For any podcaster starting out, the big thing you’ll want to know is how many downloads your podcast should be getting.
The problem is there’s no definitive answer and that can be frustrating.
Unfortunately, that means I can’t tell you either. But what I can do is help to provide a better understanding of just how many downloads is a good number for your podcast to be getting.
What do the stats say?
Let’s start by looking at the facts.
According to demandsage.com there are currently “over 5 million podcasts with over 70 million episodes between them.”
That’s a lot of podcasts for listeners to choose from.
The good news is that there are a lot of listeners, 464.7 million to be precise (again, according to demandsage.com), so there’s a good chance that someone will download your podcast.
In more good news, every podcast starts with zero listeners. So you’re in the same boat as Steven Bartlett, Fearn Cotton and every other podcaster in the world.
If you’re looking for a specific number, Buzzsprout did a study that revealed the top 1% of podcasts get an average of 3994 downloads in the first 7 days that an episode is released.
Furthermore, podcasts that get more than 335 downloads in their first 7 days are in the top 10% of podcasts and those who get more than 30 downloads are in the top 50%.
So as you can see, it doesn’t take a lot of downloads to put you in a good position.
How many downloads is good?
You could decide that your definition of good will be to be in the top 50%, 25% or 10% of podcasts – and I won’t stop you. But I’d urge you to make a decision based on your target audience and the goals you’ve set for your podcast.
Think about who you want your audience to be. You could even come up with an avatar for your perfect listener and give them a name if it helps.
Think about how old they are, what they do for work, where they live and what their interests are other than just your podcast’s topic.
Doing this will give you a better understanding of the type of person you’re aiming to attract to download your podcast. It will also give you an idea of how many people would potentially be interested in your podcast.
From there, you can then choose a number that you’d be happy with seeing on your downloads section of your podcast’s analytics page.
Don’t you need 10,000 downloads to be successful?
It’s true. Some platforms will only allow you to partner with their advertising team if you’re hitting a minimum of 10,000 downloads.
But that doesn’t define a podcast’s success.
Imagine there are 100 people listening to you talk right now. That’s a lot of people, right? Does that feel like a big enough number to be a success?
It might. It might not.
I know plenty of podcasts with much smaller listener numbers than 10,000 that do really well. They have a good community of listeners and get regular sponsorships or other types of support.
The important thing is to not let someone, or something else define what success looks like for you.
You set your own goals.
