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.
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Data updated on 04/07/2026
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Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
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Details about Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategies, a podcast by Jeremy Enns & Justin Jackson | Podcast Growth, Marketing & Promotion Experts
The Real Odds of Succeeding as a Podcaster (& How to Beat Them) | Podcast Strategy
Episode 25
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 • Duration 01:01:02
One in ten music albums makes its money back. The same is true for startups and movies. But what about podcasts?
Is it possible for any of us to create a successful show? Or are the odds always going to be stacked against us, with only a tiny fraction of shows breaking through to the mainstream?
In this episode, we break down the odds behind creating both a successful show and a successful career as a creator, and explore exactly what you can do to stack the deck in your favour.
00:00 The odds of success as a creator 04:59 The data behind exceptionally successful podcasts 13:21 Why you should quit more projects (and podcasts) 21:19 The traits of exceptional podcasts 31:56 Increasing your luck surface area 37:42 The traits of exceptional creators 47:47 Tapping into your unique personal genius
Is It Just Harder to Grow a Podcast Now (& If Not, Where Are the Hidden Opportunities)? | Podcast Strategy
Episode 24
Wednesday, April 23, 2025 • Duration 48:37
Over the past year, median podcast growth rates were nearly flat. In other words, the typical show experienced almost zero growth over the previous 12 months.
If you’ve been in podcasting for a while, this might correspond with your feeling that it is harder to grow today than it once was. And yet… while growth may have slowed for the typical show, there are others that are unlocking more and faster growth than ever before.
So what’s going on here? And what do we as creators need to do to tap into the potential for growth that exists?
00:00 Is It Harder To Grow Now? 01:56 Growing in 2008 vs 2025 03:49 What the data says about growth rates 08:33 Two reasons it might be harder to grow now 13:14 The two types of competition today 15:56 Keeping up with changing tastes and expectations 21:38 Diagnosing your growth problem 24:55 A tried and true way to differentiate 28:35 Opportunities to grow a podcast today 33:49 A sneaky approach to testing big changes 35:16 The worst thing that can happen to your show 38:43 The opportunities of podcasting for your business
What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About Video Podcasting & YouTube | Podcast Strategy
Episode 23
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 • Duration 01:10:23
Video is changing podcasting, probably forever and probably in ways we can’t predict.
But while conversations and debates about the risks and upsides to creators as well as the industry as a whole are inescapable right now, they all seem to be missing the key point: That this isn’t a conversation about different consumption mediums and file delivery formats.
It’s a conversation about YouTube as a platform, and the power, influence, and magnetism it exerts on every person on the internet.
00:00 Is video podcasting a threat or opportunity? 04:21 Video’s impact on podcast discovery 07:49 YouTube's dominance over content consumption 10:26 Leveraging YouTube for podcast growth 18:03 The future of podcasting on YouTube 34:16 The opportunities pitfalls of short-form content 37:28 YouTube vs. podcast content 42:41 The long-term value of “slow content” 45:06 Case study: Jay Clouse’s YouTube strategy 51:45 Case study: Chris Stone's YouTube strategy 56:08 What is a podcast anymore, anyways?
⭐️ Get a free podcast marketing audit with personalized recommendations to help you grow: ⭐️
What Podcast Listeners Say About How They Discover Shows (& Why They Stop Listening) | Podcast Listener Psychology
Episode 22
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 • Duration 46:05
There’s no shortage of advice to be found on how to grow your audience. But how closely does that advice align with how podcast listeners say they actually find, choose (and abandon) the shows they listen to?
It turns out, there are a number of surveys that have asked listeners to share their discovery and consumption habits. And while the data can sometimes contradict itself, it offers us as creators a peek behind the curtain into podcast listeners’ hidden psychology, so that we can better meet them where they’re at with our marketing and our shows.
What’s more, this data offers us a blueprint for the questions to ask (and avoid) when conducting our own listener research. 📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote: 🤩 Nailed It! 🙂 Solid 🥱 Meh 😒 Do better
Topics Covered
00:00 Should you listen to your listeners feedback? 05:42 The Mom Test 08:23 How listeners discover podcasts: Active vs. passive 16:07 Understanding the broader context behind audience behaviour 26:33 Discovery doesn't matter without distinctiveness 31:02 Why listeners stop listening 39:13 Doing your own audience research
⭐️ Get a free podcast marketing audit with personalized recommendations to help you grow: ⭐️
Exactly How Your Show Name & Cover Art Impact Growth (According to Data) | Podcast Packaging
Episode 21
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 • Duration 01:03:42
People make decisions based on the information they have available to them. When it comes to podcast discover, that information almost always consists of just two elements: Your show title and cover art.
These two elements, then, are the first and more impactful listener filter. Get them wrong, and you’ll miss out on a constant stream of your ideal listeners who are passing the show over because they don’t realize it’s relevant or aligned with their taste.
But what does the “wrong” title or cover art even look like? And more importantly, what does the “right” packaging for your show look like (if it even exists).
In this episode, we break down the data from the 2024 Podcast Marketing Trends Report to identify what high-growth shows do differently when it comes to crafting their packaging—and how you can borrow those lessons to help increase your show's growth potential.
00:00 Why packaging matters 00:42 Behind the scenes of our cover art development 07:33 Attributes of memorable podcast titles 20:51 Why artwork matters more than most people realize 24:48 Analyzing podcast cover art effectiveness 27:02 Host photos on cover art 33:05 Designing distinctive visual elements 34:24 Your artwork's primary job 38:06 Developing taste for good artwork & titles 44:52 Investing in professional help 46:05 Our favorite podcast titles 50:23 Our favorite podcast cover art 56:25 Perfect pairings of titles and cover art 01:01:32 Final thoughts and listener requests
Jobs to be Done: The Obscure Marketing Theory That Explains Why Podcasts Grow (& Exactly How to Apply It) | Podcast Listener Psychology
Episode 20
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 • Duration 58:22
Why do people listen to podcasts? And why do they listen to YOUR podcast (or one like yours)? It turns out, the answers to these questions can be found in a nerdy, obscure marketing concept called Jobs to Be Done Theory.
Jobs to Be Done Theory origins date back to the 1930s, but was more fully developed by Harvard Business School researched Clayton Christiansen—primarily through an iconic case study about milkshakes… and how people don’t buy milkshakes for the obvious reasons you might think.
But JTBD applies to much more than milkshakes. In fact, it applies to every product, service, piece of content—including podcasts—that any of us spend time, money, or attention to consume.
In this episode, we’ll break down how to apply JTBD theory to boost the effectiveness of your marketing by aligning your content, messaging, and packaging with the job your listeners are seeking out a show to do.
00:00 Case Study: How Justin “Hires” Different Shows 02:31 An Introduction to Jobs to Be Done Theory 08:24 The Importance of Emotional Resonance in Podcasts 13:06 Assessing Podcast Growth by “Job” 21:19 Understanding Listener Psychology 26:12 Understanding Trigger Events 30:39 Examples of Trigger Events 35:50 Challenges and Opportunities for Problem Solver Shows 41:36 Challenges and Opportunities for Pleasure Giver Shows 45:04 Leveraging Listener Behavior for Show Growth 51:50 Practical Examples of Podcast Jobs to Be Done
The Conflicting Data Behind Paid Podcast Growth Tactics | Podcast Promotion
Episode 19
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 • Duration 52:19
Its easy to imagine that if you just had a budget to put toward paid podcast advertising, all your marketing problems would be solved. But is that really true? Anyone who’s ever done any advertising will quickly tell you its one of the most gruelling, creatively challenging marketing practices on the planet—one where you have to be ok with burning a large amount of cash up front to figure out what (if anything works). That said if you approach it with a bit of savvy… paid advertising can be a sneaky smart way to grow.
00:00 Does advertising actually work? 01:39 Our personal experience with advertising 08:35 Understanding advertising metrics 11:24 Podcast advertising platforms & methods 22:22 Real vs fake listeners 25:00 Advertising pitfalls to watch out for 25:39 Best practices for podcast ads 25:56 Crafting effective ads 29:16 Retargeting strategies 32:33 Multi-touchpoint ad campaings 34:37 Advanced advertising techniques 44:21 How we’d allocate a $10k budget
The Hidden Dynamics That Make Growing a Podcast Different From Any Other Content Channel | Podcast Listener Psychology
Episode 18
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 • Duration 52:00
Beneath the surface of every creative medium is a hidden code. Like DNA, this code dictates the constraints and possibilities of what’s possible within that platform. Like any platform, podcasting has its own code. The problem is most creators don’t understand the unique platform dynamics, constraints, and psychology baked into the medium… which makes it hard—if not impossible—to grow. Fortunately, once you’re able to decipher the code—of podcasting or any other platform—you unlock your potential for growth and ROI.
Topics Covered
00:00 Understanding podcast’s platform dynamics 01:58 Listener bandwidth 05:57 The data on podcast consumption 08:29 Platform constraints & listener psychology 15:37 The pros & cons of podcasting’s built-in intertia 22:13 Host-led vs concept-led growth 25:46 What do listeners expect from podcasting? 35:22 Are long podcasts actually better? 45:03 Our picks for best “podcasts”
⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: ⭐️
How Chasing Downloads Might Make It Harder to Grow (Here's What to Optimize for Instead) | Podcast Analytics
Episode 17
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 • Duration 46:09
For 74% of podcasters, downloads are the primary metric used to measure success. But should they be?
For years, downloads were one of the only ways creators could measure the reach and impact of their show. But over the past few years, we’ve been getting a slow but steady stream of new analytics tools and data points… many of which provide much more useful information about whether what we’re doing is working than downloads alone.
Topics Covered
00:00 Why do so many people care about downloads? 06:06 The case in favour of downloads 08:13 The shortcomings of downloads as a metric 09:02 How paid podcast promotion campaigns can ruin your analytics 10:22 Is listen time a better metric than downloads? 13:26 Alternative hard podcast metrics to track 17:36 Soft podcast metrics to track 28:17 Understanding leading & lagging indicators 38:21 How we combine metrics to measure success 42:36 One final obscure metric for you to track
Podcast Strategy The difference between an effective show—one that does the job you created it to do—and one that is an endless drain on your time, energy and bank account comes down to your strategy… or lack thereof.
Strategy is an oft-misunderstood term that encompasses, guides, and grounds the intentional decisions around every aspect of your show and marketing, including your show concept, positioning, format, content strategy, packaging, monetization strategy, promotion, and more.
In short, the answers to any marketing question are based in your strategy. Which means without a clearly defined strategy, you’re shooting in the dark, and unlikely to ever get the results you’re looking for from your podcast, whether that’s audience growth, customer acquisition, or both.
About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
Podcast Listener Psychology Understanding why people listen to podcasts—and why they stop—is an essential aspect of improving the efficiency of your marketing—ie. more growth with less effort. Listener psychology encompasses everything from understanding attention spans and content preferences to parasocial relationships and listening habits.
Most podcast creators focus exclusively on content without considering the baked in psychology that is hard-wired into their listeners. The result is unwittingly marketing your show on hard mode. Learn to understand the cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns that influence how all humans (including me, you, and all your listeners) discover, consume, and share podcast content, you can create shows that not only attract listeners but turn them into dedicated fans who recommend your podcast to others.
About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
Podcast Packaging You’ve probably heard that content is king. The problem is that no one—literally not one single listener—will consume your content without first passing through the gatekeeper that is your show’s “Packaging”—including your show title, cover art, episode titles, and descriptions.
While these elements are often afterthoughts to the podcast content itself, they have the power to single-handedly attract or repel would-be listeners, making them an unignorable aspect of podcast marketing strategy About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
Podcast Listener Psychology Understanding why people listen to podcasts—and why they stop—is an essential aspect of improving the efficiency of your marketing—ie. more growth with less effort.
Listener psychology encompasses everything from understanding attention spans and content preferences to parasocial relationships and listening habits. Most podcast creators focus exclusively on content without considering the baked-in psychology that is hard-wired into their listeners.
The result is unwittingly marketing your show on hard mode. Learn to understand the cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns that influence how all humans (including me, you, and all your listeners) discover, consume, and share podcast content, you can create shows that not only attract listeners but turn them into dedicated fans who recommend your podcast to others.
About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
About Podcast Analytics While podcast analytics might appear to be stuck in the stone age compared to platforms like YouTube, Google Analytics, and many social media platforms, there's a lot creators can learn about how to improve their shows and their marketing... if you know where to look.
Beyond podcast downloads, metrics like listen time, consumption rate, Spotify's podcast discovery dashboard, and more give us clues about the issues facing your show—and often tell you exactly how to navigate them. Which mean understanding your podcast analytics & metrics, and how they compare to industry benchmarks is an essential skill for marketing and growing your podcast.
About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
More on Podcast Analytics While podcast analytics might appear to be stuck in the stone age compared to platforms like YouTube, Google Analytics, and many social media platforms, there's a lot creators can learn about how to improve their shows and their marketing... if you know where to look.
Beyond podcast downloads, metrics like listen time, consumption rate, Spotify's podcast discovery dashboard, and more give us clues about the issues facing your show—and often tell you exactly how to navigate them. Which mean understanding your podcast analytics & metrics, and how they compare to industry benchmarks is an essential skill for marketing and growing your podcast.
About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
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