provided by Cachefly. On February 23, 2014, before recording TWiT 446, Laporte stated that episode bandwidth for the entire network is around 950 terabytes per month. A sponsorship deal with America Online was announced on July 4, 2005, following the server demand that resulted from the release of iTunes 4.9's built-in podcasting directory. Since the new TWiT website was launched, the TWiT Torrent server initially preferred by Laporte has ceased operation. In several episodes, Laporte has noted that the distributed nature of BitTorrent makes it impossible to accurately gauge the popularity of the show, decreasing the likelihood of attracting advertisers. As of episode 174, TWiT began being hosted from AOL Radio. AOL hosting ended in the summer of 2013. Funding Laporte stated in episode 3 that the show would always remain free and without advertising. However, due to ongoing costs as a result of TWiT.tv's constant expansion, a roadmap for the introduction of podcast and web-based advertising was announced during episode 45 of This WEEK in TECH. On September 5, 2006, TWiT.tv officially became one of the first major advertising-supported podcast networks, sponsored initially by both Visa and Dell. Listeners have always been invited to support the network by means of an automatic PayPal subscription or one-time payment. In the past, this granted access to an exclusive TWiT forum which no longer exists, yet donations are still accepted. Listener funding has been used for the operational costs of the network including improvements to Laporte's recording studio and to purchase radio-quality microphones and digital audio-recording devices for the hosts. Financial compensation for the network mostly comes from the network's sponsors. Sponsors of the network include Ford, Audible, Lantronix, Squarespace, Hulu, Rackspace, Hover, Carbonite, Stamps.com and more. Podtrac said TWIT’s advertising revenue doubled in 2009 and expected $4 million for 2010. Before recording started for This Week in Tech 268 on October 3, 2010, while discussing the sale of TechCrunch to AOL, Laporte mentioned that his network would "do three to four [million ]" in advertising revenue for 2010. Based on the increase in the number of sponsored programs as well as the increase in sponsors, the 2013 gross revenue is estimated to be in the eight million dollar range. This Week in Tech Episode 561 on August 5, 2016, had extensive talk about podcast revenue. In the episode, Leo Laporte said a recent New York Times article stated that podcasts ad