Why Publishers Should Leverage Podcasts to Grow Their Audience

Last updated on Nov 18, 2022

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Why Publishers Should Leverage Podcasts to Grow Their Audience

It is quite common to see people with earphones plugged to their ears while performing any kind of solo activity. A few years ago, anyone would bet their money on these people listening to some kind of music. But now, the chances of them streaming some kind of Podcast is high.

Although podcasts have been a part of our digital universe since the mid-2000s, their popularity has spiked over the last few years. During the pandemic, people had a lot of spare time and a lot of mundane household chores. Plugging in earphones and listening to informative podcasts, while doing those chores turned out to be an efficient use of their time. According to Reuters Institute Digital News Report, podcasting has become a worldwide phenomenon, with 36% of those surveyed accessing a podcast each month and around 15% using a new podcast.

Some Interesting Podcast Statistics:

  • Today, there are 2.4 million podcasts globally with 66 million podcast episodes. 
  • There are 383.7 million podcast listeners globally. It is also predicted that by the end of 2022 there will be 424 million podcasts listeners worldwide. 

The sheer volume of subscribers have made podcasts a fairly popular medium for publishers to reach their target audience with limited investment. 

Reach Maximum Listeners 

There are over 2 million podcasts, so improving the discoverability of your podcast should be your top priority..

Similar to how videos are hosted on video platforms such as YouTube, Netflix etc. Podcasts have audio apps such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Castbox, and others that boast of millions of subscribers.

  • Categorisation Helps Drive Discovery For Listeners
    In podcast apps, all the podcasts are segregated in different genres like education, business, lifestyle, true crime, books etc. This segregation helps podcast discoverability and also connects the right kind of audience to an appropriate podcast. This is one way of getting your podcasts noticed. This makes your podcast accessible to people looking for content similar to yours.

Man listening to podcastSource: Pixabay

  • Transcribing Aids SEO
    Podcasts with a transcription help search engines guide audiences to your content. A transcription also helps listeners share a certain quote or an interesting snippet from the episode on to social media driving engagement further. You can use an AI enabled speech-to-text tool to do it. This will indeed help maximise the reach of the podcast.
  • Consistency Fuels Growth  

    Being consistent with your podcasts will help it rank higher in podcasting apps, further increasing the amount of eyeballs it grabs. It is a slow process but it is extremely rewarding. To achieve this, research and plan the content well in advance. Consistency pays off in terms of discoverability. 

Also Read: 6 Best WordPress Podcast Plugins For Your Website In 2022

Drives Traffic Organically

Your listeners choose to listen to your podcast, so your are reaching out to a very focused audience. These listeners are easier to engage and are likely to convert into site visitors if you drive them to a relevant news article. According to a Nielsen report dedicated podcast listeners prefer to listen to history and news podcasts. For a news publisher, a weekly podcast can become a source of steady website traffic.

While writing the description of podcasts, it is a good practice to add links of your website that add more value to the conversation in the podcast. You can also run promotions on your podcasts, such as paywall discounts for your listeners. This will help convert your focused audience into paying customers. So you not only grow traffic, but also revenue.

In-depth Storytelling  

 At times there is a lot to say about a particular topic, but no one wants to watch an hour long video nor do people want to read a 5000-word article. If you think of producing such content anyway, it requires a significant amount of time. Podcasts are completely different in this aspect, it is the most-efficient. Through a podcast you get to narrate a story without it taking a significant amount of time to produce. 

Since podcasters have the liberty to be creative with their content, even difficult subjects can be broken down and simplified. Different styles of storytelling can be used to make a podcast interesting and engaging. 

Powerful storytelling also helps connect the podcast host with the audience keeping them hooked throughout the episode. It also helps build a loyal follower base in the long run.

Also Read: Own Thy Audience

Podcasts Can Be Repurposed

Podcasts on their own have multiple uses. The content of the podcast can be leveraged across social media platforms to get more traffic for your website. Small snippets from the podcast can be shared on social media as Tweets or Instagram posts. This will help to get listeners for the podcast as well as draw attention to your core business. 

podcast mic recordingSource: Pixabay

Videos can be repurposed into podcasts, so you can reach out to a wider audience across different formats. For example, if you have a good conversational video, it can be easily converted into an audio only format and can be uploaded as a podcast. This won’t take much production time, but will reduce effort and resources for your podcast.

Good infographics can be made from important data points discussed on the podcast and shared on social media as well. The transcripts of podcasts can be easily converted into a blog post.

 Building Thought Leadership and Brand Recall via Podcast

Thoroughly researched podcasts with good quality content will help create your niche in the podcasting world. Listeners will start associating you with the subject. This will help create thought leadership in the space as well as benefit your publication. 

In conclusion, podcast is the booming medium that can help your brand get recognised and will also help it grow. It’s a low-cost and less effort method to easily reach millions of listeners. Just understand the basics of podcasting and start leveraging it for the growth of your business.



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Ashwini Priolker
Ashwini Priolker
Ashwini Priolker is a former business journalist. She has worked with organizations like BQ Prime, (formerly known as BloomebergQuint), CNBC-TV18 and NDTV. She is now a freelance writer and a content creator. Furthermore, she also runs a Bookstagram page and a Book Blog as her passion project.

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