The Howard Stern Show's YouTube Decline Reveals Opportunities For Pivot

The Howard Stern Show may be coming to an end on SiriusXM. But that doesn't necessarily have to spell doom for the long-running program that pioneered current radio and podcast formats.

Data from Tubular Labs sheds light on the show's recent social video decline, and how tweaks around YouTube strategy could make a big difference in whatever form the show takes next (if it does at all).

• Since last June, unique U.S. viewers for Stern’s YouTube page have declined 31%, from 4.5 million to 3.1 million, and it was No. 96 in June by U.S. audience reach among domestic entertainment, film & movie media pages.
• Over the last year, just four videos uploaded to Stern’s page earned more than 1.5 million views; plus zero had more than 2.8 million (the most came from a live performance by Lady Gaga that aimed at crossover outside of his typical audience).
• Just 13% of Stern uploads over the last year were under one minute long, and only four videos (out of 447) were over 20 minutes long – revealing that the show is not leaning into either type of viewing preference today, where audiences are either watching long videos or short videos.

With YouTube-based podcast episodes becoming increasingly larger parts of the TV-watching ecosystem, there’s certainly an appetite for Stern, given the fact that he originated the format. Embracing longer and/or shorter videos might just be the next move for Stern, if the show is going to spur another uptick.

Read more Tubular Labs analysis of The Howard Stern Show over on TVREV.