The podcast audience’s shelf space is more limited than you might think – does your podcast measure up?

 

When Tim Bronsil and I were on the keynote stage at Podcast Movement nearly two weeks ago, I wanted the crowd to feel something specific: A positive sense of urgency when thinking about their podcast’s growth potential and what that journey looks like.

Growth through improving engagement with your existing audience is one of the key findings from The Podcast Study, which my team at Strategic co-presented with Tim’s Point-to-Point Marketing group.

There are a few data points that show how sharp the competitive landscape is:

  • Out of the millions of actively registered podcasts worldwide, the majority of podcast consumers have a “shelf space” of…3 or fewer. To simply be in the game, you need to be in a person’s top 3.
  • Three out of four people “Love” their favorite podcast, so if it is difficult to become their favorite immediately, we have two other slots available on the shelf.
  • How long will someone give a new podcast they are trying for the first time? Half of all podcast consumers will give you five minutes or less! 10% give you 60 seconds or less
  • Four out of 10 will NOT give you a second chance if they give you a first try and are disappointed.

The bottom line? There is obviously a lot of competition and podcast consumers know they can simply press “stop” if they’re not satisfied and quickly jump to something they DO like.

The quickest way to realize audience growth is improving engagement within your existing audience. That means making improvements to product execution.

Every podcast matters and every break in every podcast matters. The structure of the podcast should be given careful consideration to make sure it is air tight.

Is your podcast executing at a healthy level? Talk to us and let’s find out. 

We’ll be taking a deeper dive into all of The Podcast Study’s findings AND actions you can take to make your podcast stronger in a series of webinars:

  • Thursday, September 11, 2pm ET: How to deepen loyalty and engagement with your existing audience
  • Thursday, September 25, 2pm ET: Strategies for discovery, trial and conversion
  • Thursday, October 9, 2pm ET: How contests, hosts and branding drive long-term success

Click here to register and learn more about The Podcast Study.