In this episode, I get into the impact of taking an extended break from podcasting and how it affects your show’s growth, audience engagement, and completion rates. Here are the main takeaways:

• I discuss a situation where a podcast grew to 500 downloads per episode but lost half its audience after taking a year-long break. Even with improved audio quality and more polished episodes after returning, both downloads and completion rates suffered.
• Consistency is key. I emphasize how taking long breaks can significantly set you back, comparing it to putting your finger in a leaky bucket – once you take it out, the water (your audience) drains away.
• Switching to a biweekly episode schedule can help maintain consistency if that’s all you can manage with your workload, but it may slow growth.
• If you notice completion rates dropping, it’s a sign something may not connect with your current content. Sometimes we’re too close to our own work, so getting outside feedback is crucial.
• I suggest finding a friend or colleague who matches your target audience to get honest feedback on your episodes.
• Numbers don’t lie! Data can reveal hard truths that help you improve.
• If you need help starting, growing, or monetizing your podcast, I offer consulting at School of Podcasting. Use the coupon code listener for a discount!
• You can also check out Podcast Hot Seat, which currently includes a Black Friday deal with a free month at the School of Podcasting.

If you’re looking for feedback, growth strategies, or just a friendly ear that understands the journey – I’m here to help! Let’s see what we can accomplish together.

URLs mentioned:

• School of Podcasting (Coupon Code: listener)
• Podcast Hot Seat

Thanks for listening! I can’t wait to help you take your podcast to the next level.

Mentioned in this episode:

Get Your Show Growing

I once had a typo in the name of my show. I didn't see it. I'm too close. Your show may have some things that need polish. Get an objective overview at www.podcasthostseat.com AND get a free month at the School of Podcasting

Podcas Hot Seat

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

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One of the reasons I always talk about having a lot of passion for your

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subject is along the way you will do something or

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things may change in life that have you losing some of your audience.

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So I saw this on Reddit and it says we launched our

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podcast in 2023 and built it up to around 500

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downloads per episode with really good completion rates.

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We were doing weekly episodes, documentary style

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deep dives targeting British women that were over the age

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of 40. Myself and my co host, we don't do

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guests, just heavily researched cultural analysis.

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Then life happened. We ended up taking a year off.

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By the point we had done 40 plus episodes.

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We said to our listeners we were taking a break and coming

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back. Now they don't say what year this was, but if they

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were doing weekly, they hadn't even done a

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year. So they took a year off.

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That is a long time. And

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it says, when we came back season five, we

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lost easily half our audience. We're now doing

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bi weekly episodes because that's what we can manage with the

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amount of research we do. And here's what's really bizarre.

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The quality is actually better now. I

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think I'm editing it myself, putting more time

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into production. The episodes are more polished and professional,

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but our completion rate has gone down too.

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No, not just the overall numbers. It feels like

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that year off completely killed our momentum.

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Even our loyal base seems less engaged. I know

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consistency is everything with podcasts, but it's

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dispiriting when you're doing objectively better work

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and getting worse results. I'm planning to try

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podcast to podcast advertising in the new year since

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the social media reach has been dismal. But I'm

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wondering, has anyone taken a long break and successfully

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rebuilt what worked Is biweekly, just

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not frequent enough to maintain momentum, or did that gap

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basically reset everything and we're starting from scratch?

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Okay, so first things first. You said you did 40 plus

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episodes and you were doing them weekly, so you hadn't even gone

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a year and then you took a year off. And I'm here to tell

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you that's really bad. And so one

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thing I would say, instead of saying I lost 50% of my

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audience, flip that I'm lucky that I

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saved 50% of my audience. And then you say, has anyone taken

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a Long break and successfully rebuilt. Well, don't

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look at from as if you made it to the 50

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yard line and you're starting from the 50 yard line. The bad

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news is the ringing of an audience in your

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ears is still there and they are gone. And

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so you're not starting from the 50, you're

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starting from like the 10. You've, you've gone back considerably.

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And then the other thing you say you feel the

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content is better and you even say, I think

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but you went in and looked and said, hey, our

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completion rate is not as good. So let's just take that out of

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podcasting. I used to give people a 16 ounce

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bottle of, let's say Coke, okay, here you go. And they would drink the

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whole thing, like not a drop left. Now I hand

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them a bottle of the same, you know, soda, and they're only

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drinking half of it or whatever. Well, logic says

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it's not as good. There's something not as good

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with your content. Or maybe the people that stuck around weren't the

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super fans, but on the other hand, they were super fans. They would have

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stuck around. But the other thing you're taking

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seasons. I am not a fan of seasons.

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Seasons are made for people with teams of, you know, 18

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that fly around the world to get their stories. I do

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very much like the fact that you've gone to a bi

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weekly schedule. Why? Because that's

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all you can do and you can stay consistent there. But when you take

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a season and then you take a month or two off

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again, time off is just so bad. Think of

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it like putting your finger in a bucket that has a hole.

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The minute you take your hand away, that bucket is going to start to drain.

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And so when you come back and you go, hey, where'd all the water go?

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Well, your finger was, you know, plug in the hole and when you moved it,

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all the water ran away. The longer you are away,

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the more water goes out the bottom of that bucket. So

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for me, I think seasons, I just plan accordingly.

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When I have to, you know, go out on the road or something, I just

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record more episodes. Is it hard? Yeah. What's your

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point? You gotta plan accordingly. And I realize

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you said life happens and it does, but

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the thing you've learned here, and that's really the big

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takeaway, is not what you lost, but what

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you've learned. And you've learned many things. Number one,

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don't take time off unless you have to

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find a schedule that works for you. So you went from weekly to bi weekly.

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That's good. Now, is that going to grow slower? Yeah, of course it is.

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But also you've learned that the completion

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rate is going down. That's not good either, because you're trying to grow an audience

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that maybe isn't that crazy about your work. So look at the

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old episodes before you were the editor and look

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at them now. And maybe because you're the editor,

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you've lost some of your objectivity. So you want to find somebody

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who's not listening to your show but should and ask

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them if they would be kind enough and listen to an episode and

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give you honest feedback. Because there is something

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wrong with the content and that's hard to hear.

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But data often doesn't lie. You know, the

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numbers don't lie. So that would be my advice, is get some

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people to listen to it, get some feedback. Because it may be,

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and this is often the case, even with myself, that we are too

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close to our own content and we ignore the data that says,

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hey, we're not listening as far. So there's something

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that's making people tune out. And if they're tuning out early,

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they're much, much, much less likely to share this

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with a friend. Now, if you need help with this, I've been

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podcasting for 20 years. I help podcasters. It's what

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I do. And I'll be the first to say I've seen things in my own

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content. I'm like, oh, wow, I missed that. You need an outside point

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of view. And if you need help starting your podcast, growing your

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podcast, monetizing your podcast, I do all of this

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in one location. That's@schoolofpodcasting.com

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Use the coupon code listener. I would love to

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see what you and I can do together. If you already have a

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podcast, check out Podcast Hot Seat. I've got a

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Black Friday deal going on over there that does include a

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free month of the School of Podcasting. I'm Dave

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Jackson. I help podcasters. It's what I do. And I can't wait

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to see what we're going to do together because I want to be

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your podcast consultant.