“You would be better having 50 people listen to your podcast, and those 50 people be the key target audience who would potentially be your customer.”

Tri from my team at Seven Million Bikes Podcast asks me the big questions about measuring the ROI of a business podcast. I’m Niall Mackay. I started my first podcast in 2019, it went on to win major awards, and it’s now in the top 5% of podcasts worldwide. After I lost my job during COVID, I started Seven Million Bikes Podcast, and we recently opened Saigon Podcast Studio here in Vietnam.

There’s no easy answer to this question, and I say so upfront. But I walk through why downloads are the wrong measure for most business podcasts, what to track instead, and how to tell whether your show is actually helping your business grow.

Key Takeaways

• Downloads shouldn’t be your goal: Measuring success by download numbers isn’t helpful for a business podcast.
• Sponsorship is really difficult: At around $28 per thousand downloads, even a top 1% show makes little money per episode.
• Measure audience and engagement: Check where your listeners are, their age, and their device.
• Track your leads by asking: Add “How did you hear about us?” to your contact forms and your sales conversations, with the podcast as an option, and record the answers in a spreadsheet.
• Give it at least a year: A podcast is one part of your marketing funnel, and it creates value with every episode and clip before it creates a lead.

Chapters and Timestamps

00:00 – Why downloads are the wrong measure
03:00 – Why making money from sponsorship is so difficult
05:00 – What to measure instead: audience, engagement, and leads
08:00 – How a podcast creates value before it creates a lead, and how to track business development
10:00 – How long to give your podcast, and how to work with us

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“A video podcast is more work and more cost than an audio podcast, but nowhere near the level of a TV production.”

Welcome back to Smarter Podcasting. I’m Niall Mackay, founder of Seven Million Bikes Podcast and Saigon Podcast Studio. I started my first podcast in 2019 as a hobby, and it’s now in the top 5% of podcasts in the world.

In this episode, Tri from my team asks me the questions I hear most often from business owners about video. Do you really need it? When does it add value? What extra work does it create? And can you do it without turning every episode into a TV production? If you’re deciding between video and audio only, this should help you make the call. My answer is that for most businesses, yes, you need video. But there are good reasons to stay audio-only, and I cover those too.

Key Takeaways

• Most businesses should probably do video: Everyone consumes video now, and Apple Podcasts added video for the first time in 2026. For 99% of cases these days, I’d say your business needs it.
• The real value is in short-form clips: One short video from your podcast can get 10, 100, or even 1,000 times more views than the full episode, and people will know you have a podcast just from seeing the clips.
• YouTube needs video: Audio with a static image doesn’t work there. A video version helps with search, because YouTube videos show up on Google’s first page far more often than Spotify or Apple Podcasts links do.
• Stick to audio in some cases: Investigative and deep-dive shows, like true crime, don’t need a visual element. And if you don’t have the budget for video, audio-only is a perfectly good choice.
• Video is more work, but it’s not a TV production: Studios are already set up for video, and audio-only is cheaper and simpler. Having a crew come to your office is the expensive route, at around $500 an hour in Saigon. A proper TV production can cost $10,000 or more per episode, which you don’t need either.

Chapters and Timestamps

00:02 – Does every business podcast need video? Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Buzzsprout now support it
00:04 – When video adds value: short-form clips and YouTube search
00:06 – When to stick to audio: investigative podcasts and tight budgets
00:09 – The extra work video creates: on-site crews, camera-ready prep, and what to wear

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Book a free call with me here to help you create the best podcast possible!

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“The prices might be different if you’re based in the States... But I still think those numbers are pretty ballpark for wherever you are.”

I recorded this one because “how much does it cost?” is the first question almost every business owner asks me, and it’s the one most companies avoid answering. So I decided to just say the numbers out loud. What I wanted to get across is that the price only makes sense once you know what’s inside it. A $250 edit and a $500 edit aren’t the same product, and the add-ons can change your final bill more than people expect.

Key Takeaways

• Standard editing is $250 per episode: This is the entry point, and a good fit if you’re getting started and handling the extras yourself.
• Monthly bookings get 10% off: Lots of our clients book monthly for video, and it helps keep your schedule consistent.
• Premium editing is $500 per episode: You get a more polished edit with a premium feel.
• Premium includes the full package: Short-form videos, artwork, show notes, and titles are all part of the price.
• Add-ons add up: Graphics and subtitles are extra, so factor them into your budget, and remember that prices vary by country but the ballpark holds.

Chapters and Timestamps

00:02 – What a standard edit costs: $250 per episode
00:05 – The 10% discount for monthly subscriptions
00:07 – Premium editing at $500 and everything it includes
00:10 – Add-ons: graphics and subtitles, and how the costs add up
00:12 – Why prices differ between Saigon, the US, and Australia, and how to work with us

Send us Fan Mail

Book a free call with me here to help you create the best podcast possible!

Email me (niall@sevenmillionbikes.com) or contact me on Seven Million Bikes Podcasts Facebook or Instagram to book your free Podcast Audit!