Recently, there's been a lot of chatter about Michelle Obama's new podcast.

It's called imo, and some commentators are already labeling it a failure.

Here's what you can learn from this news story and apply it to your own podcast.

Welcome to Podcasting Insights with the Podmaster.

I am the podmaster, Neil Velio.

Delighted to help podcast podcasters like you, whether indies or brands, to get more from their podcast efforts.

In an episode of the Hills Rising, they covered a story about left leaning podcasts, one of which is Michelle Obama's new podcast, imo.

In this commentary episode, they suggested the former first lady show was a bomb due to what they've called low audience numbers.

Here's a clip of them talking about it.

Separate from all that, there's former first lady Michelle Obama.

She launched her new podcast titled imo this week.

She's done two full podcasts, one with her brother, who is a co host, and another with actress Issa Rae.

She's uploaded five videos in total so far, but has yet to surpass a million views.

Here's one clip that has gone viral.

Well, Barack, he had to adjust to what on time was because he was on that island time.

You know, I've got this husband who's like, when it's time to leave, it's 3:00.

He's getting up and going to the bathroom.

And I was like, dude, dude, like three.

A three o'clock departure means you've done all that, you know, it's like, don't start looking for your glasses, you know, at the 3 o'clock departure.

But he's improved over over 30 years of marriage.

But that was a, you know, that was.

You must adjust.

Of course, some on the right have ripped the first lady for her relatively low numbers and content.

Political commentator Benny Johnson wrote on X, Michelle Obama's first couple of podcast episodes absolutely flopped, not even getting a combined 20,000 views in the 15 hours after posting.

What an utter failure.

Who thought this was a good idea?

Now, this is the kind of feedback that sends shodders down the spines of all of us podcasters.

But is it justified?

In this case?

I don't think so.

Look, I know that it's really tempting for a lot of people to take pot shots at famous people that are doing podcasts.

And the schadenfreude kicks in, particularly if people are right leaning people that don't want people on the left to do well.

But politics aside, this actually speaks to a much deeper issue, the issue of podcasters and the perception around their shows.

Here's the crucial detail for you.

This judgment that her show has failed is Primarily based on YouTube view counts of the podcast's video version.

Now, the argument of whether a podcast can be a podcast is if it's on YouTube and is in video format at all.

To the side, let's talk about what these commentators are actually looking at here.

They're looking at YouTube view numbers, not even the retention data.

And they're making bold assumptions about this podcast reach overall and comparing it to other podcasts they also don't know the numbers for I mean, sure they see the view counts, but if a podcast on YouTube, again, putting the argument of whether that's a contradiction in terms aside, for a moment, they might see a podcast getting a million views.

But what if 460,000 of those views are people clicking play, watching for 10 seconds and going, nah, mate, not for me?

The reality is YouTube views are just one tiny sliver of a podcast's overall performance metrics.

Most listeners consume podcasts through dedicated audio platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many, many others.

Now, these platforms provide the real data on downloads, listens, and audience engagement data that's not publicly visible to everyone.

And in fact, the only person who will ever see that data is the creator themselves through their podcast hosting company's dashboard.

It's also worth noting that in a lot of these cases, the video versions of podcasts don't perform quite as well as their audio counterparts because, well, modality.

A huge chunk of the population don't want to watch two or more people just having a conversation into some microphones.

What's happening with Michelle Obama's podcast here perfectly illustrates why so many podcasters are hesitant to put their content on YouTube.

The public visibility of YouTube numbers creates a pressure to perform a fear of being judged based on a single, often misleading metric.

The truth is, many successful podcasts thrive without a strong YouTube presence.

Imagine pouring your heart and soul into a project only to have its success judged by a loud, bulgy voice or a commentator that doesn't even fully represent its reach.

This is the fear many podcasters face.

They worry that their work will be unfairly scrutinized and that their numbers will be used to diminish their efforts.

People love to pile on, particularly if someone is perceived as famous or successful.

Jealousy can sometimes kick in.

Now, the situation with Michelle Obama should serve as a valuable lesson to you as a podcaster.

Don't feel pressured to put your podcast on YouTube if you're not comfortable with that.

Public scrutiny that comes along with it.

Focus on creating quality content and building an audience on the platforms that best serve your needs.

And let's just call a spade a spade here.

Your mental state not everyone's got the mindset to cope with online criticism, and believe me, YouTube is a great place for these trolls to roll out.

You gotta be ready to deal with that.

Remember, podcasting is traditionally and primarily an audio medium.

Its strength lies in its intimacy, its ability to connect with listeners on a personal level.

So don't let the pressure of visual platforms distract you from what truly matters, and that is delivering great, entertaining and engaging content to your ideal audience and communities, not anybody else's and not a YouTube guru's.

Yours with all the noise on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and what used to be known as Twitter these days, it could be easy to get sucked into this notion that the only way to have podcasting success is with YouTube and a video version of your show.

There's a reason these people are advocating so heavily for this.

They make money from people creating video content and needing help to optimize it.

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