How to Determine the Potential Audience Size of Your Podcast

🤖 This post is part of our collection of AI-generated podcast resources helping you learn how to market & grow your show.

Determining the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for a podcast is an important step in understanding the potential reach and size of a podcast.

The TAM represents the total potential demand for a podcast in a given market, and along with the SAM and SOM, understanding it can help podcast creators and marketers assess a show’s potential for growth, create a business plan around the show, and plan and execute effective marketing strategies.

Here are three steps for determining the TAM for a podcast.

Three Steps for Determining the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for a Podcast

Identify The Target Audience

The first step in determining the TAM is to identify the target audience for the podcast.

This should include demographic information such as age, gender, location, and interests, as well as any other relevant characteristics.

For example, if a podcast is focused on parenting advice, the target audience might be parents of young children.

Research The Size Of The Target Audience

Once the target audience has been identified, the next step is to research the size of that audience.

This can be done through a variety of methods, including online surveys, market research reports, and data from social media or other platforms.

For example, if the target audience for a parenting podcast is parents of young children, the size of that audience might be determined by looking at data on the number of parents with young children in a given area or demographic.

Estimate the Percentage of the Target Audience That Is Likely to Be Interested in a Podcast Like Yours

Once the size of the target audience has been determined, the next step is to estimate the percentage of that audience that is likely to be interested in a podcast similar to this one.

This can be done by considering factors such as the topic and format of the podcast, the competition in the market, and any other relevant factors.

For example, if a parenting podcast is focused on a specific parenting approach or method, the percentage of parents of young children who might be interested in that approach or method could be used to estimate the percentage of the target audience that is likely to be interested in the podcast.

Examples of How to Determine the TAM for a Podcast

Here’s an example of how these steps might be applied to determine the TAM for a podcast about finance and investing.

  • Identify the target audience: People interested in finance and investing
  • Research the size of the target audience: Look at data on the number of people interested in finance and investing in a given area or demographic. This information might be available through market research reports or data from social media platforms or online surveys.
  • Estimate the percentage of the target audience that is likely to be interested in a podcast like this podcast: Consider the competition in the market and the specific focus of the podcast (e.g. personal finance, investing for beginners, etc.). This could be done by looking at data on the number of other finance and investing podcasts or blogs, as well as the specific topic and format of the podcast.

By following these steps, podcast creators and marketers can get a better understanding of the potential reach and size of their podcast, which can help inform marketing and growth strategies.

That said, determining the TAM is just the first step in getting an accurate sense of your show’s true growth potential.

To get a more granular idea of the true size of your potential listenership, it’s worth taking your TAM assessment and using what you’ve learned to calculate your Servicable Addressable Market (SAM) and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM).

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