The hosts celebrate their podcast's first anniversary by reflecting on their audience's engagement and subscription growth. They dive into financial challenges in podcasting, addressing member feedback for sustainable funding. A whimsical holiday segment is announced to connect listeners with insider updates. Insights about their diverse global audience and evolving listener expectations reveal the podcast's growth potential. With excitement, they share plans for more creative content and collaborations in the year ahead.
The podcast exceeded expectations by publishing 25 full episodes and 10 bonus episodes, showcasing their dedication and teamwork in content creation.
Financially, the podcast generates around $1,200 monthly, yet remains focused on audience engagement and plans to restructure their membership model for growth.
Deep dives
Celebrating One Year of Content Production
The podcast celebrates its one-year anniversary, highlighting significant milestones achieved over the past year. Producers share that they published 25 full episodes, achieved a consistent biweekly release schedule, and even produced 10 bonus episodes along with 14 side show recordings. The team reflects on their initial goal of maintaining a high output of content, which they exceeded despite only missing one week due to illness. This success is attributed to their commitment and teamwork, enabling them to deliver a diverse range of episodes and maintain a strong connection with their audience.
Audience Engagement and Growth Metrics
The hosts discuss audience metrics, revealing they surpassed 217,000 listens across their public feed, which reflects a successful reach despite the podcast landscape's challenges. Notably, about 30% of listeners hail from outside the United States, indicating a broad international appeal. They acknowledge that tracking listener numbers in podcasting is complex due to varying metrics and listener behaviors, yet they are encouraged by their growth patterns. This growth serves as validation for their strategies, with many listeners actively promoting the podcast to their friends.
Financial Insights and Membership Model
Financially, the podcast generates around $1,200 monthly from its membership program, totaling just over $13,000 in a year, which supports production costs but is significantly less than their $50,000 expenditure. The hosts clarify that this funding mainly supports operational costs such as hiring a public relations firm and paying guest producers rather than compensating themselves. They express gratitude toward their members, noting that the funding has enabled them to achieve their goals and maintain quality content. Plans to restructure the membership model, including introducing a new $4 tier, aim to attract more listeners and increase contributions, despite concerns about potential revenue loss.
Future Challenges and Creative Aspirations
Looking ahead, the team expresses excitement about creating scripted audio essays, as audience feedback indicates that these segments are highly favored. They emphasize the importance of maintaining enjoyment in their work and creatively experimenting with audio formats, aiming to enhance engagement. Additionally, they acknowledge the precarious nature of independent media amid external challenges, indicating a commitment to finding their place within the landscape of independent journalism and critique. The hosts conclude by reiterating their excitement for the upcoming year, focusing on retaining variety in perspectives and remaining responsive to audience needs.
To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of launching Never Post,Mike, Jason and Hans gather to talk about how it went; and to break down how many people listened, how much money changed hands, and what to expect from the show in 2025.
–
Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/ for access to extended and bonus segments, and our side shows like “Slow Post”, “Posts from the Field” and “Never Watch”
Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta.