Can you have a successful podcast if you’re not dropping episodes weekly?
You definitely can but it depends on what your measure of success is.
If your number one goal is to grow your podcast audience to it’s maximum potential, you’re going to need to release episodes weekly (at least) to be able to achieve that.
But if your goal is just to get your show out into the world and you’re happy for audience to build in it’s own time then you can definitely release episodes less frequently.
But they still have to be consistent.
Consistency is key if you want a successful podcast
Whatever frequency you decide to release your podcast episodes your audience needs to be able to make an appointment with your content.
That means, if they show up for you, you need to show up for them.
It’s impossible to build a loyal fanbase of listeners off the back of content that’s released ‘whenever you feel like it.’
That’s not how podcasting works.
And if you want the idea you’ve spent a lot of time and effort on to generate an audience, you need to be releasing content consistently.
Does that mean you can never take a break?
Of course not.
You can release your podcast in seasons, or you could batch record episodes ahead of time so you can take a break behind the scenes while the podcast keeps going.
It’s important to note that while you will maintain your subscribers across your break (depending on how long it is) your downloads don’t go back to where they were immediately when your show starts releasing episodes again.
Most podcast growth is incremental which is why it’s important for your show to be ‘always on.’
But if you can’t make that happen (which is understandable because it’s A LOT of work) you just need to know that taking a break will mean you’ll have to build things back up again on the other side.
You won’t be starting from scratch, by any means, but you won’t be benefiting from the growth momentum that comes from a show consistently releasing episodes.
Can you increase frequency later?
Again, yes!
If you want to get your podcast started fortnightly or monthly so you can get it out, you can always increase the frequency later once you’re starting to gain traction and build audience.
I see a lot of podcasts do this even if they’re releasing episodes weekly, because they’re growing their audience and they want to compound on that growth.
Increasing your episode frequency is never going to lead to complaints from your audience if they’re loving your show.
But starting weekly and then having to cut back because you realise you’re overcommitted, will.
So, if monthly or fortnightly is all you can manage right now that’s totally fine!
Just remember that means your audience growth will probably be slower than if you released episodes more frequently but you can always increase things once you get the hang of it and you’re getting more ears on your show.
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