A weird stat about my podcast's most played episode changed how I think about titles

I was looking at the back end of my podcast host, Buzzsprout, and I found something that really threw me. My episode with the most total plays, over 15,000, is one I almost didn't publish. It's a solo episode from eight months ago called 'Why I Almost Quit Last Tuesday'. I thought it was too personal and whiny. But the data shows it gets steady new listens every single day, way more than my polished interviews. I guess people just connect with the real, messy stuff more than the perfect guest talks. It made me stop trying to sound so professional all the time. Has anyone else had a 'throwaway' piece of content become their most popular thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

maryt6217d ago

My boring how-to guide flopped but my rant about a bad client went viral.

gracewebb6d ago

It's funny how the polished stuff never lands. So are you leaning into the rant style now, or just letting it happen when it happens?

irismartinez17d ago

My old blog post about my cat wrecking my studio got ten times the hits of my big gear review. It was just a vent. People want the behind the scenes mess, not the shiny final product. I stopped overthinking my titles after that. Now I just ask myself if it sounds like something I'd tell a friend. The clicky, perfect ones always flop.