There are about four and a half million podcasts out there right now. Some are active; some have stopped releasing new episodes. In fact, most have stopped producing any new content.
Nearly half of all podcasts never make it past the third episode. And of those that make it past the third episode, the seventh seems to be the next challenge - in fact, many refer to this as the “7 episode curse”.
And out of the millions that begin a podcast, less than ten percent make it past ten episodes.
Most new podcasters underestimate how much work is involved.
Even a simple weekly show often requires:
This is the biggest driver of early podfade. Many podcasters assume they’ll grow quickly, monetization will come fast and downloads will scale automatically.
The reality is that most new podcasts get less than 100 downloads per episode. A lot less. And growth is slow unless you already have an audience (and sometimes, even then, it’s slow).
This is when a lot of podcasters throw in the towel. It turns into a feeling that it’s a lot of work for little to no return.
On the other hand, more people than ever are listening to podcasts.
About 584 million people around the world listened to podcasts in 2025. That’s nearly one in every 14 people on Earth! Projections show global listenership continuing to grow — forecasted to reach around 651 million by 2027!
In the U.S., about 55% of the population (roughly 158 million people) listened to a podcast in a given month last year. Average listening time is often around 7 hours per week, with many people listening while commuting, exercising, cooking, etc. And about one-third of Americans listen to podcasts every week.
So while lots of people are listening to podcasts, most podcasts fail. At this point, it might sound like I’m trying to discourage you from entering the podcast world. That’s not it, at all.
But if you think podcasting is some kind of road to riches, and that’s it’s something easy you can do in your spare time, well, I won’t sugar-coat it - you’re wrong.
Well, maybe you aren’t wrong, except for the part about it being easy.
To get started, you need to know how to record. If this is going to be an audio-only podcast, if it’s going to be video, or if it’s going to be both. And you need to find a platform to host your podcast.
And there’s so much more - figuring out what your podcast is going to be about, what your audience looks like, if you’re doing this yourself or with a co-host (and/or with guests), how (and where) you’re going to launch your podcast, how you’re going to distribute it, what kind of tech and equipment you might need, how to avoid many of the pitfalls I mentioned early and, what most are waiting for, how to monetize your podcast.
This is where I come in.
I’m launching an online course on podcasting - everything you need to create, record, distribute and, eventually, monetize your podcast.
So what makes me think I can teach this kind of course?
The Sounds of Christmas podcast, which I host, produce and distribute, has over 300 episodes and over 500,000 downloads! Less than one percent of podcasts fall into that category.
While I certainly can’t guarantee you that, I can get you started and headed in the right direction.
Are you ready?
Nearly half of all podcasts never make it past the third episode. And of those that make it past the third episode, the seventh seems to be the next challenge - in fact, many refer to this as the “7 episode curse”.
And out of the millions that begin a podcast, less than ten percent make it past ten episodes.
Most new podcasters underestimate how much work is involved.
Even a simple weekly show often requires:
- Topic prep or guest booking
- Recording (30–60 min)
- Editing (often 2–4 times the recording time)
- Show notes, titles, descriptions
- Social media promotion
- Uploading and distribution
This is the biggest driver of early podfade. Many podcasters assume they’ll grow quickly, monetization will come fast and downloads will scale automatically.
The reality is that most new podcasts get less than 100 downloads per episode. A lot less. And growth is slow unless you already have an audience (and sometimes, even then, it’s slow).
This is when a lot of podcasters throw in the towel. It turns into a feeling that it’s a lot of work for little to no return.
On the other hand, more people than ever are listening to podcasts.
About 584 million people around the world listened to podcasts in 2025. That’s nearly one in every 14 people on Earth! Projections show global listenership continuing to grow — forecasted to reach around 651 million by 2027!
In the U.S., about 55% of the population (roughly 158 million people) listened to a podcast in a given month last year. Average listening time is often around 7 hours per week, with many people listening while commuting, exercising, cooking, etc. And about one-third of Americans listen to podcasts every week.
So while lots of people are listening to podcasts, most podcasts fail. At this point, it might sound like I’m trying to discourage you from entering the podcast world. That’s not it, at all.
But if you think podcasting is some kind of road to riches, and that’s it’s something easy you can do in your spare time, well, I won’t sugar-coat it - you’re wrong.
Well, maybe you aren’t wrong, except for the part about it being easy.
To get started, you need to know how to record. If this is going to be an audio-only podcast, if it’s going to be video, or if it’s going to be both. And you need to find a platform to host your podcast.
And there’s so much more - figuring out what your podcast is going to be about, what your audience looks like, if you’re doing this yourself or with a co-host (and/or with guests), how (and where) you’re going to launch your podcast, how you’re going to distribute it, what kind of tech and equipment you might need, how to avoid many of the pitfalls I mentioned early and, what most are waiting for, how to monetize your podcast.
This is where I come in.
I’m launching an online course on podcasting - everything you need to create, record, distribute and, eventually, monetize your podcast.
So what makes me think I can teach this kind of course?
The Sounds of Christmas podcast, which I host, produce and distribute, has over 300 episodes and over 500,000 downloads! Less than one percent of podcasts fall into that category.
While I certainly can’t guarantee you that, I can get you started and headed in the right direction.
Are you ready?