Since 2022 I’ve been publishing annual “state of the business” posts detailing how Frequent Miler has been doing in terms of blog readers, podcast listeners, revenue, etc. Now, once again, here’s your chance to peek behind the curtain…
It’s not about the stats for me
Before we get to the part where I show statistics measuring how the Frequent Miler business is doing, I want to explain that I don’t actually use these stats to drive the business. Instead, my goal is to be proud of Frequent Miler. And I am! But there are always things we can do to improve the blog, the podcast, our YouTube channel, our newsletters, our Facebook group, etc. As long as we continue to deliver great content, continue to improve, and keep having fun while doing it, I consider Frequent Miler to be successful. Growing revenue is nice, and growing our audience is nice, but neither one defines success in my book.
Overview
This year’s revenue was just as great as last year’s. To me, that’s awesome news because we did really well last year. This is one of many reasons I love owning a private company rather than being part of a publicly traded company. If Frequent Miler was a public corporation, the lack of year over year revenue growth would be seen as a big problem. But that’s ridiculous! We love the work (it’s hard to even call it “work”!) and the business is earning enough to pay good wages to the entire team and to save money so that we can continue to operate at full capacity if revenue ever drops precipitously.
Compared to last year, blog pageviews are down a bit, but revenue from blog advertising actually increased a bit. The team at Boarding Area, which both hosts our blog and handles our blog advertising, has clearly been doing a great job in optimizing ad delivery!
In addition to the blog, we publish podcast episodes and YouTube videos. Our audience in both of those mediums has grown tremendously year over year. This is probably due to the fact that we’ve been creating more content for those platforms than ever before.
The Team
I consider everyone on the team to be equally part of what “Frequent Miler” is. I love this team. We’re all committed to making Frequent Miler great, and we have lots of fun. This is my #1 measure of success. There’s very little in life better than working towards a common goal with a team where everyone performs at the highest level and likes and respects everyone else. We’ve got that!
In 2024, Nick, Tim and I were full time while Carrie worked half time and Stephen worked quarter time. In 2025, I’m very happy to report that both Carrie and Stephen will double their time with Frequent Miler! Carrie will be full time and Stephen will be half time. Both Carrie and Stephen do terrific work and so I’m eagerly looking forward to them spending even more time towards making Frequent Miler great.
Audience Stats
We don’t do any advertising to try to increase our audience. Instead, we just keep publishing informative and (hopefully) entertaining content. This year, blog readership was down slightly, but our podcast and video audience grew a lot…
Blog Pageviews
From 2015 to 2021, our blog readership had hovered around 7 to 8 million pageviews per year. That was great, but in 2023 we saw nearly double that number with over 15.5 million page views. In 2024, our page views dipped a bit and in the 12 months from December 1 2023 to November 30 2024, we had 15 million page views. That’s still awesome, but slightly less awesome than last year.
Podcast
As you can see above, our Frequent Miler on the Air podcast audience has continued to grow quickly. The chart is limited to USA downloads because in 2021 and 2022 there were a suspiciously large number of downloads from overseas — it seems that bots were downloading the podcast for some reason. Regardless, the USA market represents over 90% of our real audience.
The large growth we saw this year is partly from acquiring new listeners, but my bet is that the majority of the growth is due to us publishing much more often. In addition to the weekly Frequent Miler on the Air episode, we’ve also been publishing stand-alone “coffee break” and “card talk” episodes; and we began publishing our Ask Us Anything livestreams as podcasts after the fact.
YouTube
Our YouTube audience has continued strong growth. As with our podcast audience, our 2024 growth is probably largely due to us publishing many more videos. We started a new “How To” series, and also publish the new podcast episodes (Coffee Talk, Card Talk, Ask Us Anything) as videos.
Finances
Revenue was basically unchanged between 2023 and 2024. But that’s a good thing because 2023 was our best revenue year ever. The vast majority of Frequent Miler’s revenue (approximately 80%) comes from our credit card affiliate links. It is remarkable that our revenue has continued to be so strong despite the fact that we show only the links that offer the best welcome bonuses even though that often means that our affiliate links aren’t shown at all.
Our second biggest source of revenue is through ads shown on our blog. In 2024, ad revenue accounted for about 16% of our total revenue. It’s cool that ad revenue was up slightly over 2023 despite having fewer pageviews this year.
Thank You!
We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without you. Thank you for reading, listening, and watching. Thank you for recommending Frequent Miler to family and friends. Thank you for your comments, emails, and Facebook group posts. Without you, we would not have been able to reach this level of success. We appreciate your continued engagement and thank you for being part of our journey!
Previous “state of the business” posts:
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I’m really glad Carrie is coming on full time! She brings a great perspective for those of us who are aspirational travel curious but still are young-ish and still want a good dose of the wild and adventurous. Really enjoyed her articles earlier this year about the Grand Canyon and Havasu Falls (well before the flooding :/)
Having class and showing kindness is often overlooked by content creators. You always make these a priority and people notice. Having the best content for followers has been consistent as well. Congrats, Greg and the team, on another great year!
I will continue to sing the blog’s praises from the rooftops every chance I get. It is hands down the single best rewards travel blog out there, bar none.
Thank you all for the incredible work you do, and for going above and beyond just reporting to put flavor and interest into your stories. It takes a lot of courage to share as many personal details as you all do in your stories, but the personal connection and seeing how reward travel enriches your own lives is what make your site so warm, inviting, and unique.
I hope you all have an even more successful 2025. I look forward to all the awesome things I know you will bring!
Your blog has been such an inspiration as its unique and genuine approach truly stands out! It’s incredible how you’ve found the sweetspot between running a business, creating a fun environment and genuinely looking out for others. Thank you and the FM Team for making such a positive impact!
I’ve been with you almost from the beginning, and I continue to be impressed by your content and your integrity. Thanks for keeping us well informed and well traveled. Happy new year!
Awesome, really appreciate the FrequentMiler team!
Very informative Greg. Thank you!
Congratulations Frequent Miler team on a great year! Happy Holidays.
I’m so glad to hear the business is well positioned for the future (and even grow with additional staff hours)! Thanks for all the great content.
you guys (and gal) have some of the best content in the industry! Please keep it up and thank you for all you do!
Congratulations on another fantastic year! Excited to see that Carrie and Stephen are increasing their hours in 2025, so looking forward to more great content next year. Happy holidays FM Team!
Congrats to another great year! Now if you guys could just learn to dress better to show respect for your readers and the companies you interact with, 2025 might be your best year ever! Dressing well in business is not just about looking good but to show respect for your clients and vendors that you think they are important enough to make an effort to look good.
What even is this comment lol?
A constructive suggestion.
I bet most readers would be fine with the FM team wearing tutus and propeller hats so long as they continue producing excellent content.
Sure it would be fine. I would think they have higher aspirations than being fine.
The FM team knows their jobs and their audience. Wear comfortable clothes that pack light and wash and dry easily. There is no reason to dress up for travel unless you have to.
There are many business reasons to do so in their position. Dress for success is not just a cliché.
I read Dress for Success too and mostly followed it in my career. But if I see a travel blogger dressed up for a flight I figure they don’t know how to dress for travel. They know their audience.
I take it you haven’t seen Nick’s collection of fine Fedoras?
I have Tim, and I really like those. Now if he could only pair them with suitable attire. He should look to James Spader in the Blacklist for inspiration.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think Tim could pull off the master criminal look better than Nick.
Agree!
I’d probably think twice before lecturing people about showing respect. Just sayin’., . .
I gave a constructive suggestion. That’s all.
Seriously? What kind of boomer nonsense is this? This sounds like a personal, petty gripe to me.
I can guarantee you that the vast majority of us do not give one flying **** what any of the staff are wearing, as long as they are creating interesting, informative content. I’ve always seen them be respectful when responding to comments, and actually a lot more restrained than I would be when responding to asinine comments like this one!
If you don’t like what you see, nobody’s going to miss your negativity here.
You are the one going negative. My post was very positive. I was just encouraging them to take their business to the next level. I guess you are what you see.
It was not positive at all. It was condescending and morally superior. If you can’t see the difference between constructive criticism and looking down your nose at someone from your high horse, I can’t help you.
Doesn’t matter how “nice” you say it. It’s still unsolicited condescension.
Additionally, unless you are running a travel and points blog that is as equally or more successful than FM, I really don’t think you have any perspective or actual knowledge on how Greg should be running his media business. Not all businesses are the same. A friggin blogger does not need to dress the same as a lawyer. Pretty sure Greg knows his market if he’s been doing this for literal decades now and he managed to not only survive the pandemic but grow during it.
Maybe you’re not the consummate expert on everything business? Just a thought….
Must be hard living life in your snowflake world where everyone is offending you and out to get you.
I enjoy this transparent and informative report about the state of business for FM
Happy Holidays to the FM team! So grateful for all you do for us! I have not missed a podcast episode since I started in this hobby in 23.
Congratulations! 2024 was the year I officially picked up “points and miles” as a hobby and your blog has been such a valuable resource. I loved the recent challenge and looked forward to reading all 3 updates each day. Im planning a trip to Disney next year and our flights and hotel will be “free.” Thank you!!