The holiday season is here and for some podcasters, it means a time to sit back and enjoy a few weeks of vacation or an opportunity to lean on re-releasing catalog episodes. But a new report from The Podcast Marketing Academy suggests the holidays can be a gift to creators. In a survey of more than 500 podcasters, December has the second-largest number of downloads — behind only September. Yet the month has fewer episodes released among the group of podcasters surveyed.
“While many podcasters are taking that much-needed break at the end of the year, the demand for content is still strong,” The Podcast Host’s Katie Paterson says in a blog post. “For many listeners, podcasts are such an integral part of life that they don’t want to ‘switch off’ from listening during this time. Spending time with the hosts they know and love can even be a comfort to some people during what can be a difficult and lonely time of the year.”
Based on the level of listening, Paterson says there is an opportunity for podcasters to take advantage of, and the survey recommends that it is a good idea to stick to a show’s usual publishing schedule.
“If you normally publish new episodes on a Wednesday, but Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on this day, don’t let that put you off running a new episode,” she says. “We know that listeners crave consistency when it comes to podcast consumption, and if the new data is anything to go by you might find you have even more listeners tuning in that day than usual.”
To keep up, podcasters can create episodes in advance. And if it is too late to hit that target, Paterson suggests reposing old content with a fresh introduction. It could also be a way to break a show’s format and try something different — whether it’s shorter-than-normal episodes, or an extra-long episode that is a deep dive into a particular topic.