6 Reasons Why You’re Not Seeing Podcast Growth (+ How to Fix It)

What does it truly take to grow a successful podcast? 

As creators, we watch the likes of Call Her Daddy, The Jordan Harbinger Show, or Huberman Lab and wonder how we can get to that level of growth. 

And I can tell you right now that for every successful podcaster out there, it took years of consistent publishing, smart marketing strategies, and a deep understanding of their audience. So basically, as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as an overnight success… unless maybe you’re a celebrity or influencer. 

But even with that in mind, if you’ve been feeling stuck or your podcast’s growth has plateaued which can be quite common, this article is for you. We break down 6 reasons why you may not be seeing podcast growth and tips on how you can fix it. 

Let’s begin. 

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1. Lack of a clear niche 

If your podcast targets everyone then it’s really for no one. 

I often find myself in conversations with podcasters who think a broad target audience means more listeners. And yes, technically your target market for an audience is larger but typically a broader audience means fewer listeners and less dedication to your show. 

This isn’t surprising since podcast listeners choose shows that relate to a current interest, need, or challenge. With a broad audience, it’s tough to achieve any of those in an impactful way.

For example, let’s say you started a podcast about TV shows. This is incredibly broad – who’s your target? 

Now, what if instead, you started a podcast about reality TV? Ah okay, now we know your audience is for those who watch reality shows. Or you can go even further and say it’s a podcast about The Bachelor and Bachelorette series. 

With this podcast, your target market is so clear - fans of The Bachelor and Bachelorette. And now, those fans can easily tell the podcast is for them too. 

A clear, intentional podcast niche is a more effective way to attract and retain a dedicated audience. 

How to fix it: Lack of a clear niche 

Maybe you’ve realized your podcast is broad and through that, not retaining many listeners. No problem, let’s explore how you can fix this: 

1. Identify your unique angle: Consider what sets you apart from other podcasts in your space. What can you offer that others can’t? This could be a unique perspective, expertise, or a fresh take on a topic. Define that angle and build content around it.
2. Research your target audience: Understand who your ideal listener is and what they’re searching for. Look at forums, social media groups, and other podcasts to see what your audience is interested in. Use this to tailor your content to their needs and interests.
3. Create a content plan: Once you’ve identified your niche, develop a content plan that aligns with it. This ensures every episode stays focused and relevant. Avoid straying into topics that don’t fit your niche since this can confuse and alienate listeners.
4. Test and refine your niche: If you’re unsure about your niche, start with a broader topic and narrow it down based on audience feedback and metrics. Maybe a subtopic within your broader category resonates more with listeners, and you can pivot accordingly.
5. Communicate your niche clearly: Make sure your podcast branding, title, description, and episode titles reflect your niche. When potential listeners come across your podcast, they should immediately understand what it’s about and who it’s for.

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2. Inconsistent publishing schedule 

We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again, podcasts are a marathon and not a sprint. What this analogy means is that a successful podcast needs consistency. 

Irregular episode releases can lead to a loss of audience interest since they don’t know when to expect content from you. This impacts your show’s growth since listener retention will be extra challenging. 

On the flip side, a consistent publishing schedule helps maintain listener interest and establishes audience trust. When listeners know when to expect new episodes, it becomes easier to integrate your podcast into their routine, whether that’s during their morning commute, workout, or leisure time. Without this reliability, you risk losing your audience to other shows that provide that consistency.

How to fix it: Inconsistent publishing

Maintaining a consistent publishing schedule is crucial for building and retaining your podcast audience. Here’s how you can address this issue:

1. Set a realistic schedule: Choose a publishing frequency you can realistically maintain. Whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, it’s better to commit to a consistent schedule that works for you rather than overextending yourself and struggling to keep up.
2. Plan ahead: Build a content calendar that fits within your schedule. Use this calendar to outline episode topics, release dates, and promotional content. By planning, it makes it much easier to stay on track. 
3. Communicate with your audience: If you need to take a break or adjust your schedule, communicate this with your listeners. Being transparent about your release schedule helps manage expectations and maintains trust with your audience.
4. Automate where you can: Use tools to automate your podcast workflow. Many podcast hosting platforms allow you to schedule episodes in advance, so you don’t have to worry about manually publishing each time.
5. Stick to a routine: Establish a routine for your podcast production process, from research and recording to editing and publishing. A set process makes it easier to stick to a schedule and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

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3. No podcast marketing strategy

Many podcasters spend so much time and energy on creating each episode (as they should), that when they get to the point of needing to promote an episode, they’re tired. 

This means there often isn’t a built-out podcast marketing strategy. But the reality is that listeners aren’t going out of their way to find you, you need to get in front of them through the channels they hang out on (e.g. social media, newsletters, publications, etc.). So although it may seem daunting, podcasters need to focus on the marketing of their show to ensure they don’t stunt growth. 

Even by starting with just one tactic, like guesting on other podcasts, you’re at least beginning to invest effort into marketing and therefore, growth. 

How to fix it: No podcast marketing strategy

If you don’t have a marketing background, it can feel overwhelming to learn the ins and outs of growing any piece of content, especially a new medium like podcasts. But rest assured, here are a few ways to improve your podcast marketing: 

1. Start with a plan: A marketing plan helps to organize your channels, tactics, and ideas. In this plan, outline where you want to promote your podcast, for example, social media, newsletters, and collabs. Then break down how you’ll promote your show. 
2. Optimize for SEO: Podcast SEO should not be ignored. Add relevant keywords to podcast titles, descriptions, show notes, and other assets like blogs to increase the likelihood of your podcast appearing higher in search engine results and directories. 
3. Repurpose content: Any podcaster who isn’t repurposing marketing content is missing out. Transcribe podcast episodes and turn them into social media posts, blogs, infographics, video clips, etc. This gives content multiple touchpoints across platforms. 
4. Collaborate and cross-promote: Guesting and collaborating with other podcasters, brands, or industry influencers is among the most impactful ways to grow your podcast as it allows you to reach new audiences to help grow your existing listener base. 
5. Track and analyze performance: To effectively grow your audience, you must understand what tactics resonate, their preferences, and where they live online. This is why tracking and analyzing podcast marketing performance is so vital. 

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4. Neglecting SEO and discovery tools 

We mentioned it briefly above but failing to optimize your show for podcast SEO through titles, descriptions, show notes, and other assets like blogs is wasting a powerful discovery tactic. 

In 2019, Google began scanning audio files for searches, meaning your podcast can be a search result for keywords that relate to your show. This means podcast SEO occurs in two places, on search engines and within listening apps like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

Adding relevant keywords to podcast assets makes it easier for potential listeners to find your podcast and helps them understand if your show is relevant. 

But similar to the success of your podcast, strong SEO requires time and consistency. Adding relevant keywords to new episodes won’t necessarily result in being at the top of results. But over time through listener discovery and promotional efforts, your podcast and individual episodes can build a strong footing within keyword rankings.

How to fix it: Podcast SEO and discoverability  

By making SEO a priority, over time, these efforts will contribute to your podcast rising in search rankings, making it more discoverable and thus, converting more listeners. Here are some ways to improve your podcast’s discoverability and SEO: 

1. Identify relevant keywords: First things first, research keywords relevant to your podcast’s niche. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, and Moz will be your best friend here. Create a spreadsheet that stores the show and episode keywords. 
2. Optimize episode assets: Episode titles, descriptions, and show notes are prime locations for keywords. Ensure they’re not only keyword-rich (not keyword-stuffed) but also clear, concise, and easy for listeners to consume. 
3. Leverage transcripts: Transcriptions make your podcast more accessible to those who are hard of hearing and they can be the starting point for generating blogs, social media posts, website content, and much more, which all contribute to SEO performance. 
4. Don’t overlook podcast directories: Podcast directories like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts have search algorithms. This is where keywords in titles and descriptions become so important along with correct tagging. 
5. Utilize backlinks: Backlinks to your podcast and podcast assets improve your show’s search ranking. The more high-quality backlinks, the better, encourage guests, friends, and your professional network to share the podcast.

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5. Little to no engagement with your audience

Your podcast is only as good as your audience. A.K.A. Without an audience, your podcast isn’t going to grow.  

Invest time and energy into making your audience feel heard and connected to you. By not engaging with audiences through social media, email, distribution platforms like YouTube, or during episodes, you’re likely reducing retention. Your audience may feel like passive consumers rather than active participants. 

So beyond creating great content, you need to foster a sense of community. 

How to fix it: Lack of audience engagement 

For some, engaging with their audience is one of the most rewarding parts of podcasting. But for others, audience engagement can be draining. Below we outline five ways to fix a lack of audience engagement: 

1. Collaborate with audiences: Incorporate interactive elements like Q&A sessions, polls, or even share listener stories and reviews on episodes. This makes your audience feel directly connected and involved in the podcast. 
2. Add streams for two-way communication: Channels like social media or newsletters foster interactions with audiences. Take advantage of them to talk to listeners, share behind-the-scenes content, and spark discussions.
3. Build a listener community: Through a Facebook group, Discord server, Reddit community, or Slack channel, create a place for your listeners to interact with one another and you. They can also be used to share exclusive content. 
4. Create a routine: Just like creating and marketing your podcast, engagement should be consistent. Build a routine and hold yourself accountable to audience engagement by adding dedicated periods for interacting with audiences across channels and platforms.  
5. Regularly ask for feedback: If you don’t hear directly from your audience, then how do you know if you’re creating something of value to them? Actively use polls and surveys while having discussions with audience members to gather feedback. 

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6. Ignoring podcast analytics and feedback 

And finally, not paying attention to podcast analytics or listener feedback (which we covered above) is detrimental to the growth and thus success of your podcast. 

Podcast analytics and feedback give you valuable insights on ways to refine and improve your podcast strategy whether through your topics, format, guests, marketing, etc.

With podcast hosting platforms, listening apps, and analytics tools, you have no excuse to ignore data on your podcast. 

How to fix it: Ignoring podcast analytics and feedback

Using a mix of different listening apps, marketing tools, analytics platforms, or podcast hosting solutions, here are some ways to resolve a lack of podcast tracking: 

1. Set podcast goals: Before you even start recording, understand the goal of your show. Do you want to build a community, monetize, or drive listeners to a business offering? This will guide the podcast metrics to track. 
2. Focus on engagement metrics: Go beyond downloads and look at metrics that point to how listeners are engaging and resonating with your content like consumption rates and drop-off points. This informs where you should test new content or ideas.  
3. Experiment and iterate: Following the above point, use podcast data and feedback to experiment with your podcast’s format, guests, topics, etc. Then, see how the changes impact analytics. Does it increase or decrease performance? 
4. Track listener behavior over time: Sometimes we need to step back to get the full picture of performance. Don’t only analyze individual episode data, track performance over time to identify trends or shifts in engagement and retention. 
5. Benchmark against competitors: It’s always healthy to see how your show is stacking up against others in your niche. Every couple of months, benchmark your podcast and what data you can publicly find against competing shows. 

CoHost Tips: Through simple podcast hosting and management services along with key podcast analytics data like Advanced Audience Demographics, tracking links, unique listener dashboards, and consolidated consumption rates, CoHost supports podcasters in growing a successful show. 

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Start increasing podcast growth and performance 

Podcast growth takes a lot of trial and error. 

Try not to feel discouraged throughout your own show’s growth journey. It can be frustrating for many creators and it’s so common that there’s a term made for it: Podfade. Podfade happens when a podcaster creates multiple episodes, doesn’t see the results they want, or realizes the amount of work it takes to create the show, and they fade away. 

With the podcast growth tips above, we hope you equip yourself with the knowledge and confidence to build a thriving podcast. 

If you’re interested in learning more about podcast growth and how tools such as CoHost can support you, reach out to our team of experts.