We Asked Podcast Listeners Why They Stopped Listening (And They Didn’t Hold Back)

Less than 5% of your potential audience is listening to your show. Here’s why, in their own words. Even small shows with just a few hundred (or few dozen) downloads an episode have usually been listened to—at one point or another—by thousands of people. A small number of those people are your regular listeners and superfans. A larger number are casual listeners and samplers, people who don’t listen to every episode, but rather based on their interest in a specific episode topic or guest. And then there are the people who listened to one episode or less… and never came back. While the data is hard to measure, chances are, less than 5% of the people who are both aware of your show and interested in your topic are regular listeners. Which begs two questions: 1. Why aren’t they listening? 2. Is there anything you can do to change that? To get to the bottom of this frustrating phenomenon, we ran a survey to our larger audience to find out—in their own words—what kept them listening more regularly… or at all. The good news? They didn’t hold back. And in this episode, we break down their feedback, which—while aimed at our show—likely applies to your show as well.📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote: 🤩 Nailed It! 🙂 Solid 🥱 Meh 😒 Do betterTopics Covered00:00 Intro00:49 9k email subscribers… 350 downloads02:41 How listeners choose what content to engage04:50 The role of 'Jobs to Be Done' in podcasting11:32 Why our audiences are tuning us out experiment15:30 Understanding your Total Addressable Market18:32 Strategies for retaining podcast listeners21:24 Earning the right to long term listeners26:28 Breaking down our casual listeners repsonse data29:01 The challenges of creating career-adjacent content30:16 Creative ideas to engage more listeners33:36 What listeners like about our titles and descriptions37:13 Using feedback to guide your content strategy41:50 Why non-listeners choose not to listen44:06 How to break through to non-listeners49:43 How we’re incorporating this feedback⭐️ Get a free podcast marketing audit with personalized recommendations to help you grow: https://podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit ⭐️ResourcesCheck out our full audience survey dataWalkthrough: How to replicate this survey for your showSubscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends ExplainedCheck out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2023 ReportSubscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting NewsletterTry Transistor.fm for free for 14 days✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback

Om Podcasten

It's easier than ever to launch and produce a podcast. But it's never been harder to grow one. On this show, we break down and explore what the data says about what it takes to market and grow a podcast in 2025 to help you make smarter decisions about your show, grow faster, and earn more. Together, cohosts—and longtime podcasters, creators, and marketers—Jeremy Enns (Podcast Marketing Academy) and Justin Jackson (Transistor.fm) explore topics like: How do you define success for your podcast? What are the most effective marketing strategies, tactics, and growth channels for podcasts? What does the data say about how to structure your show and episodes? Which social media channels should you focus on as a podcaster? How do you stack up to other shows? Using the data uncovered by the annual Podcast Marketing Trends Report, our goal is to make sense of the numbers and turn them into actionable insights that you can use to create a better show and market it more effectively. You can find the latest report at podcastmarketingtrends.com.