Let’s face it – in podcasting, not all listeners are created equal.
You might be tempted to celebrate a spike in downloads, but here’s the kicker: traffic ≠ audience.
Having a hundred people randomly tune in once isn’t the same as having a core of loyal fans who never miss an episode. In the world of podcasting (and marketing in general), quality beats quantity. Dare we say, it’s quality + consistency rather than the typical quality + quantity? We explore this more in-depth in our article on building a valuable content strategy.
This blog will unpack why cultivating loyal podcast listeners is more valuable than chasing raw download numbers, now deemed as vanity metrics in the podcasting industry. It’s pretty easy to generate traffic, but quite hard to build an audience.
We’ll explore:
- How to build that loyal podcast audience
- How to measure loyal podcast listeners
Let’s dive in:
Traffic vs. audience: Quality over quantity
Think of podcast traffic as foot traffic in a store – lots of people can wander in, but many will stroll right back out.
Podcast audiences, on the other hand, are like your group of regular customers who keep coming back for more, week after week. As marketing professor Scott Galloway puts it, “If you have strong traffic, but no audience, you’re in deep trouble”.
In other words, only counting downloads (traffic) without building a connection (audience) is a dead-end strategy for most of us.
To illustrate: A show might rack up thousands of downloads due to a viral episode, but if those people don’t come back next week, it’s just momentary traffic. Meanwhile, a podcast with fewer downloads but a high listener return rate is actually in a stronger position. After all, a podcast with loyal listeners and high retention is far more valuable than one with inflated download numbers but low completion rates.
The bottom line is that traffic is about reach, but audience is about relationship.
How to measure loyal podcast listeners
You might be asking yourself:
- How do I know if I’m building a loyal podcast audience?
- What signs tell me that I have true fans and not just drive-by listeners?
In the world of podcast analytics, it’s not the easiest to uncover.
But there are some key metrics that matter for podcast engagement (beyond just downloads) – that indicate listener loyalty:
Repeat listenership & retention
Most podcast hosting platforms won’t give you data like returning vs. new listeners. Thus, you must get a little creative.
We typically recommend heading to your unique listeners metric. For example, at CoHost, we built an entire dashboard dedicated to unique listener data since it informs podcasters more about their audience, vs. just podcast traffic (downloads).
Week over week, month over month, or episode over episode (whatever cadence makes sense for you), measure your unique listener count. It’s going to fluctuate, but you can start to learn your baseline.
For example, maybe you always have at least 300 unique listeners per episode. This shows that you have 300 repeat or retained listeners who likely tune into most, if not all, episodes. It’s not a perfect calculation, but it gives you an idea of loyalty.
Charts like Unique Listeners Over Time and Episode Release Performance Comparison in CoHost will support you in collecting this data:
Consumption rate (listen-through rate)
This metric comes in a few different shapes and sizes. Common terms you might hear are consumption rate and listen-through rate.
Consumption rate tells you the average percentage of each episode that listeners have consumed – basically, how much of your content they consume per download.
It’s one of the most telling engagement indicators and will help you understand how far those loyal audiences are getting through your episode. Apple Podcasts and Spotify both have their own consumption rate or listen-through rate metrics dedicated to their listening apps.
At CoHost, we provide users with both Consumption Rates and Listen Time for each individual episode, combining Apple and Spotify data. We also provide a Show Consumption Rate so you can understand how you’re performing at a more granular level.
If your average consumption rate is, say, ~80%, you’re in great shape; listeners are hanging on nearly to the end.
In general, around 75% listen-through is solid, and anything above 80% is excellent. A high consumption rate means your episodes are compelling enough that listeners (especially the loyal ones) stick around rather than drop off early.
If your consumption rate is relatively low, it may speak to the content not resonating with audiences or needing to shorten episodes altogether.
Podcast ratings & reviews
Believe it or not, taking the time to rate or review a podcast is typically something only a listener with some emotion or connection to your podcast will do (whether that’s positive or negative).
Glowing reviews and five-star ratings are a sign that your core audience isn’t just passively listening – they’re invested and want to support you.
Even critical reviews can be helpful, as they often come from people who care enough to offer input. Many podcasts have no reviews at all, so even a few reviews indicate above-average engagement.
Dan Misener from Bumper analyzed 285 million Apple Podcasts star ratings and found that only 28% of the shows had one or more US star ratings (only 28%!). That leaves over 1.2 million podcasts with no ratings.
Use the right tools
Now, we know–tracking this data isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
But here are a few common ways to gather some of the data mentioned above:
- Podcast hosting platforms: Depending on your hosting platform, you likely have some base-level insights into your podcast’s downloads and unique listeners.
- Listening apps: To get platform-specific data, listening apps are great destinations to go to. You’ll find they typically have more metrics than your hosting platform, but the problem is that, again, it’s platform-specific rather than an overview of all listeners. Think Spotify for Creators or Apple Podcast Connect.
- Third-party analytics platforms: Finally, third-party podcast analytics tools provide deeper and more consolidated insights. For example, our analytics prefix unifies data across listening apps to provide advanced audience insights. These insights help you identify and understand your most loyal listeners, so you can better cater to them.
How to build a loyal podcast audience
So you’ve got the data – now, how do you grow that devoted listener base?
There are so many podcast marketing tactics out there, like social media, email marketing, guesting, cross-promotions, video marketing, PR, etc. And I know we’d all love to read a step-by-step playbook on exactly how to grow your audience, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
Each podcast and listener base is different (as they should be!). The specific podcast marketing tactics you use should be determined by where your audience hangs out and what content they consume. So, instead, below we break down overarching strategies or approaches to use when turning casual listeners into loyal fans:
Be consistent & reliable
Remember how we said it’s not about quantity but rather quality and consistency? Well, we’re saying it again.
Release episodes on a regular schedule so listeners know they can count on you. If you promise new episodes every Tuesday, make sure they drop every Tuesday.
Many fans will build your show into their routine when they know episodes arrive like clockwork. And with 82% of podcasts on Apple now inactive, simply being consistent already sets you apart.
Know your audience & deliver value
Focus on content quality and relevance for your target audience.
Audiences want to be educated, entertained, or inspired by content. Otherwise, it’s not worth their time. So, zero in on a niche that your ideal listeners care deeply about, and figure out how to be the best, the first, or different within that topic.
And by understanding who your listeners are and what they want, you can craft episodes that hit the mark every time. When listeners feel like “this podcast is made for me”, they’ll keep coming back.
Engage & involve your listeners
Why leave your audience out of the fun?
Make listeners a part of the show and community. Give shout-outs to listener questions, run polls, or invite them to share their thoughts via voice recordings or even full episode recordings.
And if that format doesn’t work for you, interact off-air by responding to comments on social media, hosting a listener forum, replying to emails, etc.
When people feel heard and involved, they develop a stake in your podcast. It makes your show turn from just a passive experience to being a part of a community. All these actions help turn casual listeners into loyal fans.
Focus on authenticity & personability
The best way to earn loyalty is to be someone worth being loyal to.
We all want genuine connections to build a sense of loyalty, and to do this, you need to let your or your brand’s personality shine through your content. Showcase passions and expertise, but also be willing to share a bit of yourself – anecdotes, humor, tidbits of your personal life, even vulnerabilities (if applicable).
Listeners often feel like they personally know their favorite hosts, and that bond is powerful.
In fact, a report by Deloitte found that 75% of respondents trust the podcast hosts they listen to, and more than half of respondents feel a sense of community with other podcast listeners.
That sense of connection extends to the brand or theme of the podcast as well. For companies, this means using your podcast to humanize your brand – show the names, voices, and sometimes faces behind a business.
For example, Trader Joe’s uses a branded podcast to pull back the curtain on the company, which has further strengthened their cult-like customer loyalty. So, whether you’re a business or a creator, authenticity wins.
If listeners feel like you’re a trusted friend or a voice they can relate to, they’ll stick around.
Building and measuring loyal podcast listeners
Turning a passerby listener into a loyal fan won’t happen overnight, but it’s the key to lasting podcast success. Just think of some of our favorite shows like Armchair Anonymous, Call Her Daddy, and Huberman Lab–all these podcasts have built a loyal, dedicated audience and community.
And to achieve this, focus on the metrics that matter – like listener retention and engagement rates – to know if you’re on track. At the same time, give your listeners plenty of reasons to come back through consistent, valuable, authentic content.
Whether you’re a brand or an independent creator, treat your podcast as a long-term relationship with your audience. You don’t need millions of listeners to succeed – a smaller group of highly engaged listeners can be incredibly valuable.
So next time you catch yourself obsessing over download stats, remember to ask: Am I building an audience or just chasing traffic? Focus on nurturing loyal listeners, and you’ll be on your way to a podcast that not only grows but lasts.
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