Last year, I wrote about why every podcast needs a trailer. Podcast trailers can be effective tools for building excitement and anticipation for a new show or season, and for introducing new listeners to your show.

In some podcast apps, trailers even get special treatment. For instance, the iOS Podcasts app prominently pins trailers to the top of feeds:

Yet, I often see shows that don’t include a trailer.

Which got me wondering: is there any correlation between the presence of a trailer and podcast success?

So I did some digging.

How many popular podcasts include trailers?

I pulled a list of the 400 Top Shows in Apple Podcasts (US). Then I checked their feeds for trailers. I found that about 40% of the top 400 podcasts in the US contained a trailer.

But here’s where things get interesting: the higher up on the charts you go, the higher the percentage of shows with trailers.

• 8 podcasts in the US Top 10 have trailers. That’s 80%.
• 21 podcasts in the US Top 30 have trailers. That’s 70%.
• 30 podcasts in the US Top 50 have trailers. That’s 60%.
• 48 podcasts in the US Top 100 have trailers. That’s 48%.
• 84 podcasts in the US Top 200 have trailers. That’s 42%.
• 159 podcasts in the US Top 400 have trailers. That’s 39.75%.

If we plot it out, there seems to be a clear correlation between chart position and the presence of trailers:

The shows near the top of Apple’s Top 400 had a higher percentage of trailers than shows near the bottom.

We see the same pattern in categories, too

I did the same analysis for the charts in several of Apple’s podcast categories. Broadly speaking, in each category, the closer to the top of the charts you get, the higher the percentage of shows with trailers. For example:

Society & Culture

• 58 podcasts in the US Top 100 have trailers. That’s 58%.
• 106 podcasts in the US Top 200 have trailers. That’s 53%.
• 149 podcasts in the US Top 300 have trailers. That’s 49.6%.
• 181 podcasts in the US Top 400 have trailers. That’s 45.25%.

Business

• 23 podcasts in the US Top 100 have trailers. That’s 23%.
• 37 podcasts in the US Top 200 have trailers. That’s 18.5%.
• 52 podcasts in the US Top 300 have trailers. That’s 17.3%.
• 65 podcasts in the US Top 400 have trailers. That’s 16.25%.

News & Politics

• 42 podcasts in the US Top 100 have trailers. That’s 42%
• 71 podcasts in the US Top 200 have trailers. That’s 35.5%
• 92 podcasts in the US Top 300 have trailers. That’s 30.6%
• 104 podcasts in the US Top 400 have trailers. That’s 26%

Remember

Correlation isn’t causation. Shows don’t appear on the charts because they have a trailer. And obviously, some shows reach the top of Apple’s charts without a trailer.

But trailers are often a mark of quality. A trailer tells potential new listeners that you respect their time and attention. A trailer tells directories and app-makers that you care about the listener experience.

And when we look at the data, the higher on the charts a podcast is, the more likely it is to contain a trailer.

It’s never too late to add a podcast trailer.

Where’s yours?

Sign up for the Pacific Content Newsletter: audio strategy, analysis, and insight in your inbox. Once a week.