The $5,000 Podcast Pitch Scam: How PR Agencies Are Charging Thousands for ChatGPT Templates
PR agencies charge $3,000-$10,000/month for podcast bookings, but they're just using ChatGPT templates, and now I have identical pitches flooding my inbox
Futurist AJ Bubb, founder of MxP Studio, and host of Facing Disruption, bridges people and AI to accelerate innovation and business growth.
My inbox began filling up with requests for podcast appearances. At first, I was flattered. Someone had noticed my work. Someone thought I had something worth saying. Then I started reading them more carefully, and I noticed something odd: they all sounded... the same.
Not just similar. Identical.
The Pattern Emerges
Here’s what a typical email looked like:
“Hi [My Name],
I hope this email finds you well. I’ve been following your work on [generic reference to my content], and I think you’d be a perfect fit for [Podcast Name].
[Podcast Name] reaches [impressive number] listeners who are passionate about [broad topic]. Your unique perspective on [vague topic reference] would provide immense value to our audience.
Would you be available for a 45-60 minute conversation in the coming weeks? We’re flexible with scheduling and can work around your availability.
Looking forward to connecting!
Best, [Agency Representative]”
The formula was always the same: flattery + vague familiarity with my work + impressive podcast stats + scheduling flexibility + enthusiastic sign-off.
After the fifth nearly-identical email, I got curious.
The Experiment
I opened ChatGPT and typed: “Help me create a draft email to send to potential podcasts for guest appearances.”
What came back made me laugh out loud.
It was the exact same template these agencies were using. Same structure. Same phrases. Even the same “I hope this email finds you well” opening that nobody has used sincerely since 2015.
I tried variations. Different prompts. Different phrasings. Every time, ChatGPT produced emails that were virtually indistinguishable from what was landing in my inbox.
What’s Actually Happening Here
PR agencies are charging clients anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000+ per month for podcast booking services. Their process? Generate a template in ChatGPT, plug in names from a podcast database, and blast away.
No research. No personalization. No listening to episodes. Just mail merge with extra steps.
The agencies bank on volume. Send 100 emails, get 5 responses, book 2-3 appearances. For someone paying $5,000/month, that math works out. For the agency using free AI tools and interns, the margins are incredible.
But here’s what’s worth examining more closely: you’re not paying for expertise. You’re not paying for strategy. You’re paying for database access and the time to send emails. That’s it.
Think about that for a second. Someone is charging you several thousand dollars per month to do something you could learn to do in an afternoon. The service they’re selling isn’t their ability to craft compelling pitches or build meaningful relationships with podcast hosts. They’re selling their knowledge that a thing exists and their willingness to execute on it.
This happens to be a textbook example of what I call “awareness arbitrage” - extracting value by standing between people and freely available tools, adding nothing but the awareness that those tools exist.
The Psychology of Why This Works
There’s something fascinating about why these agencies get away with this, and it goes beyond simple ignorance. Even smart people - executives who wouldn’t dream of overpaying for other services - fall for this.
The pitch plays on a specific kind of insecurity. When you’re building something - whether it’s a personal brand, a startup, or a thought leadership platform - there’s always this nagging feeling that you’re missing something. That there’s a secret handshake you don’t know. That “real” professionals have access to channels and relationships you don’t.
The agency pitch is designed to trigger this exact anxiety. “We have relationships with top podcasts.” “We know how to position thought leaders.” “We understand the landscape.”
All of which might be true, except that none of it matters when the actual work product is a ChatGPT template sent to a purchased email list.
The cruel irony? These lazy, templated pitches actively harm their clients. I delete them without reading past the first line now. So do most podcast hosts I know. A thoughtful, personalized pitch would actually stand out and get responses. But that would require the one thing these agencies won’t provide: actual effort.
What This Reveals About Professional Services in the AI Era
This podcast booking scam is a canary in the coal mine for what’s happening across professional services. We’re in this weird transitional moment where AI tools have democratized capabilities that used to require specialized expertise, but most people either don’t know the tools exist or lack the confidence to use them.
The new middlemen aren’t adding creativity or insight or strategic thinking. They’re adding awareness and execution. And they’re charging as if they’re still providing the expertise that justified those prices five years ago.
I’ve seen this pattern repeat across dozens of service categories. Social media management agencies that use the same AI writing tools their clients could access directly. Market research firms that compile reports from readily available data sources. Content strategy consultants whose “proprietary frameworks” are just ChatGPT prompts wrapped in consulting speak.
The question worth asking is: how long can this last?
In traditional markets, information asymmetry gets arbitraged away pretty quickly. Once enough people realize they can do something themselves, the middleman premium evaporates. But we’re dealing with something more complex here. AI tools are advancing so rapidly that the expertise gap keeps shifting. What required a specialist six months ago might be trivial today. What’s trivial today might be automated entirely tomorrow.
The agencies are betting on staying one step ahead - or more accurately, betting that their clients won’t realize they’re not ahead at all.
The Better Approach (That Costs $0)
If you want to get on podcasts, here’s what actually works. I know this because I’ve been on both sides of this process - pitching shows and receiving pitches.
Listen to at least two recent episodes of any podcast you pitch. I know this sounds obvious, but apparently it’s not. Take notes. Understand their format, audience, and the host’s interview style. This takes 2-3 hours per podcast. Those agencies aren’t spending those hours. You will, which means you’ll automatically stand out.
Be specific about why you’re the right fit. Don’t say “I’d be great for your show.” Say something like: “I heard your episode with [Guest] about [Topic]. You mentioned [Specific Point], and I have a contrarian take on that. I believe [Your Thesis], and here’s why that matters to your audience...” You’re demonstrating that you actually listened, that you understand what they care about, and that you have something new to contribute.
Lead with value to the host’s audience. Podcast hosts care about one thing above all else: will this episode serve their listeners? They don’t care about your LinkedIn followers or your book sales or your impressive title. They care whether you can deliver an interesting conversation that their audience will appreciate. Frame everything from that perspective.
Keep it short. Your email should be 4-6 sentences maximum. If you can’t make your case briefly, you probably won’t make it in a 60-minute interview either.
Follow up strategically. Most people never follow up at all. Send a brief, friendly follow-up 7-10 days later. That alone puts you ahead of 90% of pitches.
Use AI as a starting point, not the finish line. By all means, ask ChatGPT or Claude to help you draft an email. Then delete 80% of it and rewrite it in your own voice with specific details only you could know. The AI gives you structure; you provide the substance that makes it worth reading.
The Real Cost of Generic Outreach
Here’s what those agencies don’t tell their clients, because acknowledging it would undermine their entire business model: every templated email they send damages the client’s brand.
When a podcast host receives a lazy pitch with your name on it, they don’t think “wow, that agency did a bad job.” They think “this person couldn’t be bothered to do basic research about my show.” They think “if this is how seriously they take outreach, how seriously will they take the interview?”
You’re paying thousands of dollars to communicate that you don’t care. To signal that you view podcast appearances as a box-checking exercise rather than an opportunity to connect with an engaged audience.
Meanwhile, the person who sends a thoughtful, researched pitch stands out immediately. They might not have an agency. They might not have a big budget. But they have something more valuable: they demonstrate actual interest in the conversation they’re proposing.
What This Means for Anyone Building in Public
If you’re building an audience online - whether through writing, creating, or sharing your expertise - you’ll eventually hit a threshold where these pitches start arriving. For me it was 1,000 subscribers. For others it might be different. Some people get them at 500, some at 5,000.
When they arrive, understand what you’re looking at. These aren’t opportunities. They’re someone else’s money-making scheme that happens to involve your name and your audience.
The real opportunity is doing what those agencies won’t: putting in the work to build genuine relationships with shows that align with your message. Yes, it takes more time. Yes, you’ll send fewer pitches. But you’ll get better results, build stronger relationships, and actually enjoy the process.
There’s also a broader lesson here about how to evaluate any service offering in the AI era. When someone offers to sell you something, ask yourself three questions:
First, are they providing expertise, or just access to tools I could use myself?
Second, could I learn to do this in a reasonable amount of time if I invested the effort?
Third, even if I choose to outsource this, am I being charged appropriately for the actual value being delivered, or am I paying a premium based on outdated assumptions about what this work requires?
Most professional services fall somewhere on a spectrum. On one end, you have pure expertise - strategic thinking, creative insight, specialized knowledge that takes years to develop. On the other end, you have pure execution - tasks that are valuable but don’t require deep expertise. In the middle, you have services that combine both.
The agencies sending ChatGPT templates are selling themselves as expertise while delivering execution. That gap is where the overcharging happens.
The Broader Economic Shift
This podcast outreach situation is just one visible example of a larger transition happening across knowledge work. AI tools are powerful equalizers, but only if people know they exist and feel confident using them.
We’re likely headed toward a bifurcation in professional services. On one side, you’ll have truly specialized expertise - the kind of strategic thinking and creative problem-solving that AI enhances but doesn’t replace. On the other side, you’ll have pure execution and automation - the kind of work that AI can handle entirely.
The middle ground - where you could charge premium rates for combining readily available tools with basic industry knowledge - is shrinking rapidly. The agencies living in that middle ground are frantically trying to stay relevant by either developing real expertise or automating themselves out of existence.
For individual creators and executives, this creates an opportunity. The barrier to entry for many professional capabilities isn’t skill anymore. It’s knowledge that these tools exist and the confidence to use them. The people who figure this out early will have an advantage that compounds over time.
A Challenge (Especially for the Agencies Reading This)
If you’re one of those agencies reading this, maybe it’s time to reconsider your value proposition. You could listen to the podcasts. You could do the research. You could provide strategic insight about which shows actually align with your clients’ goals and why. You could help your clients prepare for interviews, not just book them.
Or you could keep sending ChatGPT templates and hope that everyone takes a while longer to figure out what I did.
But at a certain point, the arbitrage collapses. Information asymmetry doesn’t last forever. The people paying for your services will realize they’re paying for something they could do themselves. Some of them already have.
For everyone else: the next time you receive one of these cookie-cutter pitches, remember that someone is betting you won’t look behind the curtain. That you’ll assume professional services require professional expertise, even when the “service” is just running a prompt through a free AI tool.
You deserve better. Your audience deserves better. And frankly, the podcast hosts receiving these pitches deserve better too.
The tools are available. The playbook is straightforward. All that’s missing is the decision to stop outsourcing things you can learn to do well yourself.
So what are you paying for?