How to Really Measure the ROI of a Podcast

Question: “How many subscribers does your podcast get?”

Answer: “I don’t know.”

Question: “How can you measure its success?”

Answer: Well, it’s complicated (but not really).

A podcast is a mysterious creature for data-driven marketers.

Having many listeners is great, but other benefits are more valuable.

For one, a podcast provides permission to ask anyone to be a guest.

It could be a prospect, customer, partner, blogger, or influencer.
Podcasts are digital catnip.

Most people have a difficult time saying “no.” People like to talk, and a podcast meets that desire beautifully.

Since I launched my Marketing Spark podcast two years ago, very few people (I’m talking about you, Scott Galloway) have turned me down.

As important (and this should be obvious), podcasts generate a ton of content that can be repurposed into:

Blog posts (and variations) on Reddit, Medium and SubStack)
– LinkedIn posts
– Twitter updates
– Videos for TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram
– Infographics
– eBooks

But wait, there’s more: podcasts can be low-cost content to create.

My podcast stack consists of:
– Sounder for hosting: $10/month
– Audacy, Inc. for editing: free
– Descript for video editing and caption: $20/month
– Zencastr to record audio and video: free

The biggest investment (aside from professional production costs) is time and effort.

You need to develop ideas for guests and invite and schedule them.

You have to create questions for guests and conduct the interviews.

Then, you need to edit the audio and video.

And distribute and promote and repurpose into other content.

It’s a lot of work, but the ROI can be amazing.

Want to launch a podcast? Check out my free guide on how to build one from scratch.