I discovered the coolest podcast

This past Saturday I discovered a podcast on Youtube called "Financial Audit” hosted by a really cool, smart and entertaining guy called Caleb Hammer.

And to be clear, no I do not know him and he does not know me - I’m writing this serendipitously because it’s fresh on my mind, and perfectly exemplifies the importance of following a format in which you can provide value and entertain in one clean sweep. I’m going to list out everything I like about it and why I think it has very quickly amassed viral appeal.

What the Financial Audit Podcast Is:
Caleb has a comprehensive understanding of personal finance and brings on a new guest each episode to talk about (read: brutally yet comically tear into) their financial situation. It follows a format where they go over the guest’s income, their spending, and finally he helps his guests build a personalized strategy to get out of debt. (I think some episodes might talk about using debt responsibly for those in a positive financial situation, but of all the episodes I’ve binged since last weekend they have all featured people in a disgusting amount of debt).

Why it works so well:
To put the success of this podcast into perspective, it started just 2 years ago and already has 1.6 millions subscribers, with each episode consistently gaining 500k-1 million views.

The reason I think this podcast works is a few reasons:

1. Provides actual value: With a background in accounting and financial management (I’m assuming this is the case), Caleb is able to diagnose the actual scope of someone’s financial situation & provides monetary value to his guests by building a personalized budgeting strategy according to their income & spending requirements. The kicker: it’s not just valuable to guests but also to his audience because a podcast is a Q&A format which allows viewers to see themselves in the types of questions being asked (AKA it’s really relatable).

2. Caleb is entertaining: So many youtubers & content creators lack a palatable persona and try too hard to be funny/smarter than they really are, but I could (did) listen to Caleb all day long. He doesn’t seem like he’s trying to be someone he’s not. A quick glance at his comments section praising his comedic reactions & brutally honest tirades directed at his delusionally indebted guests will give you an idea of how entertaining his viewership deems him. His persona is essentially just himself - picture your run of the mill accountant with sound financial knowledge except with the added element of hilarity. In this niche, I think humor goes a LONG way because most people who work in finance surely lack Caleb’s comedic timing. It’s like comedy meets real financial planning tips, which perfectly highlights the gap that his content bridges.

3. Great Marketing, optimized for organic reach: For a podcast about finance, his thumbnails & titles do a great job getting someone to click. When people click on his videos for the first time, they aren’t just doing it to learn about finance, they’re also intrigued by the absurdities and events of other peoples lives. Additionally, the fact that his guests are often young & beautiful also don’t hurt the organic reach! Lastly on this point, he does a great job clipping key bits of his podcast for shorts to get more eyeballs across various social media platforms - it should go without saying that this is table stakes for any growth-oriented podcast.

Ok, so that’s why I think The Financial Audit podcast is so successful. Of course this is just my own speculation and I likely missed/am ignorant to some other key factors. But in discovering, binging, thoroughly enjoying, and analyzing this podcast I learned a few things about the importance of finding a format in which your audience can consistently find value.

I started a podcast and this is something I’ve totally failed to consider. I write this rudderless newsletter, I started a podcast interviewing people across various careers, I write another newsletter about trending news bits - the problem with these is that they either don’t follow a format or the format isn’t unique. I’ve been struggling to consider a unique angle on my scattered interests and watching the Financial Audit podcast has me re-thinking how I should position my efforts.