Measuring Success for Your Year in Podcasting

Success isn’t a scoreboard of downloads, instead it’s a body of work you’re proud of, the skills you grew, and the new listeners who engaged with your podcast. As the year closes, we walk through a meaningful way of measuring your podcast’s success to ensure for an exciting and impactful  2026. 

If you have questions for the Podcaster Success team, email us at support@buzzsprout.com.

Keep podcasting!

Chapters

• 0:00 Reflecting On A Successful Year of Podcasting
• 1:08 What Skills Did you Learn This Year?
• 3:42 Direct Listener Interactions Matter
• 6:53 Enjoyment Is A Metric Of Success
• 8:29 Buzzsprout Playback And Next Steps

Transcript

Cara Pacetti: 0:00

Welcome to Podcasting Q&A, brought to you by the people at Buzzsprout. I'm your host, Cara Pacetti, and I'm bringing you the best tips and strategies to keep you podcasting with confidence. We are in our final days of 2025. And around this time of year, we hear from a lot of podcasters wrapping things up and setting goals for 2026. And their main question is, was I successful this year? Can I call this podcast a success? How do I know and how do I stack up compared to the rest? And the best way to keep podcasting in 2026 is to look back at 2025 and see what all you have accomplished. Allow that to build that confidence to keep going. And while download numbers are very relevant and are definitely used as one metric of success, I want you to join me in this episode and think a little bit outside of the box. I want to walk through a couple of different ways of measuring success that you may not be thinking of. First, I want to focus on skill development. Did you try new things this year? Did you learn any new skills? Or did you finally launch that podcast that you've been dreaming of? Think about where you are now. But what did that look like in January? Where were you? And what have you done? Maybe you interviewed somebody for the first time on your podcast, or maybe you were a guest on somebody else's podcast. That is a brand new skill that was unlocked for you. And maybe that episode only got a few downloads. But the experience and the new skill that you developed in doing that is going to carry you through so many more moments of growth. Maybe you used to outsource your editing and podcast promotion, or maybe even writing your scripts. And now you've brought that all in-house and you're doing that. Or maybe you've tried out a new editing software that you've never used before. Again, I don't know what your download numbers look like. But if you've learned new ways of producing your podcast and making it a little better than it was before, that is success. That is growth, and that should be celebrated. Maybe you have recognized that this podcast is a lot of fun and you want to keep doing it, but you're going to need some help because you are the original editor, promoter, writer, and host. So you've decided to give AI a try. What was once super intimidating has now become your greatest help. AI is now a part of your routine. It helps you to produce your episodes to get them out on time, and you are enjoying the process instead of feeling the weight and the stress of it all. And that is a step of growth again, because while it felt like you may have been stuck because it was all on you, now you have implemented a process that allows you to keep podcasting and to continue enjoying podcasting. Finally, maybe this was your first year launching that podcast. For the last three years, you've been daydreaming. What would the podcast look like? Who would host it? How would I do that? But in 2025, you did it. You launched the podcast. And for years to come, you will look back at your podcasting website and you will see established 2025 because this was the year that you did it and you launched your podcast. That is a huge success that should not be overlooked. Another measurement of success that I don't think is talked about enough is direct listener interactions. I would even argue that this is more powerful than download numbers. Think about it. If you have 200 downloads, but none of those listeners are reaching out to you, that is less impactful than having 20 or so listeners who are actively engaging with you and your podcast. And that can really set the tone for you as the podcaster. When you have direct listener interactions, it is so encouraging and it reminds you that your voice is being heard and that you're having an impact. Maybe your podcast was created in addition to a business that you are already running. Did sharing about your passion for your business and for your customers and why you're doing the work that you're doing, did that land you a customer for life who is appreciative because they know the story behind what it is that you're offering? That's a win. Another amazing way of interacting with your listeners is through fan mail. I want to know did you receive at least one fan mail this year? Fan mail can be encouraging because listeners will sometimes reach out just to let you know that they love your podcast and they are asking you, please don't stop, continue releasing content because I just love your show. Other times, fan mail can be a listener letting you know that your episode impacted them in a certain way. And that, again, is just so motivating because when you think you're speaking into a void and then you get a notification that someone was listening and what you said resonated with them, I mean, how much more motivation do you need to keep going? That is just so exciting. Other ways of receiving fan mail is when you, as the podcaster, are asking a question and you receive a response. So for podcasting Q&A, we put out questions. And when I receive fan mail letting me know that listeners heard my question and they are sharing what they want to see answered on a future episode, I'm so encouraged to do that. Producing content that creates action is very powerful and should feel very successful for you as the creator. I want to highlight some fan mail actually that I received that I was super excited about. 7689 from Florida wrote and said, Kara, thanks for your latest episode on sound bites. I've been using them after publishing my episodes, but never realized I could use it as a trailer for upcoming episodes. That was so encouraging to me because it reminds me that what I'm sharing in this podcast is landing with the audience that I'm speaking to. What I want is for my podcast to help other podcasters and make their journey enjoyable, make things easier. And when I received this fan mail, it was just very encouraging that we are getting it right. And so I appreciate you sending in that fan mail. And I just want to encourage our listeners here that if you've received even one fan mail message, don't run too quickly past that. That should feel like success for you. The last metric of success that I really want to drive home today is your overall enjoyment. Oftentimes we don't focus enough on enjoyment as a measurement of success, but the reality is that joy should be in the process. So something can and should be successful as long as you're enjoying the process. Did you enjoy the interviews you conducted? Did you enjoy crafting that perfect episode? Did you enjoy finding fun new ways to promote your work and letting your friends know about it? Are you proud of the content that you created? If you answered yes to any of those questions, I would say that you had a very successful year in podcasting. Regardless of your overall downloads, if you can answer yes to any of these and at the end of 2025 you are still enjoying this, you are doing it right and you are definitely successful. Since I mentioned at the beginning that this is a time of reflection, I want you to think back. What were your expectations going into podcasting? And how do you feel looking back on those now? Since this is also an opportunity for goal setting, I'd invite you to set some expectations for 2026 based on what we've talked about in today's episode. Maybe your initial goals were all around metrics, all around new listeners and downloads and reviews. And maybe those fell a little flat. But after hearing today's episode and after looking back on all of the work that you've accomplished, I would invite you to set some different expectations for 2026 and then check back in with us and let us know how things go next year. If you're hosted here with us at Buzzsprout, we have access to the analytics that really highlight all that you've done in 2025 for your podcast. As our gift to you, in early January, we will be releasing the 2025 Podcast Playback. This playback will celebrate everything you've created in 2025 in a fun way. For the best playback experience, I recommend downloading our Buzzsprout mobile app and you will see your playback available in just a few short weeks. I hope this episode gives you permission to celebrate your wins and encourages you to continue with your podcast next year. Our podcaster success team loves hearing success stories. So if you'd like to share your milestones with us, you could reach us by emailing support at buzzsprout.com. Like our featured fan mail message if you want to share which podcasting Q&A episode has helped you, or if there's a question you'd like us to answer on a future episode, just click the send us a text link in the show notes. Be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week. Have a very happy new year, and as always, keep podcasting.