It’s been a year since The Observing I rolled out as a podcast. I wanted to take some time to go through the numbers and see how it’s done this year. It’s the first time I’ve really dived into it. I wanted to take a “fire and forget” approach because, if I focused too much on listenership and uptake, I knew that it would probably derail me.
I’m going full nerd on the numbers and analytics for this post, just to warn you. This is where my Software Engineer side kicks in.
Part of this exercise was to help me understand what it is that you’re all into, so I can focus on more of that sort of content. Part of it was so that I could dust off what little grains of self doubt were resting on my mind’s mantlepiece.
Just how long was I talking for?
586 minutes of audio content went out this year. That’s a splash under 10 hours. I didn’t even realise it was that much.
How many of you tuned in on Substack?
The past year, we’ve had 822 downloads. I wasn’t sure that I read that right at first. Eight hundred and twenty two. Wow. That is a way more than I ever could have expected.
The majority of you are from the US (at 44%), with UK listeners lagging behind in second at 36%.
But it’s not just on Substack that you can dial in to transmissions from the computer hell cabin. It’s also out on Spotify and YouTube.
Spotify
I pushed the podcast to Spotify as soon as it came out. I thought the more avenues people had to be able to access it, the better. Taking a look through our Spotify recap for the podcast for 2023, I’m glad that I did. Here are some of the highlights.
Most popular episode
You Spotify folks had a strong affinity for the “Becoming more consistent” episode. This was streamed 81% more than the average. That’s intense, and some more of those sort of episodes will be on the cards.
The reach
71% of listeners were from the United Kingdom. You all clearly have good taste, and a lot of you seemed to like what you heard. It’s been shared all over Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
And for 7 of you beautiful lot, the podcast was your number 1. I’m blown away by that. It’s an odd experience when you start putting out content into the world. In those first few months I often wondered if anyone would find it engaging or interesting, and if they’d come back for more. I thought it might be (when I could quash the grumblings of self doubt), but I’d not imagined being anyone’s first choice.
YouTube
On 23rd October, I decided to push everything to YouTube alongside Substack and Spotify. Substack is and always will be the home of The Observing I, but as with Spotify, I wanted to open it up to another avenue for people to tune in to my dulcet tones.
In that time, we’ve had 472 views and 16 subscribers. Again, an incredible number for just over 2 months.
Most popular episode
YouTubers really got into “Gratitude, Stoicism, and the Art of Living Well”, with 52 total views in a month. This one was my Thanksgiving episode, so it feels like the timing was right to talk about gratitude.
I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you for your amazing support over the past year. It’s been a fantastic experience - diving into all sorts of philosophical and psychological weirdness, getting my head around using Adobe Audition, and becoming more comfortable with talking more about things I find interesting (that can be a struggle for us introverts sometimes).
I started doing this for myself, as a challenge to a) push myself out of my comfort zone of writing, and b) to keep being consistent outside of that comfort zone.
I thought “if it benefits one person, if one person comes away from this having gained something positive, then I’ve succeeded”. And, oh boy, do I feel like I’ve done that.
Here’s to a new year and new content. I’m feeling engaged, energised, and engorged with ideas, so expect a lot more from The Observing I in 2024.
Much love from the computer hell cabin,
David