How Chasing Downloads Might Make It Harder to Grow (Here's What to Optimize for Instead) | Podcast Analytics

Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategy · 2025-03-05 · 45 min

0:00--:--

Topics in this episode

Creator economy Audience building trends data creators

Episode notes

For 74% of podcasters, downloads are the primary metric used to measure success. But should they be? For years, downloads were one of the only ways creators could measure the reach and impact of their show. But over the past few years, we’ve been getting a slow but steady stream of new analytics tools and data points… many of which provide much more useful information about whether what we’re doing is working than downloads alone. Topics Covered 00:00 Why do so many people care about downloads? 06:06 The case in favour of downloads 08:13 The shortcomings of downloads as a metric 09:02 How paid podcast promotion campaigns can ruin your analytics 10:22 Is listen time a better metric than downloads? 13:26 Alternative hard podcast metrics to track 17:36 Soft podcast metrics to track 28:17 Understanding leading & lagging indicators 38:21 How we combine metrics to measure success 42:36 One final obscure metric for you to track What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote: Nailed It!