How to grow your podcast audience

It's no surprise the question we hear most from creators — whether they're launching their first episode or sitting on a catalog of hundreds — is, "How do I grow my audience?" You've put real work into making your show what it is, and wherever you are in that journey, you're ready to find more people who'll love it.

Getting there takes more than just publishing and hoping people find you. Growing an audience means being deliberate at every stage: finding new listeners, keeping the ones you have, and making the most of every promotional tool available to you.

We put together these tips to help, whether you've had a show for a while or are just starting. Everyone's story deserves a chance to find its audience.

Define your audience

Before you commit to any growth strategy, the most important question to answer is: who are you trying to reach? The clearer you are on that, the easier every other decision becomes — what platforms to focus on, what content to create, and how to talk about your show.

And it's a question worth revisiting and refining as your show grows.

Find your niche

It's tempting to think your show is for everyone. But the most consistently growing shows tend to be the ones with the sharpest focus. Rather than casting a wide net, pinpoint the unique value your show brings and consider who is most likely to listen to and benefit from it.

The more specific your topic, the easier it is to identify and appeal to your audience. "Fin vs History" built its entire identity around a single premise: history for people who "like history but don't actually care what happened" — irreverent, self-aware, and immediately clear on who it's for.

"Mystery Mondays" took a crowded genre and carved out a distinct space within it, building a true crime show around empathetic, victim-first storytelling. If your show switches topics, genres, and tones, narrowing your focus will help you attract more consistent listeners.

Dig into your analytics

Spotify for Creators' built-in analytics provide demographic data and trends on your current listeners on Spotify — where they live, how they engage, and how long they stick around and exactly when they are dropping off. Dig as deep as you can. The more you understand who is already listening, the better you can make decisions about content and where to direct your promotional energy.

Your Spotify Wrapped for Creators adds another layer every year, surfacing insights like your most popular episode, your top listening countries, your most dedicated listeners, and what other genres your audience enjoys. Use it to ask concrete questions: Why did that episode outperform? What do my top listeners have in common? Which countries am I under-promoting in? The answers point directly to what to make more of and where to focus your next push.

Put it to an audience vote with polls

The most direct way to understand your audience is to ask them. Spotify's polls feature lets you put questions directly in your episodes — and the responses tell you things your analytics can't.

Use polls to find out where your listeners spend time online, what topics they want you to cover next, which guests they'd like to hear from, and what they think of episodes after they've listened. The feedback is immediate and comes from people who are already invested enough in your show to respond, making it some of the most useful data you'll get.

Morgan Absher, host of "Two Hot Takes," a relationship drama and advice show, uses polls as a core part of running the show.

"I post at midnight, and when I wake up at eight AM, I have thousands of responses on a poll," she says. "I basically immediately know what people think of the stories, the episodes, the guests."

Communicate directly with fans

Keeping the listeners you have is just as important as finding new ones. By creating opportunities for your audience to engage with your show, you can foster a sense of community that's rewarding to be part of and helps build a dedicated following.

Here’s what you can do to turn casual listeners into loyal ones.

Use Spotify's interactive features

In a recent study, 73% of listeners said they want more opportunities to interact with their favorite creators, and Spotify's comments and polls are built to meet that need.

Comments let your audience leave feedback directly on your episodes, right where they're already listening. Responding regularly turns a passive audience into an active community and can shape the direction of your show. Morgan from "Two Hot Takes" treats her comment section as a creative compass.

"I feel like my Spotify audience is the most constructive," she says. "They are the most invested in the show, especially when they write suggestions and comments — they really give meaningful feedback," she says.

Liz Plank, host of "Boy Problems," a show about modern relationships, dating, and masculinity, treats her Spotify comment section as a creative partnership.

"I really feel like they're all mini producers," she says. "They give me ideas for things that they would want me to do future episodes about, or they just give me feedback."

Remind your audience to follow your show on Spotify, too. Followers get notified whenever you release a new episode, which keeps your show top of mind and encourages regular listening. For more on making the most of these features, check out our guide to using comments and polls to increase audience engagement.

Offer a subscription

Subscriptions create loyalty by their very nature — audience members who pay for exclusive content are committing to come back. The key is to offer something your free episodes don't already provide.

The lowest-lift option is ad-free listening; it adds a perk to your existing episodes without requiring you to produce anything new. From there, you can layer in early access, exclusive episodes, behind-the-scenes content, or subscriber-only Q&As, depending on how much you want to invest.

Not sure what your audience actually wants? Run a poll before you launch, and ask them directly. For more on choosing your content mix and pricing, check out our subscription guide.

Memberships are coming to Spotify later this year — a new model that will let creators offer subscriber-only content to their most dedicated listeners, along with deeper insights into how they're engaging and the ability to reach out to them directly.

Start an email newsletter

An email list is one of the few channels you fully own, and one of the most direct ways to keep your audience coming back episode after episode. Lenny Rachitsky, host of "Lenny's Podcast," a product growth interview show, has seen it firsthand.

"I would definitely invest in building an email list because it's possibly the most powerful owned channel out there," he says, adding, "A big learning of mine is that it's a lot easier to grow a newsletter or email list than it is a podcast."

Getting started with a newsletter doesn't require a large audience. Pick an email platform and start collecting addresses through your website or show page. Just like with subscriptions, a popular tactic for gaining traction with email lists is to focus on offering something your episodes can't — behind-the-scenes context, extended interviews, early access, or resources you mentioned on air. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you build your list:

• Promote your newsletter on your show and across your social media channels. Offer incentives to encourage sign-ups.
• Share varied content to keep your readers engaged — episode summaries, guest stories, listener shout-outs, and sneak peeks of upcoming episodes all work well.
• Use a clean, mobile-friendly layout and keep your show's branding consistent so it's instantly recognizable.
• Test your sending frequency. Too frequent and you risk overwhelming subscribers; too infrequent and they may forget about you.
• Track open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber growth to understand what's working, and adjust accordingly.

For a full guide, check out the creator's guide to making a show newsletter.

Build community on social media

Social media is where new listeners first encounter your show — and where your existing audience stays connected between episodes. Create accounts dedicated to your show and use them to spark conversation, not just announce new episodes.

When it comes to what to post, resist the urge to tease. As Lenny Rachitsky says, "Instead of teasing gold, just give all the gold away. Once people see the gold you have, they'll go seek you out."

That means sharing your best clips, most surprising takeaways, and sharpest quotes, not bait. Listeners who see real value will come looking for more.

For Suzie Preece, co-host of "Ghost Huns," a paranormal comedy show, social media and Spotify work together rather than in competition. "Spotify is our base, and that just helps grow all the other places where we have a platform," she says.

For a full platform-by-platform breakdown of how to make the most of social media for your show, check out our guide to promoting your show on social media.

Implement SEO and AEO best practices

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of making your content easier to find through search engines. But search behavior is changing. More listeners are turning to AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity to discover new shows and get recommendations. Answer engine optimization, or AEO, is the practice of structuring your content so it's easy for these tools to understand, surface, and cite.

Together, SEO and AEO are among the most reliable ways new listeners discover shows they've never heard of, which means how you label and describe your content matters as much as the content itself. Everything from your show title to your episode descriptions to your website contributes to whether you show up when someone goes looking, on a search engine or an AI tool.

On the episode level, use specific keywords your audience is actually searching for — guest names, timely topics, trending news, or locations relevant to your episode. Writing clear, direct episode descriptions that answer obvious questions about your show also helps AI tools understand and recommend your content accurately.

A dedicated website extends your SEO reach further. The more content you have tied to your show's name and topics — episode recaps, guest backgrounds, blog posts — the more likely your site is to surface when potential listeners search for content like yours. An FAQ page or structured show notes are also useful for AEO, giving answer engines well-organized text to pull from.

For a full breakdown of how to get your show's SEO (and AEO) right, including show titles, transcripts, and descriptions, check out our complete guide.

Collaborate with other creators

Guests and fellow creators are some of your best growth assets — they come with new audiences already attached. Collaboration lets you earn the attention of listeners who are already engaged and trusting of the person introducing you.

Book guests strategically

A guest appearance can introduce your show to an entirely new audience, but the impact depends on how thoughtfully you approach it. A few principles that make the difference:

• Define your ideal guest first: Before you start reaching out, get clear on what makes a good fit for your show — not just someone's profile or following, but whether they'll resonate with your audience and add something your regular episodes don't. A simple checklist of qualities you're looking for will sharpen your search and help when you're asking others for recommendations. And don't be afraid to think outside the box. An unexpected guest can be a great fit if you can find the questions that connect their world to your audience's.
• Start close: Friends, colleagues, and fellow creators are easier to approach, more likely to say yes, and often more willing to give honest feedback as you refine your process. They may also know people in their own networks who would be a good fit.
• Don't be afraid of cold outreach: For higher-profile guests, a direct message or email that's specific, genuine, and concise goes further than most creators expect. Explain who you are, why you think they'd be a great fit, and what your audience looks like. Attach your trailer and a few brand assets so they can quickly get a sense of your show's quality and identity.
• Make it easy for guests to promote the episode: Put together a simple press kit with suggested copy, a link to the episode, your cover art, a good quote from the conversation, and a photo from the recording session. And when something notable happens for a past guest down the line, congratulate them publicly and reshare their episode — it keeps the relationship warm and ties their momentum back to your show.

The effort you put into the relationship before and after the recording is often what determines whether a guest becomes a long-term advocate for your show.

Cross-promote with other creators

Every creator on Spotify wants to grow their audience — which makes your fellow creators one of your best resources. Connect with creators whose shows complement yours, give them a shoutout in episodes or on social media, and introduce your audience to their work. Chances are they'll return the favor.

Tony Pastor, founder of Goalhanger — the UK network behind shows like "The Rest is Football" and "The Rest is History" — built this into their core strategy.

"The best way to discover a podcast is on another podcast," he says. When they surveyed listeners of one of their newer shows, the top five shows those listeners also watched were all Goalhanger productions.

To get started with cross-promotion:

• Join creator communities: Podcasting groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit are good places to find potential collaborators and build relationships before making a direct ask.
• Reach out directly: A friendly message introducing yourself and your show, with a specific idea for how you could support each other, is more likely to land than a generic collaboration request.
• Create collaborative content: A guest swap, a co-hosted special episode, or a short promo for each other's shows are all low-lift ways to share audiences without a significant time commitment.

For more on making the most of cross-promotion, check out our complete guide.

Go further with video on Spotify

According to our Wrapped for Creators 2025, time spent with video content on Spotify more than doubled year-over-year, driven mostly by video podcasts. Creators who add video aren't just reaching their existing audience in a new way — they're getting found by people who never would have found them otherwise.

If you're already recording video for other video platforms or social media, you have everything you need. There's no separate workflow, no new production setup — you upload the same file you're already making and open your show up to Spotify's audience.

"The discoverability that Spotify offers really helps. It's nice to know that a stranger can watch our podcast and go, 'you know what, I'm going to check out these guys, '" says Joe Santagato, host of "The Basement Yard," a New York comedy show.

Liz Plank saw the same thing when "Boy Problems" started gaining traction with video on Spotify.

"So many of the comments were like, 'I've never heard of you, and I am now following the show. This is amazing. Thank you so much,’" she says.

If you're not yet recording video, your phone is enough to get started. It doesn't have to be a flashy production — the most important thing is turning the camera on.

Optimize your show page for discovery

Once you're publishing video, a few show page moves make a meaningful difference in how easily new listeners find you:

• Best place to start: Designate the episode that's the ideal introduction to your show — especially useful if you have a large catalog and don't want new listeners to feel overwhelmed.
• Host recommendations: Share up to two pieces of Spotify content — another show, an album, a playlist, or an audiobook — to give potential listeners a glimpse into your personality.
• Thumbnails: Eye-catching episode thumbnails make your show stand out in feeds and search results across Spotify's mobile, desktop, and TV apps.

For a full breakdown of how to get the most out of your show page, check out our optimization playbook.

Use clips and transcripts to reach a new audience

Clips are the most active discovery tool available to creators on Spotify. Upload a short vertical video clip for any episode, and it can be recommended across Spotify's home feed, podcasts feed, browse tab, and now playing view — putting your show in front of people who are already in the right headspace to tune in.

A few things to keep in mind:

• You're limited to one clip per episode.
• Clips must be 90 seconds or less.
• The 9:16 vertical format works best for the viewing experience.

Morgan of “Two Hot Takes” lets her audience guide the selection of clips.

"Listener reactions — you are going to know very quickly, thanks to comments, which moments resonated with people, and you just pull those," she says.

For the audience, clips often serve as a preview. As Matt, co-host of "The Unplanned Podcast," says, "If I'm going to spend an hour or two of my time listening to a podcast, I want to see a little tidbit of what's going on for a few minutes before committing to that."

On Spotify, transcripts and chapters do much of the discovery work. Spotify automatically generates transcripts for every episode you publish. Those transcripts power chapters, guest tags, and topic tags that help your episodes show up in front of the right listeners at the right time.

The more Spotify understands what's inside your episodes, the better it can match them to people who'll love them. For a full breakdown of how these features work, check out our guide to transcripts, chapters, and more.

Set your goals and track how you're meeting them

What does success look like for your show? It might be quantitative — total plays, follower count, and consumption hours. Or it might be more qualitative, like a highly engaged community or a show that consistently gets shared. Neither is more valid than the other, but being clear on what you're working toward makes every other decision easier.

Once you've defined your baseline, use Spotify for Creators' built-in analytics to track your growth progress. The dashboard gives you a detailed picture of how your show is performing — who's listening, where they're from, how long they're staying, and where they're dropping off.

Joe Hegyes, co-host of "Good Children," a comedy show about two childhood best friends navigating life as closeted queer kids, uses that data for more than just tracking growth.

"It's been helpful for not just growing the podcast, but also when we're planning live shows," he says. "We're able to track and see what regions of the world people are listening to, what the age demographics are."

No matter what your podcast audience goals are, remember, sustained growth requires time and effort. When in doubt, remember why you got started in the first place. Your podcast is something to be proud of, whether you have one or one million listeners.

FAQs about how to grow a podcast audience

How long does it take to grow a podcast audience?

There's no universal timeline. Sustained growth comes from consistency — publishing regularly, promoting each episode, and refining your content based on what resonates.

How many listeners does a podcast need to be successful?

That depends entirely on what success means to you. A show with 500 highly engaged listeners in a specific niche can be more valuable — to you and to potential sponsors — than one with 10,000 passive ones. Define your own baseline before you start measuring against it.

How much does video help with podcast growth?

Video is one of the most powerful discovery tools available to creators right now. According to Wrapped for Creators 2025, time spent with video content on Spotify more than doubled year-over-year. Creators who publish video are both reaching their existing audience in a new way and being found by audiences who would never have found them otherwise. If you're already recording video for other platforms, there's no separate workflow. You upload the same file and open your show up to an entirely new audience.

How do I get my first podcast guests?

Start with your existing network — friends, colleagues, and fellow creators are easier to approach and often more willing to give honest feedback early on. Once you have a few episodes published, try cold outreach. A concise, genuine message explaining who you are and why you think they'd be a good fit goes a long way.

How do I get my podcast noticed?

Discoverability can come from a combination of factors:

• Optimize your show title and episode descriptions with keywords your audience is actually searching for
• Publish video on Spotify, so your show gets surfaced to new listeners organically
• Use clips to give potential listeners a preview of your show before they commit
• Cross-promote with creators whose audiences overlap with yours
• Promote each episode consistently across your social channels

Growing a podcast takes time, but every step you take — publishing consistently, engaging your audience, and showing up across platforms — compounds. If you believe your show deserves to be heard, keep working at it. The audience is out there.