Thank-Yous, Analytics, Our Podcast Recs, and The Future of the Show!

As insane as it sounds, we have now officially been doing this podcast for a whole-ass year. Obviously I have to thank a bunch of people for making this happen. Even if it’s my baby, I’d have never even gotten this off the ground without support from the Second Time Around Discord server I also run. Here’s a real-time view of when the idea hatched into my brain perfectly formed:

So first, let me do my thanks. To Joe and Patrick, thank you for being incredible friends and podcast co-hosts, and frankly we figured out our dynamic and on-air personality back and forths faster than any podcast I’ve listened to. A bro is nothing without broses. A thank you to Rachel for organizational support on the Discord and Tiktok/Instagram, and to Alexa for re-reading all these books to let us know what chapters should be done in what episode chunks, and to the love of my life Lyndsey for forcing me against me will to really, truly believe in and love myself.

Next is my favorite thing, analytics! Let’s dive in. Over the whole past year, our audience has been 86.6% female (who could have seen this coming?) and nearly half our listeners are between 28 and 34 years old. If you look at the last 30 days alone, that number is even higher. We definitely have a target demo.

Where are these listeners, geographically and virtually? Again, predictably 84% of our total listens are coming from the US. We’re three Americans doing a podcast about an American book – that’s just gonna happen. But I would love to see more international listeners in the future! Of our top 5 countries, 4 are English speaking ones of course. But welcome in, Deustchland! Spotify is our biggest platform with 62% of listeners, followed by Apple Podcasts at 24% and then the true GOAT Pocket Casts trailing in 3rd. This is an earnest recommendation to use Pocket Casts!

I know you want those hard numbers though, you sickos. In one year, we have reached 3,584 listens on all platforms! Let’s just round it to a nice 3.5k and call it a day. We’re now getting about 120 listens per new episode on the first week its in the feed, and close to 300 listens total per week. We’ve been really consistent with publication every other Friday, even with some filler eps, because exactly one year has put us at 29 episodes in the feed. I’m super proud of that. And thanks to everyone who has listened, commented, reviewed us, or any other interaction really! You guys are the real stars.

Because I am cool and love statistics, I was curious how this compared on a timeline with my previous podcast, Game Busters! That show reached 2,995 listens (so close to 3k urggh) in one year, so we are outpacing it! Insanity. When I ended Game Busters back in April of 2023, we were sitting proudly on 8,231 listens with no previous internet presence to boost our outreach. I fully plan for ACOBAB to surpass that number. My current other show I started in September that year, Video Game Movie Hell, is in the same feed and has brought us to 9,986 listens. Now the funny part, comparing the audience demos.

So, as you can see a little different. 72% male listeners compared to ACOBAB’s very female-leaning audience, and a lot more young people ages 23-27 on Game Busters. If I follow this trend, my next project will be an audience primarily made up of nonbinary senior citizens! Funnily enough, all my co-hosts on Game Busters (first Rhi, then Alyssa) and Video Game Movie Hell (Jess and Felicia) have been female. I guess the universe pushed a very bro-heavy podcast into my head to balance it out?

So the future of the podcast – we’ve been asked about making a Patreon a few times. I have bounced around the idea of a Patreon, but frankly we can’t commit to creating the extra content that it would demand. An episode every 2 weeks is already nearly impossible to schedule recording time for. In light of that, I put together a no-pressure page on Buy Me a Coffee. If you really enjoy the show and want to donate a few bucks to thank us in a one-time payment, you can do that here! We get a 95% cut, so if you send $5 for instance we get $4.75 paid out to us.

Of course we’re coming up on the end of Mist and Fury, and we’ll be starting A Court of Wings and Ruin very soon! My current aim is to have our final Book 2 episode up August 29, our roundtable discussion with Rachel, Alexa, and Lyndsey (featuring our fan-casting for the TV show!) September 12, the finale of our Lord of the Rings DND Adventure on September 26, and then first set of chapters for Book 3 on October 12.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions on how long we’re going to do this. Truthfully, I don’t know. Patrick, Joe, and I have committed to finishing Book 3, which we’ve been told is the end of the Feyre/Rhys trilogy. I don’t know If we’ll continue to books 4 and 5, but we will reassess when the time comes. If not, I’ve got something else brewing.

I recorded an episode of a new show idea, Y.A.pocalypse, essentially structuring it the same as my Game Busters Podcast, but for Young Adult novels instead of video games – breaking down how they were created and what legacy they left on pop culture with a rotating cast of guests. I recorded a 2 episode pilot on The Hunger Games with Rhi and Jess, and it was so good as a proof of concept for a show I absolutely couldn’t waste it on filler eps. Those will be in the ACOBAB feed eventually as a backdoor pilot, but I really would like to commit to this as its own show eventually.

And finally, our podcast recommendations from the team behind A Court of Bros and Broses! I have a lot of podcasts I listen to, but I’ve limited the selection here to stuff that’s currently still running.

• Behind the Bastards – Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. – Recommended by Joe
• The Flop House – Your hosts (Elliott Kalan, Dan McCoy, and Stuart Wellington) watch a questionable film, then engage in an unscripted discussion about the movie’s shortcomings and occasional delights, while never being afraid of a pointless, silly digression or two hundred. – Recommended by Nirav
• The Basement Yard – A podcast hosted by lifelong friends Joe Santagato & Frank Alvarez, where they talk about what’s going on in pop culture and their own lives. – Recommended by Lyndsey
• Dungeons & Daddies *Not a BDSM Podcast – Four dads from our world are flung into a land of high fantasy and magic in a quest to rescue their lost sons. – Recommended by Nirav
• All Fantasy Everything – All Fantasy Everything is a show where funny people and experts come together to fantasy draft pop culture, from music to movies to sandwiches, everything is in play. – Recommended by Nirav
• The Neighborhood Listen – Join Burnt Millipede (Paul F. Tompkins), Joan Pedestrian (Nicole Parker) and Doug (Brett Morris) as they explore their hometown of Dignity Falls. – Recommended by Lyndsey
• Hello from the Magic Tavern – Hi! I’m Arnie. I fell through a portal behind a Burger King and found myself in a strange magical land called Foon. Somehow I’m getting a wi-fi signal so I host a weekly podcast, interviewing creatures, wizards, and adventurers. – Recommended by Nirav
• Some More News – Comedian Cody Johnston hosts this always fair, always well-researched, but most importantly, always entertaining take on the topical news of the week. – Recommended by Joe
• Last Podcast on the Left – Last Podcast on the Left barrels headlong into all things horror — as hosts Marcus Parks, Ed Larson and Henry Zebrowski cover dark subjects spanning Jeffrey Dahmer, werewolves, Jonestown, iconic hauntings, the history of war crimes, and more. – Recommended by Nirav
• The Besties – It’s Game of the Year meets King of the Hill as four of Earth’s best friends – Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Chris Plante, and Russ Frushtick – rank and review their favorite video games. Because shouldn’t the world’s best friends pick the world’s best games? – Recommended by Patrick
• The Adventure Zone – Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy from My Brother, My Brother and Me have recruited their dad Clint for a campaign of high adventure. Join the McElroys as they find their fortune and slay an unconscionable number of… you know, kobolds or whatever in… The Adventure Zone. – Recommended by Alexa

Oh, and make sure to join our Discord here! You too can yell directly at Nirav because you hate his cover designs.

And that’s it for now! Here’s to another year! 🥳🥳🥳

-Nirav