✊ The odds are stacked against you... (but there's a way to change that)
Published 2 months ago • 3 min read
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Hi friends,
The odds are stacked against you.
You don’t have to look far to find stats to prove it.
Here are a few when it comes to podcasting:
75% of podcasts don’t make it to episode 10… and half of the ones that do don’t make it to episode 20
The median podcast gets 30 dl/ep… and even a top 1% show only gets ~2,000 dl/ep
Rough estimates suggest that perhaps just 1–3% of indie shows even break even on their production costs, let alone make significant income
The stats in other creative fields aren’t much better:
85–90% of YouTube channels stop publishing within a year
Most blogs only publish 1–5 posts before becoming inactive
One in ten label-released albums makes its money back… with the same being true for movies and venture-backed startups.
And then there’s the world of business, where:
20% of businesses fail in the first year
50% fail by year 5
And 65% fail within 10 years
Hmm...
No doubt about it, making a living from creative work is a daunting task.
But here’s the thing.
The stats are lying.
Or at least, they’re not telling the whole story.
Because while it’s clear that the shows that break through are the exceptions to the rule…
And that they are often made by creators who are exceptional themselves in several distinct and important ways…
Many of those exceptional qualities—of both the shows and the people—can be learned, adopted, and refined by anyone.
Which is when the odds of success begin to tip from one-in-a-million… almost to the point of inevitability.
In this season-finale episode of Podcast Marketing Trends Explained, we break down and explore the traits of the truly exceptional shows—and more importantly—the creators behind them that we can all apply to stack the decks in our favour.
To all you exceptional readers and listeners, thanks for following along this season.
It's been an enlightening one for me personally, and I hope it has been for you as well.
If you're feeling generous, hit reply and let me know something this season of the show has got you thinking about.
Stay Scrappy,
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Whenever you're ready to get serious about growth for your show and business, here are three ways we can work together:
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Work with me privately (Next Availability: August 2025) ​ ​If you're a coach, consultant, service provider, or online educator who's been producing your show for at least a year, have a proven product or service, and are looking for help converting more listeners into clients and growing your show, send me an email with the subject line "Podcast Growth Engine". Tell me a bit about your show, your business, and what you'd like to work on together and I'll get you all the relevant details on how we can work together to add $1k-$5k/mo in podcast-driven revenue to your business within 8 weeks and then scale up from there.
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