Your Podcast Won’t Go Viral, and That’s a Good Thing

The phrase “go viral” may be the holy grail for digital content creators, but not podcasters. 

Though podcasts benefit from some of the phenomena that make content “go viral,” it’s unlikely that any podcast will. This is a good thing, though. Lemme ‘splain:

Podcasts are unlikely to go viral because they aren’t platformed or packaged to do so. More importantly,  they influence people on a deeper level than short-form content can.  Let’s take a look at: 

• What the “viral” term means
• The mechanics that cause digital content to “go viral” 
• What makes a piece of content likely to be shared organically
• Why it’s a good thing that your podcast won’t go viral

What Does “Viral” Mean?

In case you haven’t heard enough about viruses over the past five years: 

Once upon a time, in the early 1980s, Newsweek published its first cover story about a then-mysterious epidemic called AIDS. Suffice it to say that this was all anyone at my high school could talk about, in class or out. Fortunately for me, that day, I ate lunch near J.T. 

J.T. was one of the cool kids, a senior who took advanced placement biology. He said he would show me why AIDS wasn’t quite as dangerous as most people thought. He lay a fork, knife, and spoon on the table. The spoon, he said, was a virus. It couldn’t travel on its own. But, the fork or knife could scoop up the spoon, carry it to the other utensil, and drop it on it. For a virus to spread, a warm body has to pick it up and move it (or, in the case of airborne viruses, propel it) to another warm body.  

In the same way, digital content can’t travel on its own. People have to pick up that digital content and move it to another person or a place where another person can find it. 

Any digital content is a file. A person can upload the file to a server so people can consume it elsewhere via a URL. And people can share content by: 

• Reposting it to users of the same social media platform they found it on
• Copying the URL and pasting it on another platform, in an email, text message, or in a newsletter

When people get a post that means something to them, they tend to share it with others. That’s how digital content can travel like a virus. 

Going Viral: How Does It Work? 

Like I said earlier, people can share posts within or outside a platform. 

A platform for short-form content, such as TikTok or Instagram, makes sharing content within the platform easy. My mom and I share a lot of reels and posts on Instagram, because it’s very simple. 

YouTube makes sharing longer content within that platform easy, provided the recipient is also on the same platform. YouTube automatically makes short links, so they’re easier to share.

For example, let’s use Instagram, because the platform runs a reasonably basic algorithm. The more Instagram users engage with a post, the more likely that post is to show up on more people’s feeds.

The more users like, comment on, share, or save that post, the more engagement Instagram measures, and displays the post in more people’s feeds. Shares beget shares, and Instagram platform users stay on the platform. This, in turn, makes the people who buy and sell Instagram ads happy. It’s predictable.  

Sharing outside the platform, however, requires more steps. For example, my husband doesn’t use Instagram. To share Instagram links with him, I have to: 

• Copy the link
• Open an email or text message
• Paste the link
• You’re bored already, aren’t you? 
• Add a message explaining why he should open the link
• Send it so he can click on the link and open it in a browser

Conventional wisdom (since debunked) claims that three clicks is too much work for internet users. But, the three-click rule has been a staple of website design for so long that users now expect to reach their goal in three or fewer clicks. And really, that bullet point list was boring before the third point. The nature of sharing outside a platform means that short-form content had better be good. 

To sum up: a 90-second video is easy to share among peers on the same platform.  But if it takes longer to share or navigate to that content than the length of the content itself, the juice had better be worth the squeeze. As you can see, it’s hard for any content to go viral outside one platform. 

How Does Peer-to-Peer Sharing Apply to Podcasts? 

I’m glad you asked! It doesn’t. 

On podcast listening apps, users don’t follow each other or become “friends” as they do on social media platforms. There isn’t a mechanism to share podcasts or clips among users of the same platform. Though sharing a podcast clip exists in Overcast, for example, it’s not shared among other users of the same platform in the same way Instagram Reels bounce back and forth. 

If peer-to-peer sharing existed in podcast apps, could it make a podcast go viral? I don’t think so, but I’ll explain why after I show you what makes content likely to take a ride on a platform’s algorithm. 

What Makes a Piece of Digital Content Likely to Be Shared Organically?

People share content when it: 

• Evokes emotion
• Uses a social connection: people use the content to ask for an opinion, share value/solve problems, or amplify a shared passion.
• Appears at the right time and place, i.e., a podcast about Halloween-themed charcuterie boards is more likely to get shared during October than in July.
• Connects with “super-sharers” or matches the kind of content that gets shared often. 

It’s nearly impossible to meet all four of these variables. Content that makes me say, “WOW, that made me laugh; Mom needs to know how to winterize her dryer vent; I have to send this right now!” might not do the same for you. 

What moments in your most recent podcast episode are emotionally evocative, valuable in and of themselves, timely, and match up with the cultural moment? It’s hard to pin those moments down in a podcast. A short clip or sound bite can go viral, but little bites are unsatisfying without context. 

Let’s move on to what podcasts do well, so you can see why they’re unlikely to go viral. And as I said at the beginning – that’s not a bad thing. 

Podcasts Use Time, Nuance, Niche, and Intimacy to Make an Impact.

Podcasts contain the attributes of viral content, but spread out over a longer time period. This longer span allows podcasters to dive deep into the details of a topic in each episode.

When podcasters explore a topic, they can analyze it bit by bit, providing context and clarity. More than that, podcasts make us feel more connected to others, use niche marketing to help people feel included, and use direct addresses to provide value to the audience.

Rather than a sound bite, this is a sound meal. 

Podcasts Can Use Time and Nuance

No two people understand a topic in the same way. And the more consequential a topic is, the more it matters to examine it from all angles.

Citing responsible research sources, describing elements accurately, and summarizing without prejudice take time and attention to detail. Because podcasts are delivered via RSS feed, this format is a good fit for complex topics. 

Take history, for example. Podcasts can use multiple episodes to show different perspectives on an issue from different classes, places, or cultures.

Podcasts can show a broad range of information, such as timelines or geographic shifts, and they can focus on details. The American slave trade, for example, is crucial to understanding American history, yet painful to consider.  But: 

• The New York Times’ podcast 1619 shows how the American slave trade has affected democracy, capitalism, music, and health care. This podcast grew into accompanying reading materials and educational materials for schools. 
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History devoted over five and a half hours in one episode, Human Resources, to the Atlantic Slave Trade. Plus, Carlin’s episode description says, “This show merely scratches the surface of this enormous subject.” 
• Intertwined, produced by the Center for Digital History at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, examines the biographies of specific people enslaved at Mount Vernon, to show how life at Washington’s plantation affected law, sustainability, and family in early America. 

Each podcast shows a different perspective in a multifaceted way. Again, the beauty of RSS feeds help podcasters share links to relevant information such as reading materials, visual art, and video along with audio. 

Legacy media depends on advertising budgets and schedules to fit content into increasingly smaller spaces. Podcasts, though, aren’t subject to the same constraints. And podcasters can explore emotionally charged topics in an accessible format, allowing the audience to consume the information at their own pace. 

Perspective and context are necessary for anything from aerobic fitness to zebra ranching. With careful research from multiple angles, podcasters help the audience gain understanding. However, a wide range of information divided into shorter, detailed explorations is unlikely to go viral because it requires patience and mental effort. 

Niche Marketing Flourishes in Podcasting

Niche means that the podcast’s topic applies to the audience and their interests. Some podcasts are very clear about this, putting the niche in the description and title. Other podcasts’ niche comes through in the show’s tone and style. 

Take the HVAC School podcast, for example. HVAC technicians work alone or with the same partner for months. These folks may have to sit in traffic or drive for over two hours daily.

Often, industry information gets passed from the corporate level down, not peer-to-peer. However, HVAC technicians need specificity to answer their questions, such as discussing the kind of building, geographic location, local weather, and the HVAC unit’s history.

Skilled technicians communicating with each other about strategies to improve their jobs is this podcast’s bread and butter. It’s clear from the title that this podcast is about HVAC technology for HVAC technicians. 

Niche can come through in subtler ways. The show’s overall feeling, the hosts’ tone and voice, and how they explore ideas have a profound effect. Think about the difference in these titles of gardening podcasts.

• Green Industry Leaders Network
• Cultivating Place
• You Bet Your Garden

The first sounds business-focused, the second sounds nurturing, and the third sounds humorous. That gut feeling is how podcasts use demographics vs. psychographics to attract and sustain audiences. Or, this makes the audience feel they’re listening to content that is “for people like me.” 

Podcasts Are Companionable

As Katie said in Listening to Podcasts Makes Us Feel Less Lonely, studies show that podcasts can help us feel more connected to others.

She talks about Stephanie Tobin’s study at the University of Queensland. Tobin found that people sought out podcasts for edutainment and storytelling, and came away feeling the podcast hosts are like friends.

Tobin also found that study participants who listened to podcasts frequently were less likely to show a need to belong or neuroticism than people who listened to podcasts less often. So, these people came to the podcast out of intellectual curiosity or a need for entertainment, rather than to fill an emotional void.

Podcasts might not go viral, but they can grow on you. 

A UC San Diego study claims that using headphones to listen to podcasts makes it feel like the podcaster’s voice is “in your head.” But this isn’t the only reason that podcasts feel like a companion. 

Perhaps a compelling reason is that podcasters want their audience to get in touch. Nearly every podcast has a call to action asking the audience to send an email, contact them on social media, and/or write a review. Who else asks people to keep in touch as much as podcasters do? Mom? 

When you have something in your life that challenges and nurtures your mind on a regular basis, you don’t share that with just anyone. Like trying to share a hike, a restaurant experience, or playing a game, the total listening experience makes a podcast what Malcolm Gladwell called “sticky.” It’s difficult, if not impossible, to quantify why an experience is stimulating. Certainly not in less than three clicks. 

Is There a Future for Long-Form Content in a Short-Form World?

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Your Podcast Won’t Go Viral Because It’s Meant To Go Further

Podcasts have never been meant to “go viral”, like Waffle House Wendy’s elegant chair catch video. Podcast listening apps don’t have sharing nodes like social media platforms. Podcatchers aren’t designed for peer-to-peer sharing but for personal enjoyment. And, should they be passed around a platform like a plate of cookies?

We should share our favorite podcast episodes with our friends. But we might not want to. As the waiter said to the customer shouting about the fly in his soup, “Keep your voice down, or everyone’ll want them and we’ll run out.” 

Much of the allure of podcasts can be summed up with “if you know, you know.” Sometimes, you only want to share them with the people who will understand. That’s not a recipe to “go viral,” but a method for enduring relationships. 

I haven’t seen or heard from J.T.  for over 35 years. But, I will always remember him casually explaining how viruses work. That day, J.T. was a cool kid who treated me like an equal, generous with his kindness and knowledge. That’s what good podcasts do.  

HAS your podcast “gone viral” before? Tell us more in the IndiePod Community!