doctorsofrunning@gmail.com

NEXT: Do Shoes Impact the Spine?