Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategies
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategies

Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategies

Jeremy Enns & Justin Jackson | Podcast Growth, Marketing & Promotion Experts

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Episodes

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It's easier than ever to launch and produce a podcast. But it's never been harder to grow one. On this show, we break down and explore what the data says about what it takes to market and grow a podcast in 2025 to help you make smarter decisions about your show, grow faster, and earn more. Together, cohosts—and longtime podcasters, creators, and marketers—Jeremy Enns (Podcast Marketing Academy) and Justin Jackson (Transistor.fm) explore topics like: How do you define success for your podcast? What are the most effective marketing strategies, tactics, and growth channels for podcasts? What does the data say about how to structure your show and episodes? Which social media channels should you focus on as a podcaster? How do you stack up to other shows? Using the data uncovered by the annual Podcast Marketing Trends Report, our goal is to make sense of the numbers and turn them into actionable insights that you can use to create a better show and market it more effectively. You can find the latest report at podcastmarketingtrends.com.

Recent Episodes

The Obscure Marketing Theory That Explains Why Podcasts Grow (& Why Most Marketing Fails) | Podcast Listener Psychology
MAR 26, 2025
The Obscure Marketing Theory That Explains Why Podcasts Grow (& Why Most Marketing Fails) | Podcast Listener Psychology

Why do people listen to podcasts? And why do they listen to YOUR podcast (or one like yours)? It turns out, the answers to these questions can be found in a nerdy, obscure marketing concept called Jobs to Be Done Theory.

Jobs to Be Done Theory origins date back to the 1930s, but was more fully developed by Harvard Business School researched Clayton Christiansen—primarily through an iconic case study about milkshakes… and how people don’t buy milkshakes for the obvious reasons you might think.

But JTBD applies to much more than milkshakes. In fact, it applies to every product, service, piece of content—including podcasts—that any of us spend time, money, or attention to consume.

In this episode, we’ll break down how to apply JTBD theory to boost the effectiveness of your marketing by aligning your content, messaging, and packaging with the job your listeners are seeking out a show to do.


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Topics Covered

00:00 Case Study: How Justin “Hires” Different Shows 
02:31 An Introduction to Jobs to Be Done Theory 
08:24 The Importance of Emotional Resonance in Podcasts 
13:06 Assessing Podcast Growth by “Job” 
21:19 Understanding Listener Psychology 
26:12 Understanding Trigger Events 
30:39 Examples of Trigger Events 
35:50 Challenges and Opportunities for Problem Solver Shows 
41:36 Challenges and Opportunities for Pleasure Giver Shows 
45:04 Leveraging Listener Behavior for Show Growth 
51:50 Practical Examples of Podcast Jobs to Be Done


⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️

Resources Mentioned
Clayton Christensen

Ezra Klein
Freakonomics

Ramit Sethi
Dave Ramsey 

Mel Robbins

Joe Rogan

LeVar Burton Reads 



Additional Resources

Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained

Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report

Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter

Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days


✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback

Podcast Listener Psychology
Understanding why people listen to podcasts—and why they stop—is an essential aspect of improving the efficiency of your marketing—ie. more growth with less effort.

Listener psychology encompasses everything from understanding attention spans and content preferences to parasocial relationships and listening habits. Most podcast creators focus exclusively on content without considering the baked-in psychology that is hard-wired into their listeners.

The result is unwittingly marketing your show on hard mode. Learn to understand the cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns that influence how all humans (including me, you, and all your listeners) discover, consume, and share podcast content, you can create shows that not only attract listeners but turn them into dedicated fans who recommend your podcast to others.

About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.

On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.

The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.


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58 MIN
The Cheapest (& Most Expensive) Ways to Grow Your Show Via Paid Advertising | Podcast Promotion
MAR 19, 2025
The Cheapest (& Most Expensive) Ways to Grow Your Show Via Paid Advertising | Podcast Promotion

Its easy to imagine that if you just had a budget to put toward paid podcast advertising, all your marketing problems would be solved. But is that really true? Anyone who’s ever done any advertising will quickly tell you its one of the most gruelling, creatively challenging marketing practices on the planet—one where you have to be ok with burning a large amount of cash up front to figure out what (if anything works). That said if you approach it with a bit of savvy… paid advertising can be a sneaky smart way to grow.


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Topics Covered

00:00 Does advertising actually work? 
01:39 Our personal experience with advertising 
08:35 Understanding advertising metrics 
11:24 Podcast advertising platforms & methods 
22:22 Real vs fake listeners 
25:00 Advertising pitfalls to watch out for 
25:39 Best practices for podcast ads 
25:56 Crafting effective ads 
29:16 Retargeting strategies 
32:33 Multi-touchpoint ad campaings 
34:37 Advanced advertising techniques 
44:21 How we’d allocate a $10k budget


⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️

Resources Mentioned
Jay Clouse's The Lab
Corey Haines and SwipeFiles
Kattie Laur and Pod the North
Terry O'Reilly and the podcast "Under the Influence"


Additional Resources

Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained

Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report

Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter

Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days


✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback

About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.

On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.

The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.


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52 MIN
The Hidden Dynamics That Make Growing a Podcast Different From Any Other Content Channel | Podcast Listener Psychology
MAR 12, 2025
The Hidden Dynamics That Make Growing a Podcast Different From Any Other Content Channel | Podcast Listener Psychology

Beneath the surface of every creative medium is a hidden code. Like DNA, this code dictates the constraints and possibilities of what’s possible within that platform. Like any platform, podcasting has its own code. The problem is most creators don’t understand the unique platform dynamics, constraints, and psychology baked into the medium… which makes it hard—if not impossible—to grow. Fortunately, once you’re able to decipher the code—of podcasting or any other platform—you unlock your potential for growth and ROI.

Topics Covered

00:00 Understanding podcast’s platform dynamics
01:58 Listener bandwidth
05:57 The data on podcast consumption
08:29 Platform constraints & listener psychology
15:37 The pros & cons of podcasting’s built-in intertia
22:13 Host-led vs concept-led growth
25:46 What do listeners expect from podcasting?
35:22 Are long podcasts actually better?
45:03 Our picks for best “podcasts”

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⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️

Resources Mentioned
Pocket Casts
Money for Couples Podcast by Ramit Sethi
Jay Clouse and his Creator Science Show
Conversations with Tyler by Tyler Cowen
Professor G Podcast by Scott Galloway
Three Books Podcast
Ologies Podcast
Good One: A Podcast About Jokes
How I Write by David Perell
Making Sense by Sam Harris


Additional Resources

Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained

Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report

Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter

Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days


✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback

About Podcast Analytics
While podcast analytics might appear to be stuck in the stone age compared to platforms like YouTube, Google Analytics, and many social media platforms, there's a lot creators can learn about how to improve their shows and their marketing... if you know where to look.

Beyond podcast downloads, metrics like listen time, consumption rate, Spotify's podcast discovery dashboard, and more give us clues about the issues facing your show—and often tell you exactly how to navigate them. Which mean understanding your podcast analytics & metrics, and how they compare to industry benchmarks is an essential skill for marketing and growing your podcast.

About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.

On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.

The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.


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52 MIN
How Chasing Downloads Might Make It Harder to Grow (Here's What to Optimize for Instead) | Podcast Analytics
MAR 5, 2025
How Chasing Downloads Might Make It Harder to Grow (Here's What to Optimize for Instead) | Podcast Analytics

For 74% of podcasters, downloads are the primary metric used to measure success. But should they be?

For years, downloads were one of the only ways creators could measure the reach and impact of their show. But over the past few years, we’ve been getting a slow but steady stream of new analytics tools and data points… many of which provide much more useful information about
whether what we’re doing is working than downloads alone.

Topics Covered

00:00 Why do so many people care about downloads?
06:06 The case in favour of downloads
08:13 The shortcomings of downloads as a metric
09:02 How paid podcast promotion campaigns can ruin your analytics
10:22 Is listen time a better metric than downloads?
13:26 Alternative hard podcast metrics to track
17:36 Soft podcast metrics to track
28:17 Understanding leading & lagging indicators
38:21 How we combine metrics to measure success
42:36 One final obscure metric for you to track

📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote:
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Nailed It!
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⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️

Resources Mentioned
7 Obscure Podcast Metrics to Track
Bumper
Anne Handley
Podcast Movement
PodScan 
Podchaser
Open Podcast Prefix Project


Additional Resources

Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained

Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report

Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter

Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days


✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback

More on Podcast Analytics
While podcast analytics might appear to be stuck in the stone age compared to platforms like YouTube, Google Analytics, and many social media platforms, there's a lot creators can learn about how to improve their shows and their marketing... if you know where to look.

Beyond podcast downloads, metrics like listen time, consumption rate, Spotify's podcast discovery dashboard, and more give us clues about the issues facing your show—and often tell you exactly how to navigate them. Which mean understanding your podcast analytics & metrics, and how they compare to industry benchmarks is an essential skill for marketing and growing your podcast.

About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.

On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.

The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.


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46 MIN
Two Hidden Data Points That Predict Podcast Growth (& Tell You Exactly How to Accelerate It) | Podcast Discovery
FEB 26, 2025
Two Hidden Data Points That Predict Podcast Growth (& Tell You Exactly How to Accelerate It) | Podcast Discovery

A podcast listener's decision to click play boils down to a small number of touchpoints.

Most prominent are your show title, artwork, and episode titles. But while these (and other) touchpoints have always had a significant impact on listener acquisition, we've never had a way to track it.

Until now.

In 2024, Spotify rolled out a new discovery dashboard, giving us as creators a new set of metrics to understand how listeners flow through our listener acquisition funnel.

The best part is that if you know how to interpret the data this dashboard provides, it gives you a map of exactly what you need to do you improve your listener acquisition and grow your show.

Here's what you need to know.


📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote:
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Nailed It!
🙂
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Do better


⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️

Resources

Spotify Conversion Rate Benchmarks Report
How a Podcast Cover Art Redesign Helped Growth Mindset Psychology Grow 45% in One Month (+2,000 Downloads/Episode)

Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained

Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report

Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter

Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days

✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback

More on Podcast Analytics
While podcast analytics might appear to be stuck in the stone age compared to platforms like YouTube, Google Analytics, and many social media platforms, there's a lot creators can learn about how to improve their shows and their marketing... if you know where to look.

Beyond podcast downloads, metrics like listen time, consumption rate, Spotify's podcast discovery dashboard, and more give us clues about the issues facing your show—and often tell you exactly how to navigate them. Which mean understanding your podcast analytics & metrics, and how they compare to industry benchmarks is an essential skill for marketing and growing your podcast.

About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.

On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.

The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.

Get in touch: jeremy(at)podcastmarketingacademy.com


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42 MIN