Counting Episodes: Just How Many Do We Listen To?

So it's question of the month time, and I hear all these different reports, how podcasting is saturated, that everyone who listens to podcasts has found enough. So I asked you, how many podcasts do you listen a week and then how many different shows make up those episodes?And I didn't realize at the time until I did this experiment. That's not an easy question to answer. But you did, and we're going to hear about it today. Hit it, ladies. The school of podcasting with Dave Jackson.Podcasting since 2005. I am your award winning hall of fame podcast coach, Dave Jackson, thanking you so much for tuning in.If you're new to the show, you're listening to the longest running podcast about podcasting in the world. Been doing it for 20 years. And I love to tell you how to plan, launch and grow your podcast.And today we're kind of looking at growth because we keep kind of hearing that maybe we all have enough podcasts to listen to that it's saturated. And I'm kind of like, well, I'm not sure about that because every January, new diet books come out and they don't typically say anything new.They'll come up with something like the popcorn diet or whatever.And it's usually along the lines of you don't have to change your diet, you don't have to exercise and you'll lose weight, which is always a bunch of hoo eat, as my grandmother used to say. So today we are looking at how many episodes do you listen a week, and of those, how many shows do you listen to?So we're gonna dig into people's listening habits to see if they go along with some of the reports that we are getting. And we're gonna start it off with everyone's favorite pharmacist, the one and only Kim Newlove.

I would say that I listen to about 14 episodes per week, and that would be seven different shows. I have way more than that on my podcast player, but I would say that's about right. I listen to about 14 episodes per week from seven different shows.They're not always the same seven shows. It just kind of depends. I have an embarrassingly large number of shows in my Apple podcasts player app.I'm peeling back the curtain just in case anybody else is in the same situation. I follow some shows and they only publish every once in a great while. So when they actually publish something, I want to hear from them.Back when I started my podcast back in 2019, I only listened to four different podcasts. Because I was just getting started listening. I listen to far more now than I used to, like six years ago, before I became a podcaster too.I think the combination of wanting to know what a good podcast sounds like and also just getting information and edutainment was my reason for listening to podcasts throughout the years. So as my why for listening changed, I also changed the number of podcasts I listened to. Before I had my own podcast.I only listened to a few to get some information, information and, you know, edutainment. Then like I said, I started my own podcast. So I wanted to hear what good podcasts sounded like.And once I discovered some good podcasts, well, I just kept on listening. My name is Kim newlove. I host two shows. The first show that I started back in 2019 is called the Pharmacist's Voice.We talk about pharmacy topics and careers. You can find that@the pharmacistsvoice.com and my second show, which I started in 2020, is a local podcast called the Perrysburg Podcast.We talk about what's in Perrysburg and why people like to live here. It is a resource for the Perrysburg community.You can find the perrysburg podcast@harrysburgpodcast.com thanks for all you do for podcasters everywhere, Dave, and happy podcasting everyone.

Thank you, Kim. Yeah, I'm listening to these with you the first time here. So 14 episodes from seven different shows.I'm going to be really interested to hear what people's different patterns are. Next up, we're going to go to the one and only, the king of podcast editors, Mr. Steve Stewart.

Hey, Dave. Hey SOP family. It's Steve Stewart from Stevestewart Me, where I edit podcasts for personal finance content creators.And I'm the co founder of the Podcast Editor Academy, where we teach people how to create a business as a service provider in the podcasting space. The underlying question here is really how many podcasts or how much podcast content do you listen to in a typical week?I had to do some math on this. Boy, it's a lot of work.Overcast has this list feature in there, but I wasn't able to figure out if it could tell me, like how many episodes and stuff like that. So if there's a way, maybe somebody can tell me later. But here's what I came out with.Let me start with the number of shows that I'm following or subscribed to in overcast. I've got 23 active shows. I've got eight that are on a Special series or on a hiatus like Dave, where's the latest future podcasting episode?I need it. And then there's these four one offs. I heard something about something and I went to download the one episode.Maybe I don't listen to the show on a regular basis, that type of thing. And then in Apple Podcasts. So I use Apple Podcasts for a different reason. I've got 16 different shows that I'm subscribed to there.Those are all EDM or classic Chicago house music type shows. And the reason I do that is I segregate out my listening. I've got Overcast for spoken word content and I'm learning.And then Apple Podcasts, I can keep that at 1x speed. It'll always be at 1x speed because you don't want to speed up EDM music. You really don't want to do that.And that'll help me to kind of keep my mind frame different. So I'll go to Apple when I just want to put some music in the background when I'm doing paperwork or whatever and listening to just music.That is about 51 different shows that I've got actively listening to or will be listening to if they come back from hiatus. And then as far as weekly average on the episodes. So here we go. This is the number we want right on the average week.I'll listen to 26 different episodes in Overcast. Now that seems like a lot.Got to keep in mind, two of the shows that I follow in Overcast is Pod News, which is five days a week, and those episodes average between four and five minutes each. And Merriam Webster's Word of the Day, which is about two, two and a half minutes a day, seven days a week.So really just those together is almost like one full episode. So 26 may sound like a lot, but 12 of those episodes, and that 26 is those shorter episodes for those shows.And then for the EDM and classic Chicago house music I listen to in Apple podcasts, there's about 10 of those a week, and those are easily an hour an episode. That just gives you an idea, by the way, I should probably mention.So I listen to about 26 different episodes in overcast a week, but I've got 78 currently in my queue right now. So I need a road trip or something like that. Hopefully that's the answer that people are looking for.Oh, let me throw one more thing in here because I figured while I was doing math, why not do more math? We all love doing the math and we love Stats. So here we go on the editing side. So I edit podcasts for a living. I get to do this for a living.I mean, there's no better life than to get paid to listen to podcasts all day and make them better. I figured just myself. Not my contractors who help with the overload and the backlog, but just myself. On average, I edit about 20 episodes a week.And those are not two minute to five minute episodes, I can tell you that for sure. I hope that's the information you were looking for.And I can't wait to hear what other people say, how many episodes they listen to in an average week. Oh, and I'm supposed to talk about my show and stuff. Well, I actually do co host a podcast right now. I've been doing it for almost a year now.It's the Podcast Editor's Mastermind show. I co host that show with my co founder at the Podcast Editor Academy. His name is Mark Deal. We release that show once every three weeks.Don't ask me why we do it every three weeks. Well, I guess you can tell I'm editing 20 episodes a week, so. And listening to all these other ones.Who has the time to do their own podcast with that? But yeah, that's the show that I co host and can find in all the major podcast apps, of course. And you can find me at stevesteewart. Me. That's Steve.S T E W A R T me. Thanks, SOP family. Thanks, Dave.

I think we're going to find a running theme here of how many is in the queue? That's the interesting question. Thank you, Steve.And I should mention that the Podcast Editors Academy, if you're thinking in 2026, hey, I'm going to start doing editing for other people. Throw my shingle out there. The Podcast Editor Academy is the place to go and they are closing the doors.I believe it's November 1st, so you got like a couple days to make up your mind and sign up.I do have an affiliate link if you go to schoolofpodcasting.com pea that'll take you over there and you can hang out with other editors and find out what they're doing to get clients. Find out the best software, how to run your business as a business. I'll talk more about that in a bit, but thank you, Steve.You always bring great content. Zoe Richardson is up next. And before he tells us about his episodes and his listening habits, first, let.

Me tell you about my podcast, Backlook Cinema.The podcast, the Backlook Cinema Podcast is A podcast where I talk about the movies of yesteryear, the movies of the 70s, 80s and 90s, and I talk about my favorite parts of the movie, I talk about some trivia from that movie and I talk about some of what the critics thought.And you can find it at www.backlookcinema.com on to answer your question, because in my regular life, in order to earn money, I drive a tractor trailer and I'm up and down the highways and I spend hours and hours on the road and I need to feel road with something, why I'd go crazy.And I listen to a lot of podcasts, so I might listen to something like five or six episodes in a day or I might listen to something like 30 episodes during the week. And I think I listened to over 30 podcast shows regularly or on a semi regular basis.And so that's a lot of podcasts that I use to fill my time driving up and down the highways and byways. Obviously School of Podcasting is one of those shows. So thanks for the question once again. I'll talk to you later.

Zoe. I remember the days when I had a 40 minute ride to work. Now I have a 40 foot ride to work because I work from home.But I used to listen to a lot more podcasts. I still listen. We'll get to me eventually. Next up we got my buddy Ralph.Speaking of running your podcast as a business, he's rebranding his Grit and growth business to the Content Creators Accountant.You can find that@askralph.com this is if you're a person that is actually making money with your podcast, Ralph is going to help you run your business so that you can keep more of that money that you're making and take it away. Ralph.

Hey Dave, this is Ralph with the Ask Ralph Media Network.I actually have three podcasts, but your question of the month is really about how many shows do you watch a week and the total number of podcasts that you subscribe to.And I guess I can answer that best by saying on a regular basis, every day I try to listen to James Kridland's Daily Pod News and then once a week I do try to listen to their weekly Pod News review. I certainly catch your shows whenever I can catch them.That would be the school of podcasting, building a better Dave website, tips and feeding my faith. Those are all in my normal routine. In addition to that, I try to catch Mark on the practical Prepping podcast.That's something I always like to check out. In addition to that, there are a few others that I try to catch. I actually watch and listen to Megyn Kelly Show, a political show.I also listen to Think Media podcasts. That's another one I do. And Walking Is Fitness is another daily one that I check out.So on average, I probably listen to two podcasts on a daily basis and then I fill it in with the other ones as time warrants. But you know, doing three shows myself, that gets to be a little much after a while.Oh, and I also listen to Jody Crangle's audio Branding podcast, another great show. I hope I didn't forget anybody. Anyway, so today I'll tell you a little about me. I got three shows.Like I said, We've got Financially Confident Christian that's a daily podcast to really help people with their Christian finance and help them with their faith at the same time. I also do a weekly Christian sermon show. It's called Truth Unveiled with Ralph. And in addition to that, I do Grit and Growth Business.We're going to be doing a little change on that, but I'm not going to talk about that in public yet. But that may be transitioning. But that's a weekly show as well. You can find them all.This is the easy part Since I use PodPage on the network site@askralph.com so, Dave, thank you so much. I hope this information is useful to other people. But listen, here's one thing I'm going to say.Support your independent podcasters, especially if you're a member of the school of podcasting. Do yourself a favor and do them a favor and really help them by listening to their shows whenever you can.Dave, thanks a lot and you have a great day, my friend.

Ralph, thank you so much. I did the math on that. That means if you're listening to two a day, that's five, that's 10 a week, and 11 different shows that you mentioned.So thanks so much. Next up, we have Mark Lawley from Practical Prepping.

Hey Dave.

Mark Lawley, Practical Prepping Podcast I listen to 10 or 12 different podcasts each week and 15 to 20 episodes each week. Granted, some are five to 10 minutes, but a couple are over an hour.Some shows I listen to everything they release and others I pick and choose the episode by the topics that interest me or even go into their back catalog. Thank you for what you do, Dave. Again, this is Mark Lawley from Practical Prepping.We are the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies, and no alien invasions. Just Practical Prepping. You can find us at practical prepping.info thank you, Mark. Next up, we got the one and only Spencer.

Hey, Dave, Spencer here. Big fan of the show. Thanks so much for everything that you do for the podcasting community and thank you personally.You've actually helped me out on a few threads that I've posted too over the past with regards to finding some help or some guidance with my own podcast. I'm the host, producer, the guy for the Rucker's Edge podcast. I've just published my 14th episode today.Loving the process and again, and grateful for all the help that you've provided to me over the years, either directly through, you know, the threads that I've posted online and your response to them, or just learning from you from this podcast. So again, appreciate it.If anyone's interested, you can go and check it out@theruckersedge.com Anyway, to answer your question, I listen to between six to eight episodes a week. I guess, you know, maybe a podcast episode a day or, you know, maybe a little bit over that a day.I usually listen whenever I'm doing chores or just, you know, working out, that kind of deal. But interestingly, it's from six to eight podcasts, six to eight shows.So I guess I'm listening to an episode of a podcast show a day, which was cool. I'm glad you asked that question because I've never really paid attention to my listening habits, but it's pretty clear I really like podcasts.Anywho, Dave, again, appreciate your time. Thanks for everything that you do for us.

Bye.

Thank you, Spence. Next up, we have York.

Hey, Dave, this is York from Welcome to Earth Stories. Now, hopefully I'm getting all of this right because I'm not the greatest when it comes to directions.I guess I'm not the brightest bulb in Canada, but I think what you wanted was how many episodes I listened to in the week. So I have here 16 episodes. That's how many I listen to. 16. And how many shows of these? Well, there are seven shows.And if you want to hear a sci fi podcast that goes beyond anything that you have ever experienced, then listen to my show. Welcome to Earth Stories. You can take a look at all the details on our website @welcome to earthstories.com thanks, Dave.

Thank you, York. Which gets to me. And I now see what Steve was talking about. This is not an easy question to answer. I listen to about 35 episodes a day.I'm sorry, a week? It feels like that would be something, huh? Because I listen to two before I even get out of Bed.And that is James Kridland's Pod News Daily, which is via an Amazon thing like, I asked the woman in the tube to play my flash briefing. And she plays that along with the weather and something else. And technically that's another. There's a, there's a God one in there as well.So there's two. I typically listen to Erica Mandy doing the newsworthy in the shower. So there's three already. And I haven't even made it to breakfast.And so while I'm doing anything, I'm listening to a podcast. One advantage of living alone is I don't have somebody interrupting me and me hitting stop on the button. Go, wait, hold on, I can't hear you.I've got my earbuds in. I've always got my earbuds in. And so while I'm cooking breakfast, and then usually my first break of the day, I walk around the block.There's another 10 minutes. So my favorite shows are about 15 minutes long because that's typically how long it takes to walk around the block, et cetera, et cetera.And then when I go out at night, wherever I'm driving to, I'm listening to. So I listen to like five a day now. Some of them are very long. I listen to the no Agenda show.That's like an hour and a half and that's the one that I dig into. But what I was really surprised with is how many shows I am subscribed to because I am subscribed to 53 non podcasting related.Now, these are marketing, these are political, these are religious, these are self help kind of fitness things. So there's that. And then I'm subscribed to an additional 66 podcasts about podcasting, which is nine times out of 10 what I'm listening to now.What was interesting is I went back and looked at those 66 podcasts and 19 of those are pretty much dead. And yet I am still subscribed because someday Mark Asquith might come back to a microphone. Please. I miss Mark Asquith.He's the lead guy over there at Captivate. Danny Brown seems to have taken a hiatus. Another great guy from Captivate. And so I am still following shows. I followed Ask a Ninja for years.This was a show back in the early, like 2005ish. And it was so popular. It was on Netflix before it was cool to be on Netflix. They eventually went away and they have come back on YouTube now.Ask a Ninja. But I, it took me, I think it was like maybe a year and a half ago that I'd been sitting there for 18 years waiting for them to come back.So if we do the math, let's just say 20. That would be 46 podcasts about podcasting. And yes, there probably are 46. If you go to podcasts about podcasting, that list is really long.And the list at the bottom of that list, there's two. The top is shows that are currently doing podcasts about podcasting.And the bottom are the number of people that got into the podcasting for some of that sweet, sweet podcast money and did about five episodes and got out. So that would be 40. You're looking at a hundred shows is what I pop in and out of what I have. To answer Steve's question, I use Pocket Cast.I love Apple podcasts, but I love Pocket Cast because they do some magic mojo where I can be listening on my computer in my office, pick up my phone, tie it to a Bluetooth speaker while I'm cooking breakfast, and it picks up right where I left off. And my favorite thing about pocketcasts are bookmarks.So if I ever want to talk to someone about, hey, I heard this thing, I can actually send them a link, and it goes right to that bookmark. It's really, really cool.And so right Now, I have 14 shows in my queue, of which three are from the same show, Shout out of Compression, which is a new member of the school of podcasting. I got George Robin there. I got Liz Wilcox talking email. I got creator science from the guy's name that I can't remember.I got Thomas Umstadt Jr. Just because it's fun to say Umstad from Novel marketing and some YouTube stuff.And so it kind of varies, but there are times when I'm like, enough about podcasting, and I will switch over to marketing or political or things of that nature. So I am a person much like Steve that if there's a new show and I like it.The one thing I really like about PocketCast, and I kind of hated this for years, I was a playlist guy.And you can do this in Pocketcast, where you're like, look, I just want to listen to shows about finance, or I just want to listen to shows about whatever, fitness or whatever. And you could do that in Pocket Cast, but you can also, like, I have what I call kind of my first string shows.And so when an episode comes in, I can say, look, when this comes in, add it to my queue and put it at the top of the list. So James Gridland is there in the event I didn't listen to him when I first got out of bed, he's there, as is the newsworthy.So there's my two for the morning, and then from there it just goes to whoever's next. And I really like that. You can rearrange the queue. So there's that.And if my queue ever gets empty, which it rarely does, then I jump into marketing stuff or God stuff or whatever. So I kind of love the fact that I have a playlist already made, which is the queue.And then if I ever just want to listen about a topic, I can do that as well. I love Pocket Cast. It is not free and it's also not the cheapest, but for me it's worth it.And I love the fact, again, oh, the other thing it allows me to do. And you can do this in Overcast, and you can also do this in Padurama, which is another cool app.And that is I can upload my file to Pocket Cast and it will come down in their app.So if you ever want to listen to your show in earbuds, kind of through an app, the way it's going to be heard by the audience, you can do that without releasing the episode. So that's. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I did check on the pricing. It's $40 a year, which is a little more than your typical kind of podcast app.Padurama has a paid version as well, but if you want to check out Pocket Cast, I do have a link. If you go to schoolofpodcasting.com pocketcasts with an S pocketcasts plural. That'll give you two months free of their paid version.And like I said, it's my favorite app. Probably followed by I like Padurama, I like Overcast, I like Apple Podcast. And it really.It's one of those podcast questions where it kind of depends. But I think what we found here, if we look at all this, right, people everywhere, from six to, you know, 20, 30 episodes a week, and any.What was my total number? What'd I say, 100? Well, that's just because I'm a freak. Anywhere from seven to 51 episodes. And again, a lot of it depends on what your job is, right?So if you're traveling around the world in a truck, you got a lot more time to listen. It also depends on if you're listening to, you know, you might listen to Joe Rogan and that guy. Shows are three hours long.And then you follow him by Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. And you're like, well, I listen to three episodes a month, but they're all four hours long.But I think to me, if somebody gave me a show that really delivered value and I could look at my podcast app and go, you know What?I've got 13 sitting here waiting for me to listen to, I would still follow that show and I would probably listen to it once and if it was good, I'd probably go right back and get another episode. And if it was good, I would go, okay.And then I would figure out, is this going to be part of my first string that goes to automatically downloads and goes to my queue, or am I just going to put it in a folder with marketing or whatever else and I will get to it when I can get to it? And I almost always have them download an episode so it's there. So if I'm caught someplace where there's no wifi, I can listen to it.I got the space on my phone, but I thought it was interesting seeing everybody's listening habits. And I think for me, as much as there are people saying, nope, people are done.They may not be looking for new podcasts, but if somebody says, hey, Dave, if you heard this new podcast about podcasting, I'll give it a listen and if it's good, I will add to it. Because this is the beauty of podcasting. It's time shifted. I know it's cool to do a live show.I do a live show, but the live audience is a very small percentage of what people are actually listening to later. And so you can go over the river and through the woods and listen to a show that was put out months ago.And that's why the shows that I do listen daily and are in my queue often are news related. And so I don't want to hear about, you know, July's news. That's not going to really help me. But thanks to everyone.I will link in the show notes to everyone's episode. It's some interesting insights and I deeply appreciate everyone.

The school of podcasting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, with the holidays coming up, I wanted to alert you that for years I've been recommending the Zoom Podtrak P4.And Zoom just announced there is a Zoom Podtrak P4 next coming out. So what's the difference? The big one is better preamp.So if you have a Shure SM7B or something that's a little gain hungry, you'll have more than enough gain.And they've added some effects like if you just Press a button, it will listen to any noise like the air conditioner in your room and then it will help to remove that.So there's that there's a built in compressor so that if you have somebody who occasionally gets loud, it will keep them, you know, their volume down a little bit. And other than that there's, you know, it has four people that you can plug into it. You can also plug in.And this is the one that makes me scratch my head. I've ordered mine from Sweetwater. I love Sweetwater.So much better than Amazon because A, they can give you tech support, B, they give you an extra year of warranty and C, they give you candy. I mean, come on, who doesn't want candy yet? If you want, you can do financing over there.And so I love all the stuff, same thing, you've got the little pad so if you want to play some sound effects, you can do that. It's got the built in headphone amplifier, but you can plug in a phone or, and, or you can plug in someone via Bluetooth.And the part that makes me scratch my head is I see all the volume knobs for the microphones. I don't know how you connect because it makes it sound like you could have six things connected.So when I get mine, which the right now it sounds like they're going to show up somewhere around December. So just in time for your favorite podcaster stocking stuffing. And right now it's going for $180.Where if you look at something like the Rode Podcaster 2, the duo that's around, I believe, $400. The Rodecaster Pro which allows you to plug in four microphones. That's usually around $700.I'm looking at Sweetwater's website right now that's going for $600. So there's a, a price dip in that. But it's just I just letting you know that hey, if you have a P4, should you upgrade?And my question is, are you happy with the sound coming out of it? And if the answer is yes, then no.I mean, because the difference in preamps is one of those things that audio files would be like, oh man, I can hear at least, you know, -9 decibels of, you know, hiss. And I'm like, nobody hears that through earbuds. So you know, and the AI see it's an AI noise reduction because, you know, everything has AI.That's when I used it because it's the same stuff that's in the Podtrak P2 which is a very small device. It's $100. And it's one magical thing is you can plug two USB microphones into it.And that's the only time I would recommend that if somebody goes, hey, I bought two Samsung Q2US and I'm trying to plug them into a laptop. Yeah, just go get yourself the PodTrack P2.But I just want to let you know in case you're A lot of people right now are thinking about starting a podcast in January. To which I go, if you start now, you will be podcasting in January when everyone else will be just starting to plan.Start now and you'll be actually podcasting in January. And so I would hate to hear you buy last year's model when the new one is available.

The School of Podcasting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, thanks for checking out today's episode.If you know someone who is interested in listening habits of podcasters, feel free to send them this episode. Next week we're going to talk about how you don't have to be the absolute best in your field to be an influencer.And you might be thinking, what you talking about Willis? And to which I say, and this is kind of a hot take, that I feel bad because he died. And so my heart goes out to his family and his kids, et cetera.But the lead guitarist of KISS influenced millions of guitar players and yet, sorry to say, it isn't really that good.

What?

What? What? Like he's not amazing, he's not lickety split, but he was really good at being himself.And so there are some definitely really interesting lessons. And the more I dug into Ace Freely, there are some things we can learn as podcasters to grow our connection with our audience.Go to schoolofpodcasting.com follow. Follow the show and never miss an episode.And if you need help with your show, whether you're just starting out or if you've got a show and you want to grow it, go over to schoolofpodcasting.com start and remember that comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. No matter if you're doing a monthly sign up, a quarterly signup, a yearly sign up, those first 30 days you are free to go.Hey Dave, this isn't for me. And I will give you your money back until next week. Take care. God bless. Class is dismissed.

And now you made it to the end.

Go tell all your friends. And the new unit is called the Zoom Pod, Track B4. Is it the Plus? No, it's the Next. Maybe it's the Next Plus. Maybe it's the Next Plus Plus Supreme.What is the name of that thing?

Hey, this is Doug from King's X. And if you like what you hear, go tell someone.