How to measure podcast success: A guide for creators

There are many ways to measure the success of your audio or video show, so which performance metrics should you focus on? That all depends on your goals for your show and as a creator. Do you want a lot of plays per episode, or do you prefer to have loyal and engaged fans, even if that means a smaller audience? Is your top objective to make money from your podcast? Are you aiming to elevate your expertise in your niche or become a better interviewer? First, determine your goals. Then, measure your growth against them.

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Consider the following key data points when analyzing the performance of your show. Which ones make sense to track according to your goals? Keep in mind that your goals may change over time, and so will the emphasis you put on different areas of growth. Regularly tracking the progress toward your podcast goals will reveal what’s working and what’s not, and how to optimize your results.

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Key metrics to measure your show's success

Whether it’s quantitative, like episode streams and the number of followers, or qualitative, like skill development and value of conversations, there’s lots of data available to evaluate. Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) to pay attention to in different growth categories.

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Audience metrics

For many creators, growing their audience is one of the top goals. The number of listeners or viewers is the best metric to measure audience size. Spotify counts the number of listeners based on how many people have started an episode and listened for any amount of time. You can look at your overall consumption and consumption per individual episode. Add the number of listeners from each streaming platform to find the total.

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Followers are another essential audience metric. Followers are how many people have tapped the follow button on your Spotify podcast page or other listening platforms. When users follow your podcast, it automatically shows up in their library, and they can see when new episodes come out. Getting people to follow you further boosts engagement—according to our Fan Study, listeners who follow your show listen to four times the number of episodes than those who don't. Followers indicate the portion of your audience that are loyal and want to keep up with your show. Compare the number of followers with your listeners/viewers to estimate of how many have converted.

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Analyzing your reach and demographics will give you further insights into your audience. For example, you can see what percentage of your audience tunes in on different platforms and the geographic locations where they’re playing from. You can learn where you have listeners outside of your home country and decide to increase your global reach based on the information you find. 

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Episode metrics

Digging into the specific details of each episode and looking at their performance as a whole will give you valuable insights into what resonates with your audience. The number of total streams per episode is arguably the best indicator of episode engagement. Spotify calculates a stream as any time a listener plays an episode for more than 60 seconds. 

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Episode downloads happen when listeners download an episode to their device. When someone downloads an episode, that doesn’t necessarily mean they listen to it. They may listen to a downloaded episode immediately, at a later time, or not at all. However, an episode download signals that audiences want access to particular episodes and will likely play them.

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Listener retention is one of the best metrics for understanding how your content impacts listener behavior. Your episode analytics will show the breakdown by second when listeners drop off, skip, and stick with each episode. You can also see the average listening time of each episode. If you have a lot of episode starts but few streams, that will tell you that listeners are dropping off within the first minute. 

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Analyze the retention of each episode and compare high drop-offs and skips with the corresponding content. Notice any patterns that come up. Which episodes and segments are holding your listeners’ attention, and which ones are losing it? Keep doing what works well, and consider how to change or improve what isn’t.

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Beyond quantitative measurements, review your performance in terms of episode quality. Some questions to ask yourself include: 

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• Are your topics and guests interesting? 
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• Are you researching your topics and presenting them effectively? 
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• Are your interviews engaging? 
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• How are your delivery and flow? 
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• How are your banter and mic skills with your co-host(s)? 

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Take note of any areas that could be improved and work on those as you go along. Go a step further and encourage feedback from your listeners to get their perspective so you can remain objective and deliver what your audience wants.

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Maintaining a consistent publishing cadence is crucial to podcast health. Take stock of how many episodes you produce and how frequently you release them. Sticking to a podcast schedule will help ensure consistency and contribute to your podcast’s growth.

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Creator growth metrics

Access to hard numbers is always useful when evaluating your podcast growth. But there are qualitative results that are just as meaningful, especially if they align with your particular podcast goals. It may be important for you to assess your progress as an individual creator in addition to the finished product. Some areas to focus on that will reveal your strengths and weaknesses include:

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• Skill level: Monitor if and how much you’ve improved your podcasting skills. Key skills to evaluate include pre-production planning, recording, interviewing, editing, and marketing. 

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• ‍Self-confidence: Starting a podcast or show can feel daunting, especially if you don’t consider yourself the type to have your own podcast. Question if you have a higher comfort level and self-esteem than when you started.

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• Time and productivity: Learning and doing something new is always a process, but it becomes easier and more efficient with practice. Reducing the time it takes to complete tasks and reaching your production goals–while maintaining quality standards–is a great sign of growth.

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• Niche expertise: If your podcast niche is really specific, academic, or professional, one of your goals might be to become more knowledgeable in your field or industry. If your concept is more broad or general, your goal could be to learn as much about your audience and their interests as possible.

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Community engagement metrics

Building a community and connecting with your audience is fulfilling on a deep level. With a community around your show, you can have stimulating conversations, answer their questions, help solve their problems, inspire, and entertain them.

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There are many ways to measure podcast community engagement. For example, are your fans getting involved when you encourage audience participation? Are they engaging with comments on your show page? Are they providing feedback, like podcast ratings? You can also analyze the size and engagement of your podcast or show's social media communities through the analytics features and dashboards available in each platform. Are you gaining followers and are they coming back for more content? 

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All of these actions are strong indicators of an engaged community. If you want to improve in that area, treat your audience like collaborators and inspire them to interact in various ways.

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Act on your insights to optimize growth

Once you’ve decided how to measure your podcast growth, regularly track those metrics–but don’t stop there. Use that data and audience feedback to decide about new or modified approaches to content, promotion, engagement, or any other areas for improvement. Then, test out your new game plan, and track its results. Repeat this process until you achieve your goals, then set new goals and keep going.