All 3 entries tagged Podcasts

Most Accessed Podcast Episodes of 2023

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

Looking back on the most popular podcast episodes of 2023 from the Exchanges Discourse reveals a few surprises.

To paraphrase Shatner [1] ‘When it was 2023 it was a very good year. It was a very good year for author interview podcast episodes and soft academic chat’.

In 2023 I produced 13 new episodes of the Exchanges Discourse podcast, representing our fourth (!) production season. I know, I’m as surprised as you are that we’ve been going this long now - but also delighted too. Since we kicked off in the high-pandemic year [2] of 2020 with the intention to create a surrogate for the kinds of conversations we’d been having behind the scenes with authors – but were less able to enjoy so easily during the extended remote working period. Unlike a lot of things which arose during lockdown – banana bread, clapping for the NHS, panicking over the food shopping [3] – the Exchanges Discourse podcast is still alive and well.

Back in 2022 we produced 17 episodes [4] and 6hrs 49 minutes of content over the twelve months. Now you might think that with fewer episodes in 2023, this means there was less content for listeners to enjoy. Slightly less variety of voices, I’ll perhaps give you. However, checking on the episode statistics we clocked in with a grand total of 6hrs and 39 minutes of content produced - most which wasn't me talking! Hence, 2023’s podcast episodes were nothing at which to be sneezed. [5] Now if I were to make one behind the scenes observation, it concerns those conversations which continued followed the end recording. A lot of our guests, once we turned the mic off had a lot more interesting things to say - and while I enjoyed every minute, I wish I'd managed to capture them for our listeners to enjoy. So, my goal for 2024 is to try and let more episodes run longer this way.

Anyway, all this aside – what you want to know in this post are which were the most popular episodes we published this past year. As always, we pick a top five and with four episodes appearing in December I’m was curious myself to see if any of these made it into the list when I ran the stats:

Well there you go - and yes - a three way tie there for 5^th place, with two of those being podcasts we launched in December! How especially gratifying to see them there, meaning a real potential for them to keep climbing up the ranks. I am personally a little delighted to see what occupies our number 1 slot, as it also happened to be the 50^th episode of the podcast – which was a minor milestone all of its own. I think the one surprise for me is that my solo episode on creating critical reflections has proved so popular. I suspect, given we’ve two special issues which are critical reflection focussed, this episode likely had a bit of a boost from authors planning to submit to them. I can’t tell for certain, although I know one or two authors have mentioned listening to it ahead of submission - so there's some evidence to support this assumption.

Anyway, what was your favourite episode in our top 5? Let us know if it was, or even if it wasn’t, in the comments below!

And now on to Season 5 - which I start recording today with an author interview again. Do join me.

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Endnotes

[1] I know it’s by Sinatra originally, but I’ve only ever listened to Kirk’s version. It’s rather good. But no, I shan’t be performing it in karaoke any time soon.

[2] Rather than the pre-vaccination endemic COVID-19 pandemic we’re still experiencing.

[3] UK inflation being what it is, I don’t think this one’s gone away – it’s just evolved into a more fiscal than existential mode.

[4] 15 author interviews, two solo performances by myself

[5] For 2023 the average episode length is 30 minutes 41 seconds, for 2022 it was only 24 minutes 3 seconds – so we talked a lot more this year just passed.

Gareth Johnson : 11 Jan 2024 09:39 |  Tags: 2023 Charts Discourse Episodes Exchanges Listeners Metrics Podcasts |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Top of the Chats: Exchanges Discourse Most Popular Episodes 2022

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

The EIC looks back at the Exchanges Discourse podcast listener figures to uncover 2022’s most popular episodes.

Happy new year Exchanges blog readers. As is tradition [1] at the start of each year I like to have a quick check of the stats relating to the journal. First up, it’s the Exchanges Discourse podcast. Last year (2022) we released 17 episodes with a total running time of 6hrs 49mins – almost double the duration of the content we released the previous year. Were our authors more loquacious? In part, yes, but also the four additional episodes probably helped to boost the total a little.

For interest – here’s a link back to last year’s charts.

Interestingly, 15/17 episodes in 2022 featured a guest [2] with only a couple being solo episodes featuring myself. Anyway, here are the top chats of the year:

1. In Conversation with Elloit Cardoza (Feb ’22) [Total Audience Share: 16%]
2. In Conversation with Mehdi Moharami (Jan ’22) [Total Audience Share: 13%]
3. In Conversation with Francesca Brunetti (June ’22) [Total Audience Share: 8%]
4. What Do I Get Out of Publishing with Exchanges? (Mar ’22) [Total Audience Share: 8%] [3]
5. In Conversation with Alena Cicholewski (Sept ’22) [Total Audience Share: 7%]

Unsurprisingly, those recorded and released towards the start of the year do benefit from a longer lead time than the later ones, although I’m delighted to see my lovely chat with Alena in September is there among the most popular. I am also slightly flabbergasted to see one of my solo efforts charting so high. It’s not that they’re ‘less worthy’ entries, but I’ve rather naturally assumed the friends and colleagues of our guests would always boost the episodes they appear in above my own solo entries.

My thanks as always to all my guests, and of course the listeners too – I hope you all enjoyed and benefitted from the experience.

So, what’s coming up in 2023? The good news is the first new episode is only a day or so away from release as I recorded it just ahead of the Xmas break. After that…ah, spoilers sweetie!

Happy listening!

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Endnotes

[1] It’s not a long-standing tradition, dating back only a couple of years, but a tradition nevertheless.

[2] Including one author who came back for seconds!

[3] A very slightly lower overall number of listeners compared to (3), but not enough to shift the stats.

Gareth Johnson : 12 Jan 2023 08:06 |  Tags: 2022 Charts Listened Most Of Podcasts Review The Year |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Top Exchanges Discourse Podcasts 2020

Writing about web page https://anchor.fm/exchangesias

The Exchanges Discourse podcast series was first introduced last May, which means unlike our journal, we haven’t truly had a full year of availability against which to chart the download statistics. However, I thought, given we released 11 episodes in 2020, that it would still be worthwhile having a brief look at which were the top five most listened to episodes.

It’s pleasantly surprising to see that a mix of episodes, including ones with guests, are all in the top tier for listeners. What you’ll be able to surmise too from glancing at the release dates is just how rapidly popular our discussion with Dr Gauly was. Now, the reasons for this may be the timing, released just as a very long autumn term was coming to an end when people were looking for something interesting but lighter weight to listen to. It might also be that Dr Gauly herself did a magnificent job of sharing the podcast episode with her peers on social media, for which we’re deeply grateful. I’d like to think it was the content though, as it was a really enjoyable discussion to participate in, as the interviewer.

Nevertheless, a year from now it will be interesting to return and see what will have been our most listened to episode for 2021!

Gareth Johnson : 25 Feb 2021 09:03 |  Tags: Annual Charts Metrics Podcasts Review Statistics |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem