Podcast numbers can be a great tool for your business podcast. They are just vanity metrics, but looking at the right stats can help you move closer to accomplishing your podcast’s goal. Today, we’re diving into what numbers to look at, breaking down what they mean, and what to consider with each.
Clocking In with Haylee Gaffin is produced and brought to you by Gaffin Creative, a podcast production company for creative entrepreneurs. Learn more about our services at Gaffincreative.com, plus you’ll also find resources, show notes, and more for the Clocking In Podcast.
Today’s episode is brought to you by my Podcast Statistics Report, available for purchase here! This Canva template will help you review your monthly numbers in an easily digestible way by plugging in those numbers and stats and reviewing your progress over time. I use this report to help my podcast clients every single month, to make it easy for them to review their podcast success over time.
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All the time, clients and listeners ask me about how many downloads they should expect, considerations for downloads per month, and so many other questions about podcasting numbers. These are great questions that many podcasters have when they are beginning to dive into their analytics. So, today, we are chatting about which numbers you need to look at, what benchmarks to consider, and how to hit your podcast goals, and more.
Now, podcast numbers are simply vanity numbers. But, there can be some important information you can gather from them. I like to encourage my clients to only base their reporting success on their goals. Yes, it is nice to have big numbers. But if you’re listeners are not converting to your goal, those downloads aren’t really valuable.
Which Numbers You Should Actually Look At
First and foremost, when you log into your podcast platform you will see a few important numbers. But one that people will tend to focus on is all-time downloads. Yes, this can be a fun number to look at, but it is not the most important. In fact, it might be one of the least important numbers from your podcast. Instead, there are a few numbers you are going to want to take a look at.
Per Episode Download Numbers
The first number you’re going to want to analyze is your per-episode download numbers. There are a few ways to get these. Your release day does not define the performance of your episode. Certain considerations may impact the performance of your episode based on the day you release it. Then, how many people are actually subscribed to your podcast on a player? Is that episode relevant to your audience? Did your non-podcast audience see your external marketing? Over the first week of your podcast episode’s release, you’ll see downloads come in all week. It’s never just that first day.
Then, if you’re looking monthly, the episodes that were released earlier will typically perform better because they have been out longer. So, during your monthly reviews, you may look at the total downloads of that month and see discrepancies. This could even come from the total number of episodes you released.
One thing that I see a lot of people get caught up in is the monthly download numbers. A lot of times, new listeners will binge on old episodes, thus making older episodes have higher download numbers. This is great, except when you’re trying to pitch sponsors. So, this is why they don’t typically look at your monthly download numbers. They look at per-episode download numbers.
What Podcast Players Do Your Listners Use
This is another super interesting stat to look at. Whether it’s Apple, Spotify, or a web player embedded on your website; this can help you determine what language you should use and look at reviews and ratings.
Libsyn Benchmarks
Libsyn is one of the two podcast platforms that I recommend to all of my clients. They have provided benchmarks for podcasters to analyze what to expect in podcasting. These are both encouraging and insightful for those beginning this journey.
Libsyn likes to give a podcast episode a thirty-day life for tracking performance. According to them, if after thirty days your podcast episode has over 123 downloads, then you are in the top 50% of podcasts. 123, for one episode. That’s not too bad! That’s actually not hard to hit.
I have clients on both sides of this range, but I believe that it’s truly about your own goals. If your listeners aren’t converting to accomplish that goal, then that number isn’t successful. If you have less and are converting those listeners, then you are accomplishing that goal.
Libsyn goes even further into breaking this down.
As of recently, if, after 30 days, your podcast episode has over…
123 downloads you’re in the top 50% of podcasts
1000 downloads you’re in the top 20% of podcasts
2900 downloads you’re in the top 10% of podcasts
6600 downloads you’re in the top 5% of podcasts
17,000 downloads you’re in the top 2% of podcasts
30,000 downloads you’re in the top 1% of podcasts
There’s a huge discrepancy, but it shows the range that podcasts can perform.
Connecting With Listeners
As you keep this in mind, your podcast with 100 downloads is going really well. But also, your podcast with 25 downloads an episode is also doing really well. This is because you are connecting with those people on a weekly basis. Now, I do recommend tracking your numbers on a monthly basis just to help you understand your podcast growth. You can see when you need to adjust your strategy and if you need to ramp up your podcast marketing.
Join Mic Check Society
Now, if you’re using a podcast for your business and are looking for a resource to help you continue to grow your podcast in a way that serves your business, make sure you check out Mic Check Society. We have a community of podcasters sharing their questions, concerns, successes, and more in one Facebook group.
Members of Mic Check Society also have access to monthly training from industry experts, hot-seat calls with those experts, silent coworking sessions, and resources to help your podcast succeed.
Catch the Show Notes:
Which Numbers to Look at (1:50)
Per Episode Download Numbers (2:18)
Monthly Download Numbers (3:27)
What Podcast Players Do Your Listeners Use (4:38)
Libsyn Benchmarks (5:05)
Connecting with Your Listeners (8:17)
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Review the Transcript:
This episode has been a long time in the making! I get asked all the time about how many downloads to expect, considerations with downloads per month, how to dive into your analytics, etc, so today’s episode will walk you through which numbers you need to be looking at, what benchmarks to consider, how to hit goals, and more!
Today’s episode is brought to you by my podcast statistics report, available inside my podcast product shop! This canva template will help you review your monthly numbers in an easily digestible way by plugging in your own numbers and reviewing your progress over time. I use this report for each of my podcast clients each month to make it easy for them to review their podcast success each and every month! You can grab it today at gaffincreative.com/shop or in today’s show notes!
When we look at podcast numbers, they are vanity metrics, but there is also some important information in them. I always like to encourage my clients to base their reporting success off of their goal. Yes, it’s nice to have big download numbers, but if they’re not converting on your goal, how valuable are they?
Now, let’s talk about which numbers you should actually be looking at and the considerations of each.
First and foremost, when you log into your podcast hosting platform, you’ll see a few important numbers, but one that people tend to focus on is the all time downloads. Yes, this is a fun number to track, but it’s not the most important.
You want to take a look at your per episode download numbers. Now there are a few ways to look at these, because your release day doesn’t define the performance of that episode.
Let’s say you release an episode on Monday… what considerations would impact the performance? was that monday a holiday? How many people are actually subscribed to your podcast on a player? Is that episode relevant to your audience? Did your non-subscribers see your external marketing efforts?
Over the first week of your podcast episode’s release, you’ll see downloads come in all week.
Then, if you are looking at your podcast numbers on a monthly basis, the episodes that were released at the beginning of that month are typically going to be performing better.
During your monthly reviews, you may look at the total download numbers for that month. One discrepancy in these numbers can come from the total number of episodes you released. Was it a month with an extra release date in there? Did that contribute to your podcast downloads?
One thing that I do see a lot of people get caught up in, especially if they start to hit a growth spurt in their podcast is the monthly download numbers. For example, imagine hitting 1,000 downloads per month, but your newly released episodes are only hitting 100 downloads per month. This discrepancy is that new listeners are likely binging old episodes—which is great, except for when you’re trying to pitch a podcast sponsor. They’re likely going to want to know your per episode download numbers since they’re included in new episodes only.
So in this scenario, you’d likely have 600 downloads a month coming from older episodes.
At the same time, this means your new audience is loving the content you’ve already put out there and you can continue to grow from that—remember that podcasting is a long-term game.
Another stat that is interesting to look at is what players your audience listens on—whether it’s apple, spotify, or your web player embedded on your website. This can help you determine the language you’ll use in requesting reviews, ratings, and even if you plan to build a subscription based podcast, if your audience isn’t on apple, then their subscription program won’t be the best fit.
Since we’ve covered the numbers, what they mean, and how important each is in your planning process, let’s chat about benchmarks.
If you’re not familiar with Libsyn, they’re a podcast hosting platform. It’s one of two platforms I typically recommend to my clients.
Libsyn has provided a few benchmarks in the past that allow you to better understand what to expect in podcasting, which I’ve found to be both encouraging and insightful.
Libsyn likes to give a podcast episode a 30day life for tracking performance, and I have to agree that it’s a good timeline, although you can use each piece as a long-term strategy with show notes for SEO, but that’s a whole other conversation.
According to Libsyn, if, after 30 days, your podcast episode has over…
123 downloads you’re in the top 50% of podcasts
1000 downloads you’re in the top 20% of podcasts
2900 downloads you’re in the top 10% of podcasts
6600 downloads you’re in the top 5% of podcasts
17,000 downloads you’re in the top 2% of podcasts
30,000 downloads you’re in the top 1% of podcasts
Keep that in mind as you’re reviewing your numbers. Your podcast with 100 downloads is still doing really well. Even that podcast with 25 downloads per episode is doing well,, because you’re connecting with 25 people on a weekly basis.
Now I do recommend tracking your numbers on a monthly basis to help you understand your podcast growth, when you need to adjust your strategy, and if you need to ramp up your podcast marketing strategy! This is why I provide my monthly podcast statistics report to each of my clients.
On a quarterly basis, I like to encourage you to take a deeper look into overall performance and see which episodes are performing best, review how much you’ve grown, and regroup on what your overall strategy for your podcast content should be! All of my clients meet with me on a quarterly basis to review numbers, plan content, and develop strategy. Additionally I encourage you to make sure you’re tracking that goal you have for your podcast!
Now if you’re ready to track these numbers, make sure you snag my Monthly Podcast Statistics report, available inside my podcast product shop or in today’s show notes! With this canva template, you’ll be able to build a custom report each month by plugging in your numbers, keep up with ongoing trends, and make data based decisions for your podcast! Head to today’s show notes to grab it now!
