How many podcast episodes per week is optimal?

Hey Pod Pals!

This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 8:47am CST.

One week ago I asked for your help with getting my Threads account reinstated and I'm very excited to say:

🏆 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

It's funny because I spent 10+ hours(over four days) on the phone with the Meta support team with no results.

Then I sent out ONE email to my Pod Pals asking everyone to help me raise some hell online....and my account was reinstated within 12 hours...LOL.

I just want to say thank you!

I was overwhelmed with the amount of emails and DMs I got from you all with messages of support. It really means a lot to me!

Score one for the HUMANS over the bots! 😎

 

Real quick before we dive into this week's topic.... ⤵️  

I'm focused on helping podcasters SOLVE these four specific problems:

1. How to optimize your podcast launch.

2. How to grow your podcast past 1,000 downloads per episode.

3. How to convert more podcast listeners into paying clients.

4. How to simplify your online business so it feels easy, lucrative, and fun.

If you want to explore how we can work together to solve these problems hop on my free Podcast Profit Potential Discovery Call calendar.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

 

This week we are going to address this problem:

🚨 How do I SIMPLIFY my content strategy?

Over the last decade of my own journey as a content creator I've been all over the map when it comes to my content release cadence. 

At one point I was releasing three episodes per week, then I throttled back to two, and now I'm only doing one weekly episode.

I get asked this question a lot: How many episodes per week is optimal?

So we are going to dive into this topic today!

 

🎯 Key Point #1: I still believe that having consistent WEEKLY content is really important. 

If you can deliver a new episode same day/time each week, year after year, it will become a superpower for you.

WHY is this?

People who listen to audio podcasts tend to fold their listening habit into their life routine. 

When you listen to my show you might be:

🐶 Walking your dog.

🦷 Brushing your teeth.

🚗 Driving to work.

🍑 Doing Bulgarian split squats at the gym as you attempt to bring sexy back.

This type of listening habit is unique to audio podcasts. People don't consume other types of content at a specific day/time like they do audio podcasts.

The important thing to understand is that we don't want to disrupt this listening routine by NOT releasing a weekly episode.

👉 If you always listen to my show on Tuesday on your drive home from work, I really want to keep that weekly real estate in your earbuds! 

I fully realize that if I "take a break" from releasing weekly content, then someone else gets my slot in your podcast listening routine.

➡️ TLDR: Do your very best to release WEEKLY content.

Now let's discuss how much weekly content is optimal for your show.

 

🎯 Key Point #2: It makes sense for some shows to be releasing multiple episodes per week.

My long time Pod Pal Erica Mandy has a fantastic podcast called The Newsworthy. 

It is a 6x per week news show that is usually around 10 mins per episode. 

News happens DAILY so it 100% makes sense for her to create daily content...and she does a great job with keeping it short and sweet. 

If her episodes were each an hour long....most of her loyal listeners probably couldn't keep up.

➡️ TLDR: If your niche involves daily important shifts (news, investing, crypto, etc) then it may make sense to do multiple episodes per week.....but try to keep them bite-sized. 

 

🎯 Key Point #3: We MUST learn how to pause and consider the perspective of our content consumers.

Most of us (myself included) kinda suck at this.

As content creators we must realize that our audience members:

-Listen to other podcasts.

-Subscribe to other email lists.

-Follow other accounts on social media.

....and I think we can all agree that every one of us feels overly marketed and sold to day in and day out.

So...here's a question to ponder when it comes to your content cadence:

Are we adding real VALUE....or are we just creating more NOISE?

If your audience members are listening to your show and three other shows each week, and you are cranking out four 60 minute long episodes each week, what is your listener's experience like?

➡️ TLDR: If we overwhelm our audience with content, they will probably kick our show to the curb.

 

🎯 Key Point #4: We have to view podcast content and social media content differently. 

At this point I feel like we all understand that a very small percentage of our social media followers actually see the content that we create for them.

This makes social media a VOLUME game. We need to crank out a serious amount of daily content just to have a shot at our target audience seeing it.

Podcasting isn't a volume game....it's a QUALITY game.

We don't need to spam our audience with tons of content....we just need to make sure the content that we do put out is exactly what our audience wants to hear from us.

➡️ TLDR: Social media = Volume....Podcasting = Less But Better

 

🎯 Key Point #5: We must understand the 5:15 rule (that you've probably never even heard of!)

Back in April I released this episode with Rob Walch from Libsyn. During our conversion he dropped a gem about something called the 5:15 Rule.

The 5:15 rule applies to Apple Podcasts(I assume other podcast players operate in a similar way).

Here it is: If someone is a "follower/subscriber" of your podcast but they don't listen to FIVE consecutive episodes OR they don't listen to a new episode within FIFTEEN days, they will no longer get push notifications for your show and your episodes won't automatically be downloaded to their device. 

Here's what this means for us as content creators:

1. If I'm releasing one episode per week I just need to make sure that I create an episode worth listening to within each 15 day window. This is VERY doable.

2. If I'm releasing daily content Monday through Friday...what happens when a listener goes on vacation for spring break and checks out of their normal listening routine for a week???

The answer is that I just lost a subscriber!

3. The 5:15 rule should really motivate content creators to get to that weekly content cadence.

If you take a three week break from releasing new episodes, it means that NONE of your followers/subscribers will get a notification of your next episode when you do decide to come back.

➡️ TLDR: A once per week episode cadence is looking pretty solid right about now.

 

So let's look at my show and what happened earlier this year when I decided to throttle back from two episodes per week to just one.

February (2025) was my final month of 2x per week episodes. In that month my show hit 7,474 total downloads.

Here are the stats for the next several months:

March: 5,963 downloads 😱

April: 5,464 downloads 😢

May: 6,321 downloads 😀

June: 5,027 downloads 😢

July: 6,920 downloads 😎

August: 4,601 downloads 😱

September: 5,567 downloads 😀

October: 7,684 downloads 😎

November is on pace for 8k+ downloads.

➡️ TLDR: I reduced my weekly podcast content by 50% in March. Now I'm back to previous high monthly downloads with half of the content...this means my downloads per episode have pretty much doubled.

 

So..what's my conclusion when it comes to the optimal amount of podcast content that YOU should be cranking out per week?

I feel like a 1x per week cadence is the best option for 99% of us.

➡️ TLDR: Less But Better.

 

 👉 If you could use some help with simplifying your content strategy I'd suggest taking a peek at my Group Coaching program. 

You can use this special link to get 50% off your first month of my group coaching program. (Deal expires 12.31.25)

 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

 

🤩 Client Testimonial of the week: My client Alex Molden has a show called the Scholarship Athlete podcast.

Check out what he has to say about working with me: 

"Adam gave me a clear blueprint of exactly how to set my show up to start making money. He taught me about SEO, branding, and the different types of programs that I can sell. He gave me a lot of confidence to be able to help out my audience!"

 

New Content for this week:

🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 595: How coaching episodes help to convert podcast listeners into paying clients.

This is a BRAND NEW type of Podcast Audit episode where I focus on helping a listener with their strategy for leveraging their podcast to get more clients. 

If you've been thinking about adding coaching episodes to your content strategy this is a coaching episode ABOUT coaching episodes!!!! 

  

🚨Attend my next FREE Workshop:

5 Strategies for Podcast Growth WITHOUT Social Media. Join me next week on November 25th or December 3rd. Attendance is limited so please only register for ONE session.

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❤️ If you have been enjoying my newsletter I'd really appreciate it if you would share it with one of your Pod Pals that might get value out of this content!

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Talk to you next week!

Your Pod Pal,

Adam

 

⭐️ P.S. Ready for some help with your podcast launch, growth, or with getting more clients from your podcast? 

I've got three ways that we can work together with group coaching, one on one coaching, or hybrid (group + 1:1).