Podcast KPIs: How to measure the success of your podcast
When it comes to making a successful podcast, download numbers aren’t everything. Here’s the KPIs you should really be measuring.
Here at Message Heard, we preach the gospel of measuring podcast performance. It helps us learn, iterate and improve from season to season.
When we’re talking with clients and partners, we also encourage them to set goals to measure performance against. However, we too often see people hung up on one particular measurement: number of downloads.
Whilst the reach of your podcast is important, it's definitely not the only measure of success and should always be looked at in the context of other metrics.
To avoid being blinded by the light of download numbers, you should set out clear goals at the start of the podcasting process that align directly with what you want to achieve.
Using KPIs to set strategic goals
So, how do you go about figuring out the right numbers to pay attention to?
When we launch a show, we like to think about who we’re trying to reach and how we want them to react and engage. We then select 3 or 4 key metrics which to track closely through the season.
For example, if your show is about something niche or aimed at an internal audience, there are natural caps to listener numbers but audience engagement levels or listen through rates might tell you more about what you're actually achieving with your podcast.
Or if you're looking to grow your personal brand, press hits and invites onto other media would be a good measure of success. Want to grow an engaged audience? Why not create a Facebook or LinkedIn group, promote it in your podcast and track the growth.
What success looks like for branded podcasts
The takeaway: success looks different for everyone.
As an example, let’s compare our show we measure the success of Conflicted versus how Buffer measured the performance of Breaking Brand.
With our show Conflicted, we boiled down success to three KPI’s (key performance indicators):
Download Numbers - Listener reach is important to us as this is a general interest show where we’re looking to reach as many ears as we can.
Revenue - We wanted to generate revenue via ads and sponsorships to create a sustainable show.
Engaged Audience - We wanted to build an engaged audience across various social channels so listeners could become more involved in the show.
As an independent show, these are quite direct, mercenary concerns. However, a branded podcast with broader goals of building brand and raising awareness would naturally have completely different measurements of success.
Ash Read, Head of Editorial at Buffer, told us their key measurement was how long listeners spent listening to the show. And Breaking Brand saw strong completion rates — on average, people are listening to 83% of each episode.
Hear more about how Buffer measured the results of their podcast.
This means that the audience isn’t just showing up, they’re sticking around and engaging with the content. For Ash, this has a lot of potential: “If we continue to publish content in this feed, they’ll continue listening. That feels really valuable for us.”
So what are the metrics you should use to measure success?
What KPIs should I actually be measuring?
Again, it's all about selecting the right metrics for your podcast strategy. So as you read this list, ask yourself why you're making a podcast and what you want to achieve.
These are all great metrics to select as your key performance indicators, but yet again, they need to be tailored to your individual podcasting goals.
Downloads - Do you want to reach the broadest, largest audience possible?
Demographic data - Are you trying to reach a particular group? Can you see that audience growing?
Consumption Rate - Arguably the most important stat as it measures depth of engagement. How much of each episode are the audience listening too? Are people not just coming but staying till the end?
Social following - Do you have an engaged audience that are sharing?
Mailing list - Similarly, have you a dedicated audience engaging with your content?
Group members (eg. Facebook, LinkedIn) - Are you looking to have a conversation with your listeners or build a community? Groups are a great way to do that.
Press - Are you looking to raise your hosts’ profile? What coverage has your podcast achieved and has it put you in front of new audiences?
Inbound leads - If you’re an agency, maybe you’re using your podcast to draw in leads. If you haven’t already, could you start tracking where leads, asking specifically about the podcast come from??
Revenue - Are you looking to monetise your show? Is the revenue covering costs?
Engagement with sponsors - Are you driving a good amount of traffic to your sponsor? This might be important for keeping them onboard.
Engagement with a competition - Are you running giveaways or competitions? You should track social shares and entries.
Website traffic - Is your podcast driving a large amount of traffic to your website?
Have we missed anything off this list? I’m sure we have! There are going to be even more specific things which will tell you if your podcast is working for you.
Send any suggestions this way, and we can continue to expand the list.
Want to learn more? At Message Heard, we make podcasts that help your brand reach new audiences.