Beyond Listens: How to Measure the Success of Your Podcast

So, you’ve poured your heart and soul into creating a killer branded podcast with top-notch content and guests. Now it’s time to take it to the next level by tracking those key performance indicators (KPIs).

You probably already know that tracking KPIs is essential for measuring the success of any marketing campaign, and when it comes to podcasting, KPIs can be a game-changer for achieving your goals. In this article, we’ll discuss the five crucial KPIs every branded podcast pro should be tracking to measure their podcast’s effectiveness and align their efforts with their audience’s interests. By consistently analyzing and tweaking these KPIs, you’ll uncover valuable insights, discover areas for improvement, and refine your podcast marketing strategy over time. Let’s dive in, track those KPIs, and crush those marketing goals!

Unique Downloads: 

This is the primary metric to measure your podcast’s reach, and it’s crucial to keep an eye on if you want to grow your audience. Unique downloads refer to the number of individual devices or IP addresses that have downloaded a particular episode of a podcast.  Furthermore, unique downloads provide a more accurate measure of audience size than total downloads. Total downloads can include multiple downloads of the same episode by the same listener, which can inflate the numbers and make it difficult to determine the actual size of the audience.

• What: The number of unique devices your podcast has been downloaded on.
• Goal: More than 30 downloads in the first seven days of release.
• Where: Check with your podcast hosting platform.
• Measure: Monthly.

Ratings and Reviews 

Ratings and reviews are super important for your podcast’s success. They give you a good idea of how engaged your audience is with your content. More positive reviews and ratings mean your audience is loving what you’re putting out there. And that’s great news because it can help you attract new listeners and keep the current ones tuning in for more.

But that’s not all. Ratings and reviews also help to shape your brand’s perception. Positive feedback establishes credibility and authority in your industry, which can boost your reputation and visibility.

On top of that, they’re a great way to get feedback on your content. Listener input is valuable for identifying areas that need improvement and making adjustments to better meet your audience’s needs and preferences.

And finally, high ratings and reviews can also attract potential sponsors to work with your podcast. They can see that your audience loves your content and are more likely to invest in sponsoring your show. So, make sure you encourage your listeners to leave ratings and reviews – it’s a win-win for everyone!

• What: Ratings on a 5-star scale and written testimonials.
• Goal: A rating of 4.5 or more and at least 2 positive reviews per episode.
• Where: Publicly available on Apple Podcasts.
• Measure: Two weeks after each episode release.

Website Traffic 

Your podcast’s landing page or website is like a virtual hub for your show, where your audience can connect with and learn more about your branded show. By tracking website traffic, you can get a better sense of how your website is performing and how your audience is interacting with your content. If you see an uptick in website traffic, it could mean that your audience is really digging what you’re putting out there. This is especially important for branded podcasts, which rely on building strong brand awareness and loyalty among listeners. Paying attention to user behavior on your site, such as which pages they’re visiting and how long they’re staying, can give you valuable insights into how to make your site even better.

• What: Each time a unique user visits the podcast landing page.
• Goal: Consistently increase traffic to your website.
• Where: Check with Google Analytics.
• Measure: Monthly.

Apple Podcasts Analytics

Apple Podcasts Analytics is a dashboard that tracks several key metrics related to audience engagement and podcast performance. It includes downloads, listens, subscribers, listener demographics, and listening behavior. This dashboard provides insight into the overall popularity of your podcast, the episodes that are resonating with your audience, and your listeners’ demographics, including their age, gender, and location. 

• What: Reports on a podcast’s listener performance.
• Goal: Keep an eye on these to understand how listeners are reacting to content and podcast length.
• Where: On the Apple Podcasts Connect dashboard.
• Measure: Monthly.

Audience Engagement 

Your audience’s engagement with your podcast extends beyond the usual metrics like unique downloads and ratings. Social media engagement can actually provide some valuable insights into how your audience is connecting with your brand and give you the opportunity to build a community around your podcast. It’s a great way to directly engage with your listeners, understand their interests, and even gain new followers. So, it’s worth exploring social media channels that work best for your podcast and connecting with your audience there.

• What: (likes+comments+shares+follows+saves)/impressions.
• Goal: Focus on increasing engagement rates.
• Where: All social media platforms where you post regularly.
• Measure: Weekly.

By keeping track of these KPIs, you can gain a deep understanding of your audience’s behavior, preferences, and perceptions of your podcast content. Armed with this knowledge, you can make strategic decisions to optimize your podcast, such as refining the length of episodes or selecting the most effective marketing channels to invest time and resources into. It’s essential to set realistic goals for each metric, measure your progress regularly, and adjust your approach accordingly. By committing to tracking these KPIs, you’re equipping yourself with the tools to make data-driven decisions and set your podcast up for long-term success.