This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Is it too late to start a podcast in 2025? That's what today's caller wants to know. We're gonna look at how to stand out in a crowded field, how to grow an audience for a niche topic. Podcasting, of course, has exploded in recent years. There are millions of podcasts.
Many of them are now video podcasts on YouTube as well. And with so many shows out there, it can feel daunting to start something new. But let's hear from Josh. He's got an idea. I also think it's good when you have ideas.
How can you pursue your idea with confidence and not worry so much about competition or what everybody else is doing, or if it's too late? Let's look at that from a practical perspective. Detailed question from Josh and my answer coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi, I'm Josh. I've been thinking about starting a podcast about urban gardening.
It's a topic I'm passionate about. And I feel like there's a lot of value I could share with others. But the podcasting world feels so crowded and I'm worried I might be too late to stand out. Is there still room for new podcasters to break through in 2025? And if so, how can I find an audience and make sure my show doesn't get lost in the shuffle?
[Music]
Josh, here is a cool industry stat or a fun fact, according to Pod News. Micro niche podcasts often have higher CPMs than general interest shows. CPMs means cost per thousand impressions. That is a very common advertising metric that basically refers to how much you can get paid for every thousand listeners. And so a niche podcast often gets paid more, at least on a per thousand basis than a general interest show because advertisers value targeted audiences.
So this is a really key point. If you're trying to make a show for everybody, well, that can be hard to attract advertisers because advertisers always want to reach a specific group of people. They have some demographic in mind or at least some industry or interest. And so the more niche, the better often for advertisers. So maybe a couple other fun facts, over 460 million people listen to podcasts globally and the number continues to grow.
So yes, there are a lot of podcasts out there, but it may not be as saturated as it seems, especially again for this specific topic like urban gardening. So I would not hesitate to carve out a space, get out your spade, get out your shovel, carve out that space and succeed. Use discovery channels like YouTube. So I think I mentioned video podcasts earlier. YouTube is now the most popular podcast discovery platform, which is really interesting.
In fact, 30% of podcast listeners cite it as their primary way to find new shows. If I was starting over today, that is something I would think a lot more about. So if you're starting now, you can be ahead of me. You also might want to think about building a companion ecosystem. What does that mean?
Well, in addition to YouTube, think about platforms like Instagram or TikTok to share snippets of your episodes. Maybe it's some behind the scenes gardening hacks, any post to drive engagement and consistently point your social media followers back to the pod to create a loop of engagement across platforms. Those are a couple of tips, but basically in short, podcasting in 2025 and presumably in years to come, if you're listening later, I don't think you should avoid it just because other people have been doing it. Again, more than 460 million global listeners. Seems like there's plenty of room to grow.
Josh, good luck. Let us know when you launch that show. Listeners, if you have a question to comment, you know where to go, sidehustleschool.com. Thank you so much for being out there for more than 3000 days and counting a new episode every day. You can subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts and it's always completely free.
That's all for now. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
