Should You Make [Insert Media Here]? You’re Asking the Wrong Question.

There’s never been an easier time to make media.

Podcasts. Videos. Blogs. Newsletters. Social media campaigns…with relatively inexpensive equipment, production software, distribution, and AI, almost anyone can create and publish something quickly.

But just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

So, should you?

Wrong question.

Instead, consider: Who are you trying to reach, what are you trying to accomplish, and why should anyone care?

While I’m using podcasting as an example, this applies to every media decision. Choosing what to produce should follow—not precede—understanding why you’re producing it.

The podcasting paradox

Podcasting is a big industry.

According to Edison Research (2026), approximately 167 million Americans consume podcasts monthly, and U.S. podcast advertising revenue reached about $2.86 billion in 2025 (IAB/PwC, 2026). Meanwhile, there’s around 4.4 million indexed podcasts globally (the sum of all shows), but — and here’s the thing — less than 10% are active. In other words, roughly 413,000 shows published new content in the last 90 days (Slice, 2026).

Now, that doesn’t mean the other 90% failed. Some productions are seasonal, others finite. And a show can continue attracting listeners — and revenue — long after it stops publishing. But there’s an important distinction between launching a podcast and sustaining one. And another distinction between sustaining a podcast and making it successful.

How many downloads make a successful podcast?

According to Buzzsprout (2026), the median downloads of all episodes in the first seven days in September was 27! This means with 27 listeners within the first week of going live, you receive more than 50% of all episodes. Pretty promising. So can you get to 27? Reaching the top 10% isn’t insurmountable either (you’d need 412). And while the top 1% is a bigger stretch — approximately 4,586 — it’s possible.

Notably, these numbers reflect Buzzsprout, a prominent hosting platform, and not the entire podcasting industry. But these numbers, nonetheless, raise a bigger question:

How big does an audience have to be before it matters?

Advertising revenue isn’t the same as strategic value

Downloads don’t automatically translate into revenue. And the economics of podcast advertising can be challenging. Here’s a picture to illustrate how it looks:

That’s an enormous concentration of advertising dollars among a small number of shows.

Making money from advertising, in other words, can be difficult. But that doesn’t mean a podcast can’t be effective. Because advertising value and strategic value aren’t the same thing. And that’s true of nearly every medium.

Which brings me to a personal example.

Ghostlove: When a small audience creates a big opportunity

Several years ago, I partnered with a novelist to independently produce an audio adaptation of his book, Ghostlove. I produced, performed in, edited, and distributed the original series.

At our height, we reached slightly under 1,000 downloads per week. Not exactly blockbuster numbers. At a hypothetical $25 advertising CPM, 1,000 monetized downloads would have generated us $25 (maybe $100 assuming we hit those downloads for the last four weeks). And that’s before expenses. So under this ad model, Ghostlove wasn’t a compelling business.

But something else happened instead.

With our property, my collaborator brought the project to a new literary agent, who opened the door to Audible. The property was eventually acquired, and our original production was removed as part of the arrangement.

Did our audience numbers overtly lead to this? No. But this illustrates a broader perspective: the project generated value beyond its immediate advertising potential.

Commercial viability and strategic effectiveness are related, but different.

A piece of media might never generate enough direct revenue to sustain itself, yet still accomplish something commercially or professionally significant. It might generate leads, develop intellectual property, build a community, establish expertise, deepen relationships, or create unexpected opportunities. So the question shouldn’t be will this media make money, but will it accomplish what you intended it to do.

Start with the audience. Then choose the medium.

Before producing anything, consider what you’re actually trying to accomplish.

Who are you trying to reach? What do they want? What story can you tell? What would success look like? And perhaps most importantly, which medium gives you the best opportunity to accomplish that objective?

Maybe it’s a podcast. Maybe it’s a newsletter, a short-form video, a documentary, a live event, or something else entirely. There’s no universally superior medium. Only choices that are more or less effective for a particular audience and objective.

The medium matters. But it shouldn’t dictate the strategy.

Don’t start by deciding what to make. Start by understanding whom you’re making it for—and why it matters to them.

References

Buzzsprout. (2026). Buzzsprout platform stats. https://www.buzzsprout.com/stats

Edison Research. (2026). The infinite dial 2026. https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-infinite-dial-2026/

Inside Audio Marketing. (2026). Podcast ad spending accelerates in Q2 as brand dollars surge. https://www.insideaudiomarketing.com/post/podcast-ad-spending-accelerates-in-q2-as-brand-dollars-surge

Interactive Advertising Bureau, & PwC. (2026). Internet advertising revenue report: Full year 2025 results. https://www.iab.com/insights/internet-advertising-revenue-report-full-year-2025/

Slice. (2026). The podcast census 2026. https://tryslicemedia.com/data/podcast-census-2026