Your podcast is followed by lots of people who don't listen. So is mine. So is everyones. Is that a problem to be solved? Or just a reflection of the complex relationship people have with on-demand content?

I wonder how many of the subscribers to or followers of your podcast have followers remorse? And by your followers and subscribers, I of course mean my followers and subscribers as well. 

By followers remorse, I mean someone who took the time to add your podcast to their listening app... but now they kind of wish they hadn't. For whatever reason, your show is no longer for them. But they haven't removed your show from their listening app.

You and I would just unsubscribe or unfollow, right? Well... we're not most people.

Compare the download metrics from any podcast's hosting provider to the listen metric from the podcast apps and the behavior of the "middle" subscriber or follower emerges. 

In most cases, middle listeners had every intention of listening to every episode of the podcast they subscribed to or followed. But now they're not

Maybe they got everything they needed from you and your podcast after listening to just a couple of episodes and are keeping the connection in case they have new needs.

Maybe their interest in the topic your podcast covers slowly waned over time.

Maybe they discovered and prioritized a different podcast or a different set of podcasts that better fits where they are today. 

Maybe they're very good at triaging their podcast listening app, deliberately choosing which episodes to listen to, using their own decision tree or sorting methodologies to make decisions you just can't know about or influence.

Maybe they keep the subscription or following active as a show of solidarity for your show or yourself, like some fort of a badge that says they are part of your tribe.

Or maybe they view your feed updates as transactional, keeping you and your show top of mind for them, and weirdly happy enough just to know you're still producing content because maybe someday they'll listen.

What should we do about these middle followers, if anything? 

Should we wish for a way to clear out those who've stopped listening just so our listening stats match up with our download stats? No, I don't see much value in that. 

Should you try to convert as many of these middle followers to dedicated listeners as you possibly can? Well, yeah, of course. But that's something that's probably not very much in your control. 

But that doesn't mean you should stop trying. 

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Links

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.

It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show.

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