Podcasters Burning Out Chasing Growth
Podcast creators across various niches are grappling with the challenges of maintaining consistency, audience growth, and avoiding burnout. Many feel pressure to produce 'perfect' content, while others struggle with direction, workload, and monetization, highlighting a need for better planning, support, and sustainable practices.
SOURCES (60)
“Question - are you currently doing anything to market it? Social media posts, shorts on YouTube, guest collaborations? If you're starting from ground zero, start by creating a social media page for it, and adding some clips of your show. Start with 1-2 clips a…”
“Glad to see this here, great advice. Consistency builds trust, even with potential new listeners. Most people don't want to get into a new (to them) show if they think it's gonna disappear right away. (Disclosure: I work with the Blubrry support team.)”
Following this!! Very helpful...looking to launch a podcast soon
“It's taken my horror podcast a year and change and about 16 episodes to get to the point of having around 50 downloads an episode. Things take time.”
“I have a very large, popular podcast, and I've spoken to other large podcasters. We have all found that they do next to nothing. Conversion from one platform to another is very difficult. They will mostly be seen only by people who already follow you, and those people almost certainly know you have a podcast. The only way you will get out of your follower bubble is if you pay, and at that point, you might as well pay for advertising on podcasts where you know 100% of the audience are podcast”
Hey, what's the name of your podcast? I'd love to take a listen!
“Where did you hear about clipping campaigns? Why would that even be a thing if it doesn’t work when done properly? Are you just asking for anecdotes and hoping they also apply to your show? Even if it works (it obviously does) that doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you automatically. You’d be better off just trying it and learning it as a real tool instead of pondering whether or not it works on Reddit”
“I once spent $300 on a plugin. It saves me hours of tweaking on every episode. It was a chunk of change. But the time it put back in to my life is priceless. We always pay with one of two currencies: time or money. Use the one you have the most of... Start tracking how much time you're spending on finding a free version. Moderator Required full disclosure: I am the head of Podcasting at Podpage and the founder of the School of Podcasting.”
“You want to share the clips at least 3 times per week on every platform that supports short-form content. Though best would be 3-5 times per day on every platform. You might be treating this like a hobby. Your successful competition is not.”
“"Consistency above everything." Consistency does matter, but I took it as "never miss a week" and burned out hitting a schedule instead of making episodes worth turning up for. A missed week costs you almost nothing. A run of rushed, phoning-it-in episodes costs you the listeners who were on the fence. Being consistent enough to keep the habit beats being machine-precise and miserable.”
“Podcasting has changed so drastically over the years. I started mine in 2020 and my listening numbers have kind of stayed steady over the years. I recently started adding intro videos on Spotify and I grew in numbers a little bit. I haven’t done a video podcast yet, but, I think that’s gonna be the next move.”
“Next year I hit 10 years. No team, only me. On average I release a new episode every 3 months or so. Not very prolific at all but I still love the subject matter and still care deeply about the podcast - I wish I had more time and energy to put even more time into it but I’m happy with it being a little independent passion project. I’m due to hit 1 million downloads by the 10 year mark which isn’t huge numbers compared to other shows, but it feels really great to me!”
“Stickiness, staying on a platform, has been a success metric for social media platforms for ages. The dont drop a link comment was more about pushiness and becoming part of the conversation. I approach all of this as connected with like minded people. I dont care about virality ever. I suppose thats what makes me a bad business woman but its hoe I think and enjoy being. Having the link in bio lets those like minded folks who are searching for more info on the person who said something that struc”
“Ok, I think imma need a little bit more help on this because it seems like it is a useful tool for my podcast”
“I had no idea who my audience would be, and didn’t really care that much because I just started making the show I wanted to make. After nearly a year and 30+ episodes, the way listener demographics are playing out has been super interesting to see. My main audience is broadly Millennials, with a very even split between male & female listeners. This is true across ages 30-50 actually. But once the age group goes younger or older, the skew tends female, like 70/30 once the audience is 60+, and”
“That second lesson is the one that always trips people up. "Sounds like me" is mostly about sentence rhythm and what you choose to leave out, not the vocabulary.”
““Just focus on making great content and people will find it” didn’t work for me. Good content matters, but if you’re not actively promoting your episodes and putting clips on social media, growth is usually much slower than people make it sound.”
“It’s hard to say without more details. Growth usually slows because of things like inconsistent posting, weak titles or thumbnails, not reaching the right audience, or simply because it takes time. If you share your podcast name or a link, people can give much more specific feedback.”
“Start with a topic you can genuinely talk about for a long run, record a few simple episodes, and use those to learn what parts are naturally worth sharing. You don’t need to manufacture ten generic highlights: pick a few complete answers, lessons, or stories per episode and turn them into captioned vertical clips for Shorts/Reels/TikTok.”
“Fifty episodes of consistent work is real progress. I’d look at whether each clip gives a new listener one complete, useful idea and a clear reason to explore the full show - not just whether you’re posting enough of them. For an interview, choose one specific answer, story, or disagreement from the episode first, then make that passage the clip. A clip needs to be "coherent".”
“100% this. Figure out what it is you actually want to say and be known for. Biweekly is an ideal schedule for a newbie”
“Agreed. I’ve seen too many podcasts start hammering out episodes only for them to realise 2 weeks in they have nothing left to say”
“Forget being Rogan big - if you do not bring a pre-existing audience to podcasting, your chances of just building an audience large enough to monetize into a full time job is infinitesimally small.”
“You.need to balance frequency. More episodes means more practice and higher chance of burnout.”
“It must have been an early feature. I think it is gone now. I am just starting out, but my idea was to make some TikTok videos and boost them, then, at the end of each video, have a clickable link to the podcast. I don't see it happening. I do some localized crime stuff and have enough distant imagery to grab a TikTok view, but I need to drive that back to the podcast.”
“Two days in and you're already overthinking it. Pick a schedule you can actually stick to for six months without burning out, that's the real answer. Consistency matters way more than frequency when you're starting out.”
“We do a Tabletop Roleplaying Game show where me and a group of different players play a different game and have a good time with it. Sometimes we're heroic adventurers, sometimes we're running our own wrestling show, and sometimes we're trapped at bomb point in a Romantic Comedy and have to find love before we explode. In short - we have a lot of fun! (Podcast is called System Hoppers incase anyone is interested! 😄)”
“You can't directly connect a TikTok account to a podcast feed, but you can create clips or highlights from your episodes and upload them. Use something like CapCut for editing. I usually take 15-30 second snippets, add captions, and throw them up on TikTok with relevant hashtags. Just make sure to hook viewers early!”
“Joe Rogan was already an established TV host, stand up comic, and mma color commentator before launching his podcast. Most people podcasting don't have that background”
“Fan podcast about a band. We’ve interviewed some people associated with the band and we’ve been breaking down each album in order. Been going for a year this week.”
“When I missed a week on the biweekly schedule, nobody cared because the quality was there. Routine kept them coming back, not frequency.”
“Discussing films and their scores. We need help growing our audience, but we have something special going on with it. Not many people break down the scores to films, and we've got composer interviews lined up 🙌🤘”
“Or is this a situation where things are too oversaturated? What would it take for a new podcaster to even stand out and build a brand from scratch in 2026? Is it even possible? submitted by /u/ReasonableSide6520 [link] [comments]”
“As it says in the title what's the genre of your podcast? Where are you from? What do you think the most popular type of podcast is? I have a pop culture podcast - reviewing TV, films & books, with a heavy lean towards soap operas (Neighbours, Home & Away, Hollyoaks& Emmerdale) & costume dramas I'm based in the UK submitted by /u/Moist-Astronomer-579 [link] [comments]”
“Good to know! If you don't mind, what turns into a nightmare on the google sheet? Just a lack of consistency in tracking / different opinions on how to organize? I'm gonna put together a prototype site for this and trying to understand what's actually worth building”
“I'm planning a podcast trial run probably sometime next year, the topic is still being worked on. I want to talk about 2 main topics (history and folklore) and maybe slip in a third (tea). I keep hitting a sticking point. Who is my audience? I have no clue. I've read several books and internet guides on podcasting, but I think Im not understanding something fundamental here. How does anybody know who their audience is? Unless you're super niche, like your whole thing is advice for a”
“Good list. I'll add: the show focuses on a specific aspect of the guests' stories. E.g., on the Happiness Lab, the guest talks about their research, and the show has them focus on things the audience can change in their lives to apply that research. (Hidden Brain does a similar thing.) The Sharp End is a show where people tell their stories of outdoor accidents, and it always has a focus on lessons learned...where as other shows may focus on the decisions that lead to the accident, or fo”
“Promote everything on social media. Nope! What's moving the needle more for me is podcast SEO, press releases (when relevant/newsworthy), and direct outreach”
“One solution is to use enterprise ad tooling via a host that is affordable. If you do 5,000 downloads a month, you qualify for free ad hosting with ad management at Spreaker via their prime program. The ad management is built on the same ad platform that enterprise users across the globe use, including Iheart Podcasts. This allows you to do "Faked-in" ads and a lot more. Disclosure: I work for Spreaker's parent company.”
“most of us just have a shared google sheet that slowly turns into a nightmare once you hit 3 shows and 4 sponsors”
“I'm looking for someone if you want to get in touch. Have a good idea for a narrative podcast and need help with basically everything but the writing and story. New account so can't message. :-)”
“I don't do it for the income. I don't moneytise mine at all but I am not against other people doing it. That is what makes me not care about numbers. if nobody listened then, sure, I'd give up but I'm in it for the fun not the income.”
“Maybe. Not taking the spotlight from my guests is definitely something I work on. I think that’s what you might be talking about. But generally I’m just saying there’s all kinds of reasons people tune in and decide to stay. Howard Stern …was it the guests or Howard? Probably both sometimes. As a listener I hate banter … I do not care about the backstory of when and where the host met the guest or how long it took to finally coordinate schedules… or the how your kids went to summer camp together…”
“I do it for others, let me tell you how you can do it yourself. Focus on packaging, make sure you have best title and thumbnails which people who want click on this will do the 50% of the work for you. Do the content repurposing and optimize for each platforms. We turn 1 episode into 15+ pieces of content, 5 reels, Quote cards, carousels, newsletter, social posts. Write detailed descriptions to make sure it’s SEO optimized, and appear in AI results. Chapters for YouTube and show notes without ch”
“I was really surprised at all I learned at HigherEdPodCon this week. The podcasting world that exists in the university space is much different than the independent podcaster space. Part of that difference is all the podcasters are employees, instead of entrepreneurs, which means they don't get to make all the rules. They have unique problems, unique solutions. Very much enjoyed all the nuances of institutional podcasting. submitted by /u/tri4time [link] [comments]”