Finding Your Podcast’s Perfect Audience Niche
With over 1 million podcasts and 30 million podcast episodes as of 2022, the podcasting world is becoming increasingly saturated. As a result, finding the right niche is crucial in helping your podcast stand out and attract your ideal audience.
Choosing a podcast topic that is too broad or already covered extensively will make it difficult to get noticed. On the other hand, choosing a niche that is too narrow can limit your growth potential. So how do you find that podcasting “sweet spot” – the right niche that will resonate with listeners and have room to evolve as your show grows?
In this blog post, we will explore some key strategies to help you identify and select the best podcast niche for your goals and target demographic audience.
Understand Your Target Audience
The first step is getting crystal clear on who you want your podcast listeners to be. Ask yourself questions like:
- What are their demographics – age, location, gender, income level, education, etc?
- What are their interests and pain points? What do they struggle with or want to learn about?
- Where do they hang out online? On social media? In certain online communities or forums?
- What podcasts or media do they already consume?
Developing an intimate understanding of your ideal listener will help tremendously in narrowing down niche ideas that will genuinely appeal to them.
Conduct Market Research
Once you have a target audience in mind, conduct market research to determine if there are any gaps in podcast content that your show could potentially fill. A few things to look at:
- Search podcast directories like iTunes to see how many shows already exist around various topics
- Google search terms related to your niche to gauge search volume and interest
- Check Facebook Groups, subreddits and online communities to observe discussions your audience is having
- Use tools like Listen Notes and Chartable to analyze trending podcast genres and topics
This research will reveal rising niche areas that are drawing audience interest but lack shows catering to them. The best podcast niches satisfy demonstrated listener demand.
Leverage Your Unique Strengths
Think about your specific background, experiences, skills, or access to interesting people that you can leverage to provide value around a niche. If you have 10 years of experience as a fitness coach, sports may be a great niche to consider.
If you’re a software engineer, a tech podcast may allow you to provide insider insight. Any distinctive strengths you have can help narrow your focus and allow you to approach a niche from a fresh perspective.
Combine Your Passion with Commercial Potential
Ideally, you’ll be podcasting about a topic you genuinely enjoy and care about. But it helps if that passion has commercial viability too. Research the kinds of niches and topics that appeal to sponsors and advertisers. This will increase your chances of being able to monetize your podcast down the road.
Allow Room to Expand Within Your Niche
Make sure to choose a niche that provides opportunities to explore various subtopics, angles, and discussions. For example, a general health podcast may be too broad, but a niche like “mental health” still gives you room to cover topics like stress, relationships, productivity, mindfulness, workplace issues, etc.
This helps keep your podcast feeling focused, while still having space to evolve.
Conclusion
Launching a successful podcast today means carefully developing your niche around your audience’s needs, your unique value, and commercial opportunity. While a tight niche is key, you also want space to grow within that specialty area.
Follow these tips to help select and craft the right podcast niche and your show will be primed for building strong engagement and community in the exciting world of podcasting. Learn here more about podcasting and tips on how to make money online.