#30: Podcast Analytics: Balancing ROI and Creativity in Brand Podcasts

In this episode of the analytics series, Ed Barker, founder of Studio 1878, takes on the question that haunts almost every branded podcast project before a single episode is recorded: how do you prove the ROI?

The tension between creative ambition and business accountability is real, but measuring a podcast strictly like a performance ad, chasing direct attribution and conversion, tends to produce something transactional, short-lived, and not worth listening to. The episode makes the case for treating a podcast as brand infrastructure: a compounding asset that builds trust, accelerates pipelines, and supports retention over time. That framing changes what you measure and how. A practical framework is outlined for tracking success in a way that satisfies business accountability without stripping out the human quality that makes a show worth coming back to.