I decided to go down the rabbit hole of looking at my stats from 2023. I always say staring at your stats (as I know some people who check them every minute) does not make them grow. But here, at the end of the year, I take a peak to look for trends.
You can download your episode numbers from podcastsconnect.apple.com, giving you your average consumption (How much of an episode is consumed by listeners, on average.). You also can see engaged listeners (The number of unique devices that played at least 20 minutes or 40% of an episode within a single session. Pausing or stopping an episode does not count as starting a new session)
I can get my downloads from my media host, which in this case is Libsyn.com
My Most Downloaded Episode 2024
Don't Let Your Brain (and imposter syndrome) Stop You From Podcasting (and why it's a good thing)
The Episode That Had the Most Engaged Listeners
Apple's Advice for Growing Your Podcast
The Episode with the Highest Completion Rate
Identify and Lean Into Your Strengths in the Face of AI
The Top 10 Based on Completion Rate
Starting and Growing and ENGAGED Community That You Can Monetize with Jono Petrohilos
Don't Let Your Brain (and imposter syndrome) Stop You From Podcasting (and why it's a good thing)
Apple's Advice for Growing Your Podcast
Overcoming Overwhelm: Three Free Tools and a Strategy
How to Deal with a Crowded Podcast Genre Full of Competition
Podcast Stew: Better Episode Titles, A Good Hook, Bogus Stats, YouTube Music
Identify and Lean Into Your Strengths in the Face of AI
Is YouTube a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?
Podcasting Turns 20 – Why This Medium is Unstoppable!
Unleash Your True Potential: Finding Your Voice and Unlocking Inner Power
Why Not Top Downloaded?
This year I started look at the competition percentage more than the download numbers. Why? Because people ask all the time, “I got X amount of downloads is this good?” An easier way to see if your audience enjoyed your content is to look at the completion percentage. You can get this in Apple at podcastsconnect.apple.com in Spotify at podcasts.spotify.com an in Amazon at podcasters.amazon.com
My goal is not to be the most downloaded show but the most talked about. I feel completion percentage is a better metric than downloads if you want to see if your audience is enjoying the show.
