Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Analytics, Metrics & Data AMA
The Podcast Marketing Trends Report
The 2023 report is the largest-ever research project focussed specifically on podcast marketing and growth, with more than 500 respondents sharing their monthly download data along with their personal marketing experiences, practices, and strategies.
You can check out the full report for free below.
Podcast Analytics Articles
What If We’ve Got Podcast Analytics All Wrong?
Downloads are the universal metric for tracking podcast success. But are they the best one? And what are we even trying to measure in the first place?
Breaking Down the Data From the Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Launch
A behind the scenes look at the early data from the Podcast Marketing Trends Explained launch, along with some key insights & observations.
Are You Measuring the Wrong Podcast Metrics? (Here’s What to Measure Instead)
When it comes to growing your podcast, the most-obvious metrics are rarely the ones that matter most. Here’s what to focus on instead.
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
This One Mistake KILLS Podcasts
The most marketable shows are built around a consistent premise that tells listeners what they can expect from each and every episode. Consistently delivering on that premise allows listeners to build a listening habit and even a sense of anticipation around the show,...
Genius Podcast Hack For Creating A Super Compelling Show
People listen to podcasts for one reason and one reason only: They’re selfish. In other words, listening to the show gives them some kind of tangible benefit. These benefits can be anything from making them smarter to teaching them a skill to making them laugh, or...
Watch Us Workshop a Cyber-Security Podcast’s Messaging & Website In Real Time
The math is pretty straightforward: The easier it is for people to understand what your show’s about and what’s in for them… the faster you’ll grow. The problem is that messaging and copywriting are, well… super f&@#ing hard. So in this episode, we’re picking...
Stupid Mistakes, Happy Accidents & Surprising Insights From Making & Marketing Our First 20 Episodes
We spend the majority of our time thinking about podcast marketing & growth. But that doesn’t mean we have it all figured out. In this final episode of Season 1 of Podcast Marketing Trends Explained, we break down our stats from the season along with our mistakes...
We Asked Podcast Listeners Why They Stopped Listening (And They Didn’t Hold Back)
Even small shows with just a few hundred (or few dozen) downloads an episode have usually been listened to—at one point or another—by thousands of people. A small number of those people are your regular listeners and superfans. A larger number are casual listeners and...
6 Storytelling Principles to Hook & Retain Listeners (That Apply to Every Show)
They’re not always obvious, but the elements of storytelling are at the heart of every great episode. This is as true for interview and solo shows as it is for narrative. For comedy & fiction as it is for business. And in this episode, with the help of a special...
The 10k Timeline: How Long It Takes to Reach 10k dl/ep (& How to Accelerate the Process)
Podcasting is inherently a slow-growth medium. Without a central discovery system offering the potential for virality, growing a podcast is a long game of slow, steady, incremental growth that compounds over time. But while you might expect growth to be somewhat slow...
How Your Podcast Format Sets You Up For Success… or Failure
Before you launch a new show, you have to make a number of creative decisions that set the course of your show. Will you do an interview, solo, or co-hosted show? How long should your episodes be? How often will you release new episodes? And who is this actually...
80/20 Podcasting: What to Invest In (& What to Ignore) at Each Stage of Your Show’s Growth
Producing a regular podcast is one of the most grueling, time-intensive forms of content creation in existence. But what if 80% of the time you’re currently spending on your show isn’t actually contributing to growth? In other words, what if you could get the same...
What’s the Best Way to Spend Money to Grow Your Podcast?
How to get the best ROI on your podcast production and marketing budget to maximize growth… whether it’s $100 or $10,000 per month. You’re probably pretty confident that if you had more money to spend on your podcast, you’d be able to grow it faster. But have...
Client Results
10Xed Coaching Income In 6 Months
Case Study Summary
Name: Jen Fugo
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Show: The Healthy Skin Show
Company: Skinterrupt.com
Market: Natural Skin Health
Problem: Was pivoting her business away from gluten-free nutrition to focus on natural skin health.
Had an existing show that was getting ~2k dl/mo but was looking to start fresh with a new show on her new topic.
Wanted to be seen as the expert. On her past show, she pushed a lot of traffic (and sales) to her guests but struggled to get her audience to buy from her.
Success: Before even launching, had lined up 3-months worth of sponsors at $800/ep.
Racked up 9,500 downloads in her first month. Within 6 months was averaging 20k dl/mo. Now has over a million total downloads.
10x’ed her health coaching practice’s income within 6 months of launching.
Raised her prices 3 times in the first year and still had a waitlist longer than she could handle.
80% of her clients now come from the podcast.
Generated an additional $20k in 6 months
Case Study Summary
Name: Heidi Weinberg
Location: Colorado, USA
Show: Fashion Designers Get Paid
Company: SuccessfulFashionDesigner.com
Market: Freelance fashion designers
Problem: Show had plateaued after 5 years.
Was worried she’d tapped out her small market.
Podcast wasn’t ranking in search or getting included in round up lists of podcasts for her niche… even though hers was one of the best shows.
Success: Integrated her funnel more strategically into her show and immediately started getting new leads, leading to $1k–$2k/mo of evergreen sales of her signature course.
Ran her lowest effort launch yet to validate a new higher-ticket program and brought in more than $10k.
Rebranded and refocused her show & within weeks was ranking as the #2 show for her primary keyword in Apple Podcasts.
Landed her first sponsor for an initial $2k campaign. Is currently in deep in talks with two additional brand she loves about potential 5–6-figure sponsorship deals.
2k → 15k Dl/Mo In 6 Months
Case Study Summary
Name: Doone Roisin
Location: Australia
Show: Female Startup Club
Company: FemaleStartupClub.com
Market: Female DTC Startup Founders
Problem: Felt like she was winging it.
Didn’t have a clear understanding of how to use her show to grow her business.
Wanted to join the HubSpot network but needed at least 10k dl/mo before they would consider her.
Success: Within 6 months had grown to 15k dl/mo. Was invited to join the HubSpot network where her show was promoted on Amy Porterfield’s, Jenna Kutcher’s, and My First Million’s podcasts.
Launched a highly profitable community for female DTC founders, and a $5k/mo 1:1 coaching program.
Has grown her list to 19k+, and social following to 120k+. Published a best-selling book that became the #55 overall book in Australia.
Got invited to meet the King of England 🤯
5Xed Lead Acquisition In 3 Months
Case Study Summary
Name: Rob Orman
Location: Oregon, USA
Show: Stimulus
Company: RobOrman.com
Market: Emergency Physicians
Problem: Started podcasting for fun 18 years ago and suspected many of his approaches were either outdated or not structured in a way that would lead to lead generation and business growth.
Success: 5x’ed podcast-driven lead generation in 3 months.
Increased discovery call booking rate for new coaching clients.
Updated and streamlined his process to drastically cut the time is takes to produce each episode while also delivering a tighter, more consistent finished product.
From Not Knowing How to Pitch The Show To Winning Multiple Awards
Case Study Summary
Name: Michael Osborne
Location: Texas, USA
Show: Famous & Gravy
Company: FamousAndGravy.com
Market: Entertainment
Problem: Didn’t have a clear way to talk about or pitch the show in a compelling way.
Success: Submitted (ie. pitched) the show to the Signal Awards. Ended up winning the Bronze in the critic’s choice for Best Gateway Podcast, and the Audience Choice Award in the same category.
Consistently Ranking In The Top-30 For Her Category
Case Study Summary
Name: Carolyn Cohen
Location: USA
Show: Wellness While Walking
Company: WholeLifeWorkshop.com
Market: Health-Conscious Women Over 40
Problem: Was having trouble getting new listeners to stick and become subscribers.
Lack of clarity on how to build out a sustainable business on the back of the podcast.
Success: Her show consistently ranks in the Top-30 of her category globally.
Increase in listener “stickiness”, meaning better retention and more downloads.
Has a clear vision and gameplan for scaling her health coaching businessusing her podcast.
Cut Production Time In Half… While Producing A Better Quality Show
Case Study Summary
Name: Nathan Maingard
Location: South Africa
Show: We Are Already Free
Company: NathanMaingard.com
Market: Conscious weirdos looking to connect with their purpose & live more authentically
Problem: Show was taking way too much time and wasn’t delivering results in terms of lead generation or coaching client acquisition.
“It was very seriously like, either [the show] has to go… or I have to make it work.”
Lack of clarity around how to structure his show—from the episodes themselves to his content strategy, to how the show fit into his larger business—to serve his big-picture business goals.
Success: Cut his episode production time from 10 hr/ep to 4–5 hr/ep while delivering, tighter, more focused, more intentional episodes.
Solid increase in email signups. New leads are also booking discovery calls for his coaching offers.
“I’m really, really grateful. This was definitely the best investment I’ve made in my work. Probably ever. The service you provide is really wonderful and you do it with tremendous generosity and tremendous skill. So thank you.
– Omkari Williams
Stepping Into Truth
“I’m only halfway through and in the past month alone we’ve seen both our listeners and subscribers double.”
Brains Byte Back
“I can see in my download numbers already, where I was staying consistent at 1500 downloads, now I’m up to, 2300 downloads.”
Biz Cush
Women Worriers
“Since enrolling in PMA my show has grown consistently nearly every month. Each of the last 6 months have been among my highest in terms of downloads.”
Eric Maddox
Latitude Adjustment
Elizabeth Cush | Coach & Therapist
Awaken Your Wise Woman
“I was questioning myself like, ‘Do I know what I’m doing? Do I know my audience? Do I know what I’m presenting? Am I just throwing things out there? Is there a plan here?’
Going into it, I felt like there wasn’t a clear enough focus about what I wanted. How I wanted my message to come across about what I wanted the podcast to be.
Defining my podcast promise, clarifying who I want to target and then how I’m going to reach them and what action I want them to take down the road, that all felt really overwhelming, especially because the show was already created. I wasn’t starting from a blank slate.
But PMA helped me really define those things and made me realize, ‘Yeah, I can fix it, I can do these things and bring more focus and more intention, and be really clear about who I want this to serve.
On a practical level, even though I’ve been doing my show for two years, The Academy was really helpful. One, in helping create more structure around the episodes themselves with the storytelling aspect and the different potential formats.
And then two, with the structure of the show content as a whole, really making the content flow and be more cohesive, intentional.
Before The Academy, my episodes were kind of hit or miss. I was throwing spaghetti at the wall, and being like, “Is it gonna stick? Will people like this?”
Now, I can see in my download numbers already, where I was staying consistent at 1,500 downloads per episode, now I’m up to, 2,300 downloads.
I’m better organized, better able to present the story or the topic we’re talking about in a way that’s engaging.
Before, there wasn’t that purpose to it, it was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to interview this person, and we’ll see what people get out of it…’
Now in every episode, I’m working towards this goal of getting them to be engaged, wanting to listen more and come back again and again. Of course, that’s what I wanted before, but I wasn’t doing it strategically.
PMA has brought the joy of podcasting back for me. My download numbers are increasing, which is exciting, and I have a better sense of how the show fits into my business. But also, it’s made it lighter. It’s just made it easier.”
Sam Brake Guia | Podcast Producer & Marketer
Brains Byte Back
“I’m only halfway through and in the past month alone we’ve seen both our listeners and subscribers double.
It’s not just seeing our subscribers and our listeners go up, however. One of the best the most unexpected benefits of doing PMA is that it has reignited my love for podcasting and also reminded me why I’m doing this.
I really want to produce interesting, fun, and exciting content and PMA has reawakened me to that while giving me the power to produce exactly the type of show I’ve always wanted.
When I first joined PMA, I approached Jeremy and I said, “Look, this is something I’m passionate about, this is something I want to dedicate my life to.”
This is my career, I’m employed full-time as a podcast expert within a marketing team but I don’t have all the answers.
I’m willing to accept that but I want them and I want to go out there and I want to be better and I want to produce the best content I can.
PMA I can honestly say has not just lived up to my expectations but exceeded them.
And as for Jeremy, he is a really great teacher and I’m not just saying that because I’m still in the program, I really do mean that.
It’s a really engaging experience not only to have this direct opportunity to speak with someone that is so knowledgeable about this industry but also it’s just great to be in a program where I am joined by so many other like-minded people that are as passionate as I am about producing interesting content that people genuinely want to hear and that adds value to their lives.”
Arie Lombardozzi | Filmmaker
Brewtal
“Going through the Academy was more information than I was ever anticipating and the calls really helped out, but having the homework assignments where you actually had to post something to the group, I think that was the biggest thing.
Just the video lesson would have been totally fine, but I don’t think it would have stuck as much if there hadn’t been the expectation of doing the homework assignments, and then also the accountability and that little bit of added pressure to go and comment on someone else’s work.
Because no one wants to hear that what you’re doing is wrong. But it gives you a different perspective to take a step back and say, “You know, I am doing something wrong, and that’s why I’m here. And that’s ok, but there’s something that’s not working and I’m going to figure it out.” So sharing my own experiences, seeing other people’s experiences as I went through The Academy really helped shed light on those issues.
One of the things that I started to notice reading the homework and responses from other people was that while I could implement what I learned in the Academy in my own show, I could also make suggestions for other people’s shows.
It’s so much easier to be objective when it’s not your own show, but at the same time, it makes me even more accountable to be like, “Well now I have to step it up and show that I’m taking my own advice.
The Academy has given me the fire again to be excited about new projects. Even with my old show, I’m glad that I ended it, but just since the start of the Academy, the downloads have been going up even though I’m not posting new episodes. Just because I understand how to market and promote it better.
I’m making smarter decisions and utilizing my time more wisely than before. It’s really opened my eyes to a lot of opportunities that I knew were but just hadn’t taken the opportunity to take advantage of to the extent of my ability.
Based on the calls, the community, and the content, I would have paid at least four times what I paid for The Academy. It was way more in-depth than I anticipated.”
Andrea Crisp | Business Coach
The Couragecast
“This was hands down one of the best programs I’ve ever taken.
I remember Jeremy saying, “Most of you are not going to end up being like Amy Porterfield,” basically. And I was like, “Oh, but what if I want to be the Amy Porterfield?” But as time went on and in the way that the content was structured, I started to understand that it doesn’t matter if I’m as big as Amy Porterfield. I don’t need that. I don’t need to have the biggest podcast to have a successful business. I just need to have the right listeners.
Although I’d been producing my show for years already, I realized there were things that I hadn’t been doing. So when Jeremy mentioned them, I was like, “Okay, well, this would totally shift things if I implemented this.
One of the things with doing the Academy that was a really pivotal thing for me was “Where are you putting your energy?” How funny that it was something about my podcast that made me realize what I needed for my business. You would think I would have signed up for a business program and got that, but I got that here. And to me, that’s huge. Because I didn’t intend to give up the podcast, but I did need to make it work for me. And now I feel so much more excited about it than ever.
I now tell friends of mine that are serious about the podcasts, “You need to take this program. Even if you think you know everything, there are things you don’t know.” I know a lot of people and they’re like “Well, I know what I’m doing.” I’m like “No, you don’t.”
This experience was priceless. Jeremy really went above and beyond. I’ve taken a lot of courses. I’ve done a lot of programs. I’ve been at the beginning stages of a lot of programs from people that later got big. And I found that how this program was structured was super helpful.
My confidence in the podcast is through the roof. I really was able to see the value I provide as a host and stand in my own worth. Now that I’ve spent the time learning and implementing, I think the next few months will make a huge difference when it comes to seeing growth.
I’m getting really great feedback from the show. In some of the more recent shows that I have done, I’ve had friends reach out from all over the place and said, Oh, I just listened to your latest episode. And oh, my gosh, it was really, really good. And I really resonated with it.
I’m noticing that the tweaks I’ve made are making a difference where people are now actually noticing and reposting episodes.
Definitely take it. Do it. It’s awesome. Like 100%”
“The stuff you taught me, no shit, changed my life. It made my podcast more fun to do and easier to maintain. In fact, I am now launching 2 additional mini-episodes a week without a lot of effort. All because of what you taught me.
“Jeremy is a natural mentor. He is genuine and trustworthy, and the information he shares has been well thought out. And you can act on it whether you are just starting out, or have many episodes under your belt. He provides a supportive learning environment and guides you along with exercises and questions to make you think objectively about your show.
“It’s so incredible the diverse group of people you brought together, each so kind and motivating in their own way. It’s so rare to see a group like that, and I’m glad I was a part of it
It felt like a safe space to share and get some really helpful constructive criticism as well as be creative and get a boost when we needed it.”
I’ve taken a lot of courses and as an educator, Jeremy is very much in the top echelon and I think other people who teach classes could learn from his approach, I really do.
“There is lot of conflicting advice about podcast marketing out there. I used to download a lot of marketing checklists and such but in the end, I was always still confused.
PMA has given me the real fundamentals and a clear roadmap of not just podcast marketing but marketing as a whole.
Plus the community is super supportive and helps if I have any questions pertaining to my show and my business.”
“I’ve learned so much from PMA that I didn’t even expect was going to be associated with the program that’s ended up opening up these other doors. Many more doors than I ever would have imagined.”
“What stands out from Jeremy is that he’s so genuine. Quite often when I’m doing courses, I don’t get that sense from the instructor. I feel that a lot of it is about them, and their business, and what they want for themselves, rather than genuinely looking for the best for the cohort. I think that’s a big part of Jeremy’s uniqueness.”
” I feel more comfortable marketing because I’m doing it my way. I also feel relieved I have my own system and automations so my show is consistently being promoted to new targeted listeners 24/7. It takes the pressure off and lets me focus on connecting with other podcasters to ask how I can help.”
“The program is very structured and has a very clear pathway in order to reach the outcome that you’re intending to reach. It isn’t just a lot of reading or videos.”
PMA Students Improve Their Marketing By 44% on Average
We ask each student to rate their confidence in their marketing abilities at the start & end of each cohort.
After just 6 weeks, students’ confidence in their overall ability to market their shows improves by an average of 91%, with significant improvements across each aspect of their marketing skill-set.