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View Full Version : How many Subscribers should a podcast have?



jamesdelfresco
07-25-2012, 06:32 PM
I have heard from a few members that having a 1000 subscribers to your podcast mean you have enough of a following to make money from the show. Is that true? What on average do you have?

podcastcoach
07-26-2012, 12:13 PM
I just got feedback from a new subscriber who has 1000 downloads after 10 episodes. Another person who started three months ago is getting around 400 downloads and episode. The question is how many downloads do you need to press record? In general you should be able to podcast for zero downloads (as we all start with zero downloads). Start a podcast because you have a passion about your topic. Gary Vanderchuck in his book Crush It (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061914177/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061914177&linkCode=as2&tag=sop-20)says to not even look at stats for the first year.

It also depends on your topic, and your nice. A podcast about Sled Dog Racing will have a smaller number of downloads, but a very loyal audience (as there aren't 400 podcasts about Sled Dog Racing). The other question is what will you be doing to promote it. Just listing it in iTunes is not going to get you on Oprah. You need to understand who is listening, go to where they are, make friends with them, and tell them about your podcast.

My podcast about Podcasting has had over 700,000 downloads in 7 years.
My podcast about weight loss gets about 1500 downloads an episode
My podcast about Web Tools gets about 300 downloads an episode
My podcast review show is new, it gets about 100 downloads and episode
My podcast about Music Marketing gets about 300 downloads an episode

A client of mine released his first episode it got 22 downloads. That doesn't sound like many. But it would be the same as a teacher in front of a classroom. His second episode has 72 downloads.

How many downloads should a podcast have?
As many as their content dictates.