Audience Value Beats Size

Shaan Puri and the Acquired podcast hosts discuss how content metrics often focus on quantity over quality, particularly in podcasting. They emphasize that the value of an audience isn't just in its size, but in its composition and engagement level.

Key Points:

• Audience Quality vs Quantity:

  • Everyone measures numbers, but nobody measures quality because it's harder to understand
  • 200,000 views on a business acquisition podcast is inherently more valuable than 200,000 views on a TikTok
  • The type of people listening to business content are inherently more valuable than general audience content

• Acquired Podcast Audience Composition:

  • 40% are C-level or VP-level executives
  • 23% are current founders
  • 12% were previously founders
  • 17% are engineers
  • 15% are actively CEOs
  • 12% are product managers

• Strategic Approach to Growth:

  • Don't focus on getting millions of listeners
  • Better to slow growth but saturate a valuable niche
  • Having the "most valuable audience in the world" is more important than raw numbers

• Business Impact:

  • High-quality audience leads to valuable sponsor deals
  • Enables 6-figure, long-term sponsorship arrangements
  • Most sponsors renew for 3-4-5 seasons
  • Creates opportunities for meaningful conversations with industry leaders

• Growth Philosophy:

  • Focus on reaching the right people rather than maximizing reach
  • Quality of audience engagement matters more than quantity of listeners
  • Value comes from having the right listeners, not just more listeners