31 Beyond Downloads 📈 What Is Podcast Growth
What podcast success really looks like and why downloads aren’t the only story.
Ideas Discussed This Episode + Episode Timecodes:
00:00 – Stop dreaming, start doing: why podcasting success means more than numbers.
01:00 – Downloads vs. loyalty: which metric truly matters for your goals?
02:00 – How to match podcast stats with your personal or business mission.
03:00 – Engagement over ego: shares, screenshots, and social proof.
04:00 – What your listeners do next (and why that matters more than views).
05:00 – How to use reviews (yes, even the mean ones) to improve your podcast.
06:00 – Wrap-up: success is personal, not a leaderboard.
31 What Counts as Podcast Success?
Success in podcasting isn’t all about big download numbers. We explore smarter ways to measure your podcast wins, from listener loyalty to link clicks.
Measuring your podcast's success shouldn’t be a copy-paste job from someone else’s goals. While it’s tempting to zero in on big shiny download numbers, true podcasting growth lives in listener loyalty, consistent engagement, and aligning your analytics with your personal or brand mission. Whether it's community-building, lead generation, or creating space for meaningful stories, your numbers should reflect that purpose.
📚 Recommended VIC Podcasters Episodes:
EP26: Crickets? Here’s How to Get Listeners Talking – Learn how to prompt more audience engagement.
EP27: Feedback Overload – Understand how to use reviews and feedback for growth.
EP24: Winning Back Your Listeners (Without Begging) – Build loyalty and reconnect with your audience.
Keeping your ears on engagement gives you the best clues about how your podcast is landing with your audience. Think DMs, shares, newsletter replies, and even cheeky mentions in group chats. These soft stats often paint a richer picture than platform rankings ever could. Track what listeners do after tuning in—do they click links, subscribe, or get in touch?
Your podcast success is yours to define. One listener taking action beats 1000 silent streams. Celebrate the wins that align with your scoreboard. And if you’re still unsure where to start or how to read your analytics in a way that makes sense, I can help. Book a coaching session with me, Zoë Wood of the Video Confidence Coach, and let’s turn those podcast stats into strategy.
TIME FOR A QUICK QUIZ 🤓
Which podcast metric matters most to YOU?
Listener loyalty
Social shares
Chart rankings
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Answer: Whatever you feel in your 🧡 What makes good numbers is all based on your own podcasting goals.
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(0:00 - 2:51)
How do I measure my podcast success? Like, really? Like, truly? You're listening to the VicPodcasters podcast, your bite-sized slice of podcasting know-how. We're here to connect Victorian podcasters, whether you're just starting, seasoned pro, or stuck in the one day I will phase. Stop dreaming and dive in.
Join our email list or hop onto our Facebook and LinkedIn groups for updates, resources, and a supportive community, because podcasting is better when we do it together. VicPodcasters is proudly produced on Wadawurrung land. What counts as podcasting success is more than just downloads.
Even though downloads may be a very nice, big, shiny number that you can focus on when it comes to your podcast, they aren't the whole story. Let's look beyond these basic bragging rights and figure out what's best for your podcast and to figure out if your podcast is a success or not. For today's podcast, we're going to be focussing on analytics or insights.
You can find these on your host platform, so where you are hosting your podcast online. You can look at the back end where it usually has something like analytics or insights, usually under a tab on a separate page, where you'll be able to look at these numbers or statistics in a way that you can put into perspective for you. So let's look at listener numbers versus listener loyalty.
When it comes to your podcast, as you can imagine, it's a long-term medium. We're not necessarily going to go viral within like the first episode or two. It's definitely a long-term game.
Focus on who sticks around. Your 50 regular listeners versus your 500 one-off listeners. Loyal ears are your podcast best mates.
So focus on the retention between podcast episodes, and you can usually find this in your analytics platform. And if you can't, maybe look into ways that your platform may be slightly different to the norm to be able to get a better idea of this loyalty factor. Ultimately, when it comes to your analytics, your goals for your podcast define your wins.
Match your metrics to your mission. What are you wanting to get out of this podcast? Are you wanting a community? Well, you count the DMs and comments and engagement that you get on either any platform that you have outside of podcasting, or if you're in Spotify's case, the comments within your podcast itself. What interaction and engagement do you get with your community? And if it's for, say, a business or a brand and you want leads, make sure you check those click-through rates through the links in your show notes.
That is how you best define your podcast success. Hey, listener, I'm just pausing your podcasting experience to let you know that I have my own podcast, the Unboring Your Brand podcast. It's branding, but make it unboring.
(2:51 - 4:28)
Smashing your goals while laughing and listening to Unboring Your Brand podcast. Check it out wherever your podcatcher says that you can. You can find the one that's by the video confidence coach.
And that's me. And now back to your scheduled programming. When it comes to podcast success, engagement over ego is key.
Watch for shares, replies and reviews on your social media and your email newsletter. Engagement shows your content's hitting home and bonus points for screenshots and group chats. Because when it comes to a podcast, you are building something bigger than yourself.
So you want to have interaction with other people and fans of your podcast. Check your growth and it's not just the peaks. Look for steady growth over time and not just viral spikes over, for example, particular guests or particular topics.
You want to be able to grow consistently over time from compared to month to month and not just podcast to podcast. Consistency is the real flex. Once you have these numbers, what do they do next? Track your listener actions post episode.
Another way to track success is what do your listeners do next? Track your listener actions post episode. Do they subscribe? Do they follow your guest? Do they join your email list? Measure what matters to you, not what the charts say. This may be slightly more advanced.
If you're able to track your links via your website, you get a better idea the type of followers that engage with your podcast. Use every feedback as fuel for your podcast. Ratings and reviews are golden intel to give you an idea of where you're going right and where you're going wrong.
(4:28 - 6:29)
What you can do to improve your podcast and even with the one stars that may not have just listened to your podcast or even gotten the idea of what's going on, they can still be helpful. Even if they're a bit ouchy, but everything has a kernel of truth. It just may be buried a bit.
Make sure to use that feedback to tweak and grow as well as the five star ones, of course. Make sure to keep on top of your analytics when it comes to your podcast. Analytics are your podcast diary.
Spotify for podcasters, Apple Stats and Chartable are also great starters as well if you're unsure of how to read or review your analytics within your own platform. You can use these tools to actually check how your podcast is going outside of the platform that you're already on, because sometimes the downloads may not look right unless you're looking on an outside perspective. And finally, make sure to keep it real.
You don't need 10k downloads to make an impact with your podcast. Did you help one person today? You win. Did you entertain one person today? You won.
Did you serve your listener? Also win. Celebrate your podcast wins no matter what size they are. To wrap up today, no two podcasters have the same scoreboard.
Everyone else has different reasons for podcasting and that in turn determines your podcast success. Measure what lights you up and serves your audience. And hey, podcasting isn't a solo gig, so make sure you compare your analytics and your thoughts on Vic Podcasters.
That's a wrap. Remember, we're here every week to share quick tips, updates and the occasional bad joke. Feeling inspired? Good.
Now hit record or go to the show notes of this episode for a backstage past experience of the Victorian podcasting scene. Vic Podcasters would like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the Wadawurrung people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians on the land on which we work, live and play. We pay our respects to their elders past and present.
We stand with the traditional custodians of these lands in working towards a more equal future. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. And remember, podcasting doesn't have to be a solo gig.
The above episode description and transcript were generated with human knowledge + ai.
Photograph of 4 members of VIC Podcasters who met up in Geelong.
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Find out more about how to grow your personal brand with the power of video right here on vcc.training
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