A surprisingly small number of podcasts are still in production.

Spotify recently announced it has 4.4 million podcasts on its platform. This intel was one of the few podcast-related numbers released in their quarterly report, which is troubling for many reasons. There was no specific data about the number of people listening to podcasts or other goodies. Last quarter, they told us 7% of all listening on the platform was to podcasts. This time, Spotify went for the biggest stat they could find: 4.4 million. While impressive in size, this number is hollow.

We all hear there are millions of podcasts, but a surprisingly small number of them are still in production. Almost half are abandoned after just a few episodes. Call it a by-product of Covid-19 or the reality that creating good content is hard.

Findings from April 2021

A year and a half ago, right in the middle of the pandemic, we took a deep dive into the big pile of podcasts to learn more. At the time, Apple Podcasts had roughly two million podcast titles. With more than a hunch that many of them were inactive, we joined forces with the perceptive Podnews.net editor James Cridland and put on our x-ray glasses. We produced a pair of posts that found that despite everyone repeating this comment, you’re really not competing against 2 million podcasts.

At the time, 44% had produced three or fewer episodes. That removed 880,000 of the two million podcasts right away. Then we focused on podcasts that had produced ten or more episodes and came up with 720k. By the time we drilled down to podcasts with ten or more episodes and a fresh one produced in the past week, we were down to 8% of the two million, or 156,000.

What’s Happening Today

We decided to take a fresh look and see where things stand today. The chart below compares the ratio of podcast titles produced from April 2021 and late July 2022, according to The Podcast Index.

Key Takeaways

Many of the results we found raised more than an eyebrow, but one finding blew us away— despite the large growth in podcast titles, the number of podcasts that have produced 10 or more episodes and produced an episode in the past week stayed the same as last year. Out of the big pile of 4 million podcasts on Podcast Index, only 155,764 met the criteria. That’s just under 4% of all the podcasts available.

Even with the growth of new podcasts, only 1,338,631 (32%) of shows have published ten or more episodes. Translation: most podcasts have not produced a lot of content. 

Is it head spinning that relatively, so few hit these thresholds? Yes and no. Podcasts come in different flavors and varieties. Many are short run series of just a few episodes, some are less prolific producers, some are seasonal. That said, the big enchilada: nearly half started a podcast and quickly stopped after fewer than 3 episodes. 

Other noteworthy findings:

·      47% of podcasts produced 3 or fewer episodes. Even with the doubling of podcasts in this study, the percent of “3 episodes and done” podcasts remains relatively the same as our last x-ray.  Last time it was 44%, now 47% (1,905,090)

·      12% of podcasts have been updated in the last 90 days. Of the 4 million titles in Podcast Index, 12% are fresh in the last 90 days. (475,529)

·      8% of podcasts have been updated in the last 30 days. Of the 4 million titles in Podcast Index, 8% are fresh in the last 30 days. (325,141)

·      7% of podcasts with over ten episodes have been updated over the last 30 days. The last 30 days is less rigor than our “past week” criteria shared above, and yet only 7% of this more “core” group has been recently updated. (282,444)

·      Comparing Apple(s) to Apples(s) - Out of curiosity, we looked at Apple Podcasts data from Podcast Industry Insights too. Despite a 20% increase (2m to 2.4m) in podcasts on the Apple platform from April 2021 to late July 2022, the percentage of shows that produced one, three or fewer, or ten or more episodes remains consistent with last year’s analysis. The numbers reflect the same trend as The Podcast Index’s larger base.

Putting These Numbers in Context

The 155,000 podcasts that produced 10 or more episodes and dropped an episode in the past week may seem small in relation to the universe of all podcasts created (and still available). Thinking about this in terms of other media might put it in perspective.

There were 559 new scripted shows on cable, streaming and broadcast outlets last year. 74,000 new audiobook tiles were published. Some were hits and others missed the mark. So, looking at the 4% of podcasts that met our criteria might seem like a deflating number when contrasting to Spotify’s hollow 4.4 million announcement, it still results in a fantastic amount of variety and choice of content.

 "The Podcast Index data is a goldmine for analysis like this, says Mr. Cridland. Even though it removes some dormant shows automatically, it still shows that there are a lot of great podcasts out there that have run their course and aren't being produced any more. The most popular podcasts are produced to a consistent schedule, and released every day or every week. Those are your real competition."

True that.

Good content in any form is hard to create and harder to sustain.  These numbers really bear this out. Next time, someone says “but there are over 4 million podcasts out there,” show them this sobering post. They might feel better, or worse.  

 @Podcast Movement this week

For the 5th time at Podcast Movement, we have assembled an all-star group of podcast executives to look at the big picture of the business of podcasting including advertising, ad tech, marketing and content trends. It is always a valuable and well attended session. It takes place Wednesday at 10:45am. Hope you can make it in person, or stream it. More info here