Podcasting has become an avid marketing tool that is not only an effective way to organically reach new audiences, but with a low barrier to entry, is accessible to everyone.
With this long-form content, listeners are typically more engaged than on social media or when watching short videos. The ability to entertain an audience while keeping them focused on your work, brand, or story can be very beneficial. And is just one of the many markers of what makes a podcast successful and why.
To Monetize Or Not To Monetize
Podcast advertising in the United States generated nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenue as of 2021. However, majority of podcasters are either unable to or uninterested in monetizing their work. “It’s time we start thinking of podcasting as an art form, not a product to sell. The current advertising and sponsorship structures do not favor podcast creators,” says Laura Joyce Davis, Lecturer at Stanford, and CEO of Narrative Podcasts.
“A small percentage of podcasters are making big money off of ad sales; the rest of us are making pennies. We survived not because of download numbers, but because we had a core group of listeners who made donations to help us cover our production costs. Podcasting hasn’t made me rich – but it made me a better writer and educator, introduced me to some of the most inspiring and interesting people I’ve ever met, and ultimately led me to where I am now, teaching narrative podcasting at the Stanford Storytelling Project.” Davis helps students turn climate change research into planet-saving stories, and manages production for the award-winning radio show of the Stanford Storytelling Project, State of the Human.
The benefits of podcasting go beyond just monetary compensation, the payoffs can come in many forms – whether that be positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry, connecting with people you wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to meet, or building a body of work to propel a career change. As Davis pointed out, it led to a fruitful new job opportunity for her.
In 2021 the podcasting industry surpassed the one billion mark in annual revenue and had a 72% increase compared to 2020. It is predicted that podcast ad revenue in the U.S. could reach $4.2 billion dollars in 2024.
Don’t Put Too Much Weight In The Numbers
Download figures are clearly the number one factor in determining the success of a podcast, but it isn’t the only metric that should be looked at.
Approximately 144 million people in the U.S. listen to a podcast every month, yet only 50% of podcasts get more than 31 downloads.
“We’ve had weeks where the downloads went through the roof, and weeks where it seemed like no one was listening. Those numbers are so fickle, and oftentimes you can’t even pinpoint why the spikes occur. Over the long haul, those peaks and valleys don’t really matter – and fixating on them too much will only make you miserable. The awards we’ve won and the opportunities that have come because of the podcast didn’t happen because we had lots of downloads, but because we had a show that was speaking to people’s experience of life in a way that made them feel seen. I wanted to engage listeners in the struggles and joys of being human, to consider how we might look frankly at our broken world and still find our way toward compassion and hope. I think because that work came from an authentic place, we ended up creating stories that were time capsules – but that could also stand the test of time because they tapped into universal struggles we all face. It also meant that we ended up reaching a lot of different types of listeners, many of whom are still finding us today,” says Davis.
Focus On The Listeners
“We might think that being the host of a show makes us the hero, but we’re just the guide. I learned this first from Donald Miller’s Building a Story Brand, and it’s helped me when I’m tempted to get too focused on my own story or take myself too seriously. Shelter in Place is a memoir podcast, but remembering that the listener is always the real hero gave me a lot of perspective and space to let some episodes be very personal, and others focus almost entirely on the people I was interviewing. This had a profound effect on the tone of the podcast. I often thought about specific people when I was writing. I wanted every episode to feel like sitting with the kind of friend who has seen you at your worst, who hugs you and pours you a cup of coffee or a glass of wine when you walk through the door.”
Balance Creation And Promotion
“You’ll often hear in the podcasting industry that you should spend 20% of your time on creation, and 80% on promotion – which is great if you can do it. I’ve seen podcasters climb the charts by working those percentages, but I’ve also seen those same shows disappear as soon as they stop releasing new episodes.”
When Davis released the 200th and final episode of Shelter in Place, she thought the podcast would lose all of its listeners, but that is not what happened. Instead, she found that the podcast gained new listeners.
“I think part of the reason for that is, once I stopped releasing new episodes, I had the time and energy to share my work in other spaces – in my classes at Stanford, presenting at conferences, and getting interviewed on other podcasts. Back when I was releasing daily and weekly episodes, I spent 80% (or more) of my time on creating, and whatever I had left on promotion – which usually wasn’t much.”
Davis emphasizes that it’s always important to put more effort into helping others than helping yourself.
“The future of not just this industry, but all industries is how effective our leaders and trailblazers are in passing down the knowledge and expertise they’ve acquired. Real mentorship doesn’t happen if the only thing you’re focused on is downloads or the bottom line. It requires relationships and careful instruction and a feedback loop that can help both the mentor and mentee change, adapt, and grow. I’m afraid that in so many places, we’ve done away with mentorship and true apprenticeship for the sake of efficiency or the bottom line – but if we invest in these relationships and prioritize them, we’ll have more masters of the craft who can make the space more equitable, diverse, and interesting for all of us.”
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