Last week a new service launched (not important enough to name or link) that lets anybody see how many subscribers any podcast has. When the buzz hit, many podcasters who checked their own show reported that the public subscriber counts didn’t match up with the private download data provided by their podcast hosting company, the service responsible for serving the media files.

So what's going on here? Nothing of importance, other than a chance to remind you that subscriber counts are pointless.

My biggest beef with counting podcast subscribers is that they don't represent anything tangible. 

Ask any email marketer out there about their open rate. Or do a search for the current average open rate for an email campaign and you’ll be shocked at how few people open emails they have specifically subscribed to. Then reflect on your own inbox. How many un-opened emails from various places do you have? 

Take a look at the gigantic YouTube channels, some with tens of thousands of subscribers or more. With few exceptions, those channels don’t see tens of thousands or millions of views on their video. It’s often only a single-digit percentage of subscribers who actually watch any of the videos published by those channels. 

Think of all the apps you have on your phone that send you push-notifications that new content is available. How often do you respond to that notification? How easily do you ignore that ever-incrementing number in the little red bubble?

Why would you think it's any different for people who subscribe to a podcast? 

So yes, list your show everywhere. And yes, encourage people to subscribe. But stop trying to count the subscribers of your podcast. That number just doesn't matter. 

What does matter is that you go to RateThisPodcast.com/podpont and rate this podcast. Also, if you found the information I provided today (or inside any of my 260 other episodes) informative and helpful, please go to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra and buy me a coffee. If you really love me, you’ll set that system to buy me a coffee every month.

And if you need help with the business strategy behind your show, that's what we do here at Simpler Media Productions. Check us out at SimplerMedia.pro. You can also send me an email at [email protected] if you have questions. 

I'll be back next Monday because the rest of this week I'll be attending Podcast Movement Evolutions this week in Los Angeles. When I return, I’ll do another Podcast Pontifications.

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Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.