[FAQ]

How’s it going, everyone?

I’ve been trying to make sense of the analytics for my podcast, specifically the episode performance charts. I’m looking at the listener retention graph that shows the audience drop-off over the timeline of an episode, and to be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it.

I see a pretty big dip in the first minute across all my episodes – is that a normal thing? And when there are other dips later on, I’m struggling to figure out what they correspond to. I want to use this data to improve the structure and content of my show, but I feel like I’m just guessing.

How do you all use this chart? I’d love to hear your process for analysing the retention curve and turning that data into actionable changes for your podcast.

[Jeff Bullas]

This is the single most valuable data set for improving your show’s quality.

Short Answer: The listener retention chart shows the percentage of your audience that is still listening at each point in your audio file. Use it to identify which parts of your audio content are engaging and which are causing listeners to drop off.

Let’s analyse the story that this data is telling you about your audio’s structure.

First, understand that a significant listener drop in the first minute is normal, but an exceptionally steep one suggests your audio intro is too long or fails to deliver on the episode’s premise. Your goal is the flattest possible curve after this point. Second, any sharp, sudden dips later in the timeline are your most crucial data points; you must cross-reference the timestamp of that dip with your episode’s audio file to identify the exact segment, ad break, or topic change that caused listeners to leave. Conversely, any flat sections or ‘plateaus’ indicate highly engaging audio content that you should analyse and replicate in future episodes. By comparing the retention curves of all your episodes, you can get a clear, data-informed picture of what audio formats your audience truly values.

Cheers,

Jeff

• This reply was modified 2 days, 16 hours ago by Neil Anthony.

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