As the global COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, it appears more people are turning to podcasts for news and scientific information as much as a distraction.

Acast, one of the world's largest podcast hosting and analytics companies, said new listening figures for March 21-22 saw a 7% increase in listens globally, equivalent to more than 750,000 podcast plays.

Although some categories experienced declines, podcasts in the education, entertainment, science, medicine and health genres were all up more than 10%.

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Podcasts have transitioned from niche to mainstream. As Deloitte, Edison, and Nielsen, etc. all agree, audience growth for podcasts has been nothing short of phenomenal over the past year.

The global podcasting market will grow by 30% in 2020 to USD 1.1bn, Deloitte predicted, topping the billion-dollar mark for the first time. Now, a podcast producer can pull in revenue any number of ways, as the same report pointed out; advertising, content marketing, subscriptions, contracts for branded podcasts, events, and so on. All this hinges on audience reach, and a surefire way to widen that is, naturally, to go multilingual.

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There are now more than one million podcast shows on Apple Podcasts, according to Apple.

Let me reiterate: we do not mean episodes. We’re talking more than one million individual podcast shows: As in the shows which then release their episodes. That’s a lot of podcasts.

Apple confirmed in an email to Mashable that Apple Podcasts hit more than one million podcasts and that this milestone was reached on Monday, April 20.

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Podcast marketing is on a roll in 2020 with many companies releasing audio content to build trust, connect with their audience on a personal level, and boost brand awareness.

1. Ease of production
2. Low entry costs
3. Language is no barrier
4. Repurpose your blog and video content as audio
5. Less competition than blogging and YouTube
6. Easier to grow a following as a podcaster
7. Successful podcasters make millions of dollars a year
8. Build connections by interviewing influential guests
9. Showcase your speaking skills
10. Build high-DA links back to your website

With commuting on hold and everybody Zooming all the time, podcast consumption has taken a bit of a hit as listeners look for new ways to fit shows into their daily routines.

Last month, the analytics firm Chartable released research suggesting that podcast downloads were 10% lower on March 25 than they were on February 26.

Those numbers deserve to be taken with a grain of salt. Chartable, like Podtrac and other podcasting analytics services, is an opt-in analytics service, and many different podcast networks, ranging from Entercom to Vox Media, showed increased listening last month.

Storytelling is powerful.

With the influx of media—both social and traditional—getting consumed in a 24/7 news cycle can be overwhelming and optional. The concept of time seems irrelevant lately leaving our fingertips free for endless scrolling, a particularly slippery slope for mental health during this global pandemic.

Individuals, families and communities worldwide are learning how to grapple with the effects of a changing social paradigm, seeking ways to stay connected and safe.

Adaptability during this new paradigm is key and many tech companies are stepping up to the plate to perfect, iterate, and improve on products to keep up with a new normal and compete in an evolving landscape.

There are early signs that media will be one of many industries to take a huge blow from the COVID-19 pandemic, with sharp declines in ad revenue and significant layoffs. Podcasting is unlikely to be an exception; Podtrac recently reported that downloads have fallen 10% since the beginning of March, while unique listeners fell by 20%.

A different picture emerged when I spoke to Ross Adams,  CEO of podcast advertising company Acast, which works with both bedroom podcasters and large publishers like the BBC and PBS NewsHour.

Adams said listenership is not down — it’s just that audiences have changed when they are listening and what they’re listening to, with Acast  seeing its largest weekends ever in recent weeks. And plenty of people want to start new podcasts; signups for the Acast Open platform increased 49% month-over-month in March.

If the music industry is worried about podcasts eating into music’s share of the American audio diet, new survey data suggests that such worries are unfounded: Podcasts’ share increased at the expense of music a couple of years ago but has held steady ever since. Instead, the rising number of podcast listeners are coming from AM/FM radio. That’s what the numbers in new research from Edison Research, Triton Digital and National Public Radio show.

The Infinite Dial from Edison Research and Triton Digital is an annual survey that has been published for over 20 years. It originally covered listenership to digital radio such as Pandora and Sirius XM, but it has expanded to include other types of streaming music services, social media, podcasting and most recently esports; it has also tracked trends in consumer ownership of devices such as smartphones and smart speakers. The Infinite Dial is highly respected because of its methodological rigor and its year-to-year consistency over a long period of time. The 2020 edition of the Infinite Dial was released last week.

The podcast industry as a whole is expected to produce more than $1 billion by 2021, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

With that much money floating around, you have to wonder what is stopping you from getting your share.

Since many people are still stuck at home, craving connection and entertainment, there is really never been a better time for podcasting. And, contrary to what you might think, getting your own podcast off the ground is not just possible, it’s quite easy thanks to resources like

New Sony venture. Sony Music Entertainment announced another podcasting venture today, this time in the shape of a partnership with U.K. audio company Somethin Else. This continues a recent run of Sony investments in audio — previous examples include Jonathan Hirschs Neon Hum Media, Adam Davidson and Laura Mayers Three Uncanny Four and Renay Richardsons Broccoli Content.

Fifteen years after Apple first offered 3,000+ free podcasts on iTunes, the medium has become mainstream.

Basic Facts: According to Edison Research and Triton Digital, there are now 62 million Americans listening to podcasts each week, up from 19 million in 2013. One reason for the growth is the number of choices podcast listeners have today. There are now over 800,000 active podcasts with over 54 million podcast episodes currently available worldwide. Because of a low cost of entry, in the first ten months of 2019, a record 192,000 new podcasts have been launched.

Podcast Advertising: Another reason for the growth in podcasting is the potential income a popular podcast can earn from selling advertising. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PriceWaterhouse, ad revenue is expected to reach $679 million this year, increasing to $863 million in 2020 and over $1 billion by 2021. Popular podcasts can charge advertisers between $10 to $50 for every 1,000 listeners, approximately two or three times the ad rate for broadcast radio.

Megaphone, a podcasting hosting and advertising technology provider, has signed a lease at Comstock’s Reston Station.

The company will take up roughly 10,000 square feet in the first office building at the mixed-use development, the tower designed by architect Helmut Jahn at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza.

With 165,000 square feet of leased space, Google is the anchor tenant of the building. Other tenants include Rolls-Royce North America (18,000 square feet) and infrastructure management firm Solar Winds (16,349 square feet) and digital identify firm Certipath (7,500 square feet).

In order to understand how to start a podcast for your business, there are a few key elements to keep in mind.

Podcasting is a disruptive technology that has found acceptance in the present-day global digital market. From storytelling to interviews, there are podcasts for everything. And, if used correctly, podcasting can give your business a major boost by ensuring better customer and market reach, showcasing your industry expertise and forming extensive networks.

The popularity of podcasts is universal. In the U.S., about 40% of Americans above the age of 12 listened to a podcast in the year 2017. Imagine the potential channels and benefits the medium of podcasting can create for you if used correctly.

However, starting a successful business podcast is not a piece of cake. You need to be appropriately prepared before venturing into this project, especially if you plan on doing it without the help of a professional podcaster. There are certain technical and other related requirements you must take care of before you can even air your first podcast episode. But fret not; here are the crucial steps to start a podcast for your business.

So you want to get into podcasting? By now, you have probably had a few friends launch their own podcasts and read a handful of articles on what it really takes to start a successful podcast. Our company has bought roughly a half a billion dollars worth of podcast ads over the last decade. We know a thing or two about what makes a podcast special.

Podcasting is one of the best ways to find and connect with your customers. Do it right and you’ll engage a growing community of loyal fans who hang on your every word and buy all your products and services. Do it wrong and you’ll end up broke. Most podcasters – some 85% – miss the opportunity to profit from podcasting while wasting precious dollars on fancy equipment. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

1. Be Your Own Sponsor
2. Reverse Engineer Your SEO
3. Know and Understand Your Audience
4. Incentivize Engagement With Gamification

In the wake of a seismic deal in the podcast industry that will see top host Joe Rogan bring his show exclusively to Spotify for a reported $100 million, Apple — which will lose distribution of Rogan’s show come 2021 — is revamping its own podcast approach.

According to Bloomberg, Apple — an early distribution platform for podcasts that is also the largest hub for the medium stateside — is now seeking an executive to lead development of original audio series. The exec would report to Ben Crave, Apple’s head of podcasting.

Humanity has been telling stories since long before the written word. Not to mention, audio fiction is a great choice when you can’t look at a book, like during a commute, while doing chores, or working out. And audio fiction is on the rise.

In comparison to other media formats, podcasting is still under-monetized, according to Tech Crunch. Short fiction podcasts still need crowdfunding backers and paid subscribers. Deep-pocketed newcomers bankroll high production value, or already have name recognition. But podcasting continues to have a low cost of entry, and the prospects for earning a little revenue may be improving.

Before the emergence of television and more recently smartphones as the primary medium for communicating sports news, radio was the main conduit for receiving the latest information. Those analog days have been converted into zeros and ones in our current digital age. However, the advantages gained by apps and channels have their drawbacks. The largest problem is that these digital mediums cant recreate the local community cultivated by radio anymore. Kevin Jones, a seasoned sports reporter, understood the gap between younger audiences and sports discussion and built Blue Wire to bridge the chasm. Blue Wire is a sports podcasting startup bringing together local creators to build a wider audience of fans. They have raised $1.2 million from a variety of investors.

The podcasting industry was shaken up this week with the announcement that JRE is moving exclusively to Spotify and it looks like it has caught Apple’s attention.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is looking to increase its investment in original podcasts, as well as buying existing ones, to augment its nascent Apple TV+ service. While its easy to view this as a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, Apple seems to view podcasts as either a by-product of video content or as material that could then be adapted to video.

Apple effectively invented the podcast format, which derives its name from the pioneering iPod digital audio player, but the pre-eminence of iTunes as a podcasting platform is under serious threat thanks to this recent development. You have to assume Joe Rogan (pictured) spoke to Apple before recently committing to Spotify, so it would be fascinating to know what led him to ultimately reject it.

Podcast measurement company Podtrac has recorded mostly negative week-over-week download and unique audience growth since social distancing measures began. The declines were most severe in mid-March when major cities began shelter-in-place requirements and nonessential American workers began working from home. As of the week of April 27, however, weekly download and audience growth are slowly ticking back up.

But it is not all bad news: Podtrac found that for the shows it measures, year-to-date growth overall is still positive with major download growth in categories like news, comedy and business.

Podcastings growth took a dip during the pandemic as listeners adopted new routines guided by social distancing. Despite the drop, streaming and other music industry players that have made significant investments in audio entertainment–including podcasters themselves–remain hopeful that the decline is temporary, and that podcasts will continue to be a significant source of business growth.

Starting a new business can be exhausting. From crafting an effective content marketing strategy to making sure the whole SEO is perfect, if you do it all yourself without some guidance you will soon find taking the marketers role full time, and doing no actual work.

There is no denying that creating adding-value content like blog posts, videos, e-books, webinars, or anything that allows you to share your experience and knowledge, can surely help you jump-start your business. The options are seemingly endless, and there are thousands of pieces on the kind of content that works best for your specific niche.

However, there is one solid format that’s been proven to increase conversion, boost sales, and drive more qualified leads to almost any kind of website.

I am talking about podcasts.

Blubrry has released its new Private Internal Podcasting service for businesses looking to lock down their podcasts to protect them from public distribution.

The hosting service is offering three levels of security based on three hosting plans, simple (limiting private podcasts to 50 user-seats), standard (additional security and 200 user-seats), and enterprise (500 user-seats, most secure).

Over the last 18 months, Spotify has been pushing to expand its platform from a music-streaming service to all types of audio. Podcasting has been a major focus, and led CEO Daniel Ek to acquire companies like Gimlet, Anchor, Parcast, and The Ringer, as well as sign exclusive contracts with big names like the Obamas.

Spotifys latest deal could accelerate the growth of its podcast audience. The Joe Rogan Experience is coming to Spotify, and will be exclusive to the platform by the end of the year. That is a big blow to Apple, which sports the most popular podcast listening app.

Theres good news on the horizon for podcast revenue growth, and presumably for radio organizations that are active in that space.

With expected growth of 14.7% through 2020, the stage has been set for podcast revenues to hit $1.1 billion in 2021, according to the IAB/PwC report.

While it remains to be seen what long-term impact the pandemic has on podcast revenues, IAB/PwC still predicts a 15% jump in 2020. This comes after podcast ad revenues soared 48% between 2018 and 2019, a stunning growth rate.

Put simply, a podcast is a web series in an audio format. It can be downloaded by the listener or it can be streamed. The joy of the podcast is that you can listen to them wherever you are. Whether you’re in the car, in the house, on the train, or doing the ironing.

Many people find podcast series that they love and will avidly listen to every episode. Some podcasts have such great followings that they spawn live tours, books, and other merchandise.

Although podcasts have seen a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years, the root of podcasts actually goes all the way back to the 1980s when they were called audio blogs.

But it wasn’t high-speed broadband and the invention of Apple iPods and smartphones came along that the world was ready for the podcast. The rise in internet speeds that made downloading or streaming podcasts possible timed itself well with the perfect devices to listen to them on.

The dent COVID-19 put in podcast advertising hasn’t stopped the market from growing.

Revenues in the podcast advertising market are projected to grow 14.7% year over year to nearly $1 billion in 2020, according to the IAB and PricewaterhouseCooper’s full year podcast ad revenue study, released Monday. IAB surveyed 19 podcast publishers and ad networks prior to the pandemic and followed up in mid-April with another survey about COVID-19’s impact on the industry.

That 14.7% projection is a downgrade from the IAB’s pre-pandemic expectations of 29.6% growth in 2020, 55% growth in 2021 and 36% growth in 2022. Those figures were based on podcast advertising’s growth to $708 million in 2019 (48% year over year).

But 2020s decelerated growth is still a positive given how the pandemic has decimated other mediums, said Zoe Soon, VP of consumer experience center at the IAB.

After Spotifys recent string of podcasting deals, it is kind of weird to see a podcast acquisition where Spotify is not involved. E.W. Scripps has been shopping around its Stitcher podcast platform for a couple of weeks, and it looks like it found a buyer in SiriusXM.

Sirius will pay around $300 million for the unit. That is a hefty return for Scripps. It originally bought Stitcher in 2016 for $4.5 million, combining it with its $50 million Midroll Media acquisition from the year before.

Still, $300 million is a good deal for the premium podcast platform, a specialized podcast advertising network doing sales for over 300 podcasts, and the owner of two podcast content networks, Earwolf and Stitcher Podcasts.

That compares to Spotifys acquisition of The Ringer earlier this year, for which it reportedly paid between $141 million to $196 million.

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is near a deal to buy E.W. Scripps Co.s Stitcher Inc. podcasting unit for around $300 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The satellite-radio giant is working to expand into the rapidly growing podcasting industry, following similar moves by media and tech companies including Spotify Technology SA and iHeartMedia Inc.

Determine your topic, audience and format

Everyone has something they could talk about for hours on end. When deciding which of these things should be the focus of a podcast, you need to consider topics that you will never get tired of talking about. Brainstorm 52 show topic ideas, one for each week of the year. This will let you know if you have enough ideas to have a regular podcast of your own, or if you would be better off finding guesting opportunities on existing programs. Of course, a show does not have to be weekly, but it is a starting point.

Defining your audience will help to hone the direction of the show, as well. A show geared toward young mothers will sound much different than a podcast for mid-career professionals. Your audience is rarely everyone. Figure out who they are and talk specifically to them, their needs and interests. As you plan your show, consider what type of format will be most effective, as well. Will you host guests, have a co-host or fly solo?

Choose memorable, straightforward branding

When coming up with a title for your podcast, it’s best not to be too clever or obscure. Make it easy to remember and spell and also give some idea of what the show is about. Search potential names in Google and on iTunes to be sure your idea is not already an established podcast. You will also want to claim a custom URL and related social media handles. Again, searching for these items will indicate if the title is already taken.

Cover art for your podcast needs to be an exact square, sized at least 1,400 pixels by 1,400 pixels and 3,000 pixels by 3,000 pixels at the most. Remember that people will be viewing it on a small screen, so use large text for your show name and relevant artwork.

Assemble a digital audio workstation

Podcasting is a relatively small market, closing in on a $1 billion run rate. But the category is on fire right now. The New York Times scooped up Serial Productions for a reported $50 million this week in a creative and strategic alliance with sister company This American Life. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and depend on performance goals. The Times bought podcast studio Audm for $8 million in March and is hiring prominent journalists to host new programs. With Serial, the Times owns the 14th largest podcast production company with roughly 4 million listeners and the iconic Serial franchise that was the first breakout hit. Union Square Ventures also announced on Thursday that it is investing in the podcast studio and ad network Headgum.

In 2018, businesses spent $497 million on podcast advertising in 2018, and it’s estimated that by 2020, podcast ad spend will go up to a whopping $1 billion. So, podcasting is clearly big business.

How do you launch a business podcast?
So, there are a few steps when it comes to launching a podcast for your business – and it all starts with thinking about your aim.

What are you trying to achieve from your podcast? Is it to build trust with customers, or to drive more awareness with new prospects? In my case, I wanted to better position myself as a leader in the sales enablement space – so in addition to my blog over at Contemsa and posting on LinkedIn, I wanted to have a few different streams of content where my audience could gain insights about sales enablement.

With that aim in mind, it was important that my podcast was not about selling anything. Instead, it was about sharing insights and tips on B2B sales enablement topics such as How to Involve Sales Teams in Your Sales Playbook Process, for example. As you can see in this example episode, I am not selling anything: I am giving away useful tips and support for my customers and prospects.

1. Thou shall not do it for the money
2. Thou shall be a consumer
3. Thou shall reflect well on your brand
4. Thou shall be useful
5. Thou shall not be a salesperson
6. Thou shall note get personal
7. Thou shall create a consistent format
8. Thou shall release episodes regularly
9. Thou shall be professional
10. Thou shall be sociable

Podcasting is increasingly seen as a reliable channel for long-term ad investments, new data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) shows: Annual ad buys, where ads are bought for the entire year, nearly doubled in the US from 24% to 47% of podcast ad revenues between 2018 and 2019.

US Podcast Ad Revenue Share, by buy type, 2018 and 2019

Meanwhile, quarterly ad buys and scatter ad buys, where ads are purchased closer to the time they air, declined — making up 31% and 21%, respectively. According to the IAB, podcast ad revenues totaled $479.1 million in 2018 and $708.1 million in 2019.

This is a sign that more advertisers are including podcast ads in their long-term marketing plans, rather than just using podcasts to experiment with. It's a testament to the rise of the podcasting industry: Listeners are increasing rapidly — eMarketer expects US podcast listeners to grow by nearly 15% to surpass 100 million this year — and podcasting platforms have responded by working to meet the technological needs that advertisers have come to expect from digital formats.

It is estimated that 32% of Americans listen to podcasts on a monthly basis. And the podcast industry is expected to be worth around $1 billion by the end of next year. Being such a booming industry, it makes sense why so many people are thinking about starting their own podcasts.

Luckily, we are here to help you. So continue reading and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know!

1. USB Audio Interface and Recording Bundle
2. Adjustable Microphone Arm Stand
3. Podcast Recording Software
4. Podcast Editing Software

Spotify on Wednesday said its monthly active user count reached 299 million in the most recent quarter ending June 30. That is an increase of 29 percent year-over-year and brings the streaming giant just shy of that 300 million MAU milestone.

Taking a closer look, we see that Spotify finished the second quarter with 138 million premium (paying) subscribers, up 27 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. The company said its Family Plan continues to be a big driver of performance and further plugged the expansion of its new Premium Duo subscription offering for couples.

1. Strive To Be Different
2. Pilot Your Idea
3. Do Not Do It Alone
4. Understand Your Audience
5. Do Not Think About The Audience
6. Help Businesses Solve Challenges
7. Establish Yourself as an Authority
8. Target A Specific Niche
9. Focus On Building New Relationships
10. Three Elements Every Episode
11. Bring In A Variety Of Voices
12. Define The Why Of The Podcast
13. Keep Your Podcasts Brief
14. Make It Fast-Paced And Entertaining
15. Be Careful Not To Niche Down

Americans are listening to more business and finance podcasts, with downloads and streams up 78% week-over-week since the COVID-19 pandemic began, iHeartMedia reports.

In fact, as of April 2020, there are more than 30 million podcast episodes on the internet with numbers climbing daily. According to the Financial Times, podcasts have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the media market.

This surging level of interest and engagement in finance podcasts is a golden opportunity for financial advisors, especially those whose seminar and event marketing routines have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this transition into a new way of doing business, it is important for financial advisors to include creativity and innovation into their post-pandemic marketing and communication plans.

I think this comes down to treating your marketing campaign mix holistically. A lot of digitally native brands tend to think about each channel independently and think about, you know, how do I get my Facebook campaign working, or how do I get my Google AdWords campaign working. But on Google and to some extent on Facebook, our activity is really driven around intent. People effectively putting their hands up, saying, I am looking for a sofa! through some kind of signal we can pick up on.

Podcasts are completely separate. There is no demand signal. So it is about finding that target audience that you are after and really introducing and sort of familiarizing that audience with the brand. That requires a holistic, full-funnel approach to your entire marketing mix, understanding that people we introduce to our furniture via podcast will be converted down the line via some other channel. That is key to building out a proper marketing mix, instead of just running some Facebook ads and hoping they do all the lifting.

Building out a physical space associated with a podcast business used to be a really good idea. For one thing, it offers an alternative revenue stream — through studio rentals and in-person events, among other things — that could check against the growing but volatile advertising revenue pool. It is also a really good fit for any podcast operation built on a sense of community. Having a physical space for listeners to routinely gather can really strengthen that relationship between publisher and fan, expanding the notion of how that community can be served.

Podcast listenership in the US has been soaring in recent years and advertising dollars are following. Podcast ad spending is a bright spot amid lackluster digital radio spending. According to eMarketers latest forecast, US podcast ad spending will surpass 20% of digital radio ad spending this year and cross the $1 billion mark next year.

By the end of 2020, podcast ad spending in the US will reach $782.0 million, up 10.4% from last year, giving it a 21.0% share of the US digital radio ad market. And in 2021, spending will jump nearly 45% to $1.13 billion.    

COVID-19 has threatened the key communication channels corporations need to survive. Workers are displaced. National meetings have been cancelled. Town halls and offsites are viable only through online platforms. In the face of the storm, companies are turning to new channels to keep the lines of communication open. For many organizations, podcasting is a timely and effective way to unite a fractured workforce.

Even before COVID shuttered offices, and work-from-home directives became commonplace, large organizations were discovering podcasting was a worthwhile addition to their communication mix. According to Forbes, the majority of Fortune 500 companies in the US already use podcasting as part of their internal communications. Ideal for a geographically-distanced and mobile audience, podcasting seems purpose built for the modern lifestyle, bringing content where the audience is. Add to the mix a pandemic that has scattered workers across the country, and podcasting makes more sense than ever.

JD: Podcasting — then and now; what do you make of its evolution?

DC: It has gone from being passive to a very personal on-demand commercial work. We have the ability to totally integrate content and commercials - it’s a good mindset. It went from a Howard Stern read to a re-envisioned, re-engaged conversation. It is the new native, a really positive, advertorial. We have the ability to weave in the right message at the right time and see more organic growth for both the listener and the advertiser. If you can think of a subject, there's a podcast for it and more coming on daily.

The growing podcast audience in Canada has brands taking notice. It's a fixture in consumer media consumption and a sticky medium. Listeners consume podcasts heavily compared with other forms of informational media, and they are loyal to the hosts of their favorite shows.

In podcast penetration and usage, Canada ranks at the top of selected countries surveyed by Edison Research and Triton Digital in the latest annual installment of The Infinite Dial, which has been tracking podcast listeners in Canada since 2018. For podcast penetration, 37% of adults in Canada were monthly podcast listeners, the same as in the US.

Define your goals and research your topic.

The first step is to figure out your goals upfront. Decide why you want to create a podcast. It can be to complement your blog, find new leads for your business or connect with like-minded people, or it can just be a passion project.

Opt for a co-host.

A podcast can have various formats, including:

• Monologue: One person speaking about their experience.

• Co-hosted podcast: Conversation between two or more hosts.

• Interview: Wherein the host interviews a guest.

• Panel: Discussion among a group of people on a particular topic.

Decide on a catchy name and proper description.

While you can pick a fancy name, it is best to choose a catchy name that helps to convey your identity and what the show is about. The title should be concise and be relevant to the topic. Similarly, while naming your various episodes, include keywords and phrases that a potential listener would use. You can also include the names of well-known personalities who will be featured in a particular episode.

reate an interesting cover picture and intro.

Cover art is the first touch point for people browsing for new podcasts. Get the help of a designer to draft a few options, and choose the best one. Follow the cover picture with an excellent intro. Having a third party introduce you will enhance the value of your podcast by several notches and is a great way to get noticed when you’re first starting out.

Arrange for equipment and software.

To start a podcast, you’re required to have access to and learn to use some easily available equipment and software. Podcasting equipment doesn’t need to be costly. You can start a good audio podcast with basic pieces of equipment such as a microphone, headphones, pop filter, etc. Assess your audio priorities and recording set-up, and decide on the equipment you require. Also, learn about the various software options such as Audacity, GarageBand, Reaper, Adobe Audition, etc. for recording and editing and choose the best one for your needs.

Study script-writing techniques and recording techniques.

Once you have equipment in place, it is time to write the script and record. Beginners should put in the time to learn about script-writing techniques; a clear and smooth recording requires a perfect script that might include a short and sweet introduction, guest introduction, episode discussion, recap of earlier episodes, etc.

Media publicity has traditionally been a challenge for small businesses. However, the emergence of podcasts has made it easier now more than ever. Being featured on a podcast has numerous benefits, including an increase in credibility when being featured by a third party, the opportunity for listeners (potential clients) to create a personal connection with the business and show preparations force the business to clarify its pitch and value proposition. Finally, it can even catch the ear of an investor.

Spotify has leaned heavily into its foray into podcasts and rolling out features and announcements at a pretty swift clip. Last week, the company announced it is introducing video podcasts to the mix with support for multitasking, meaning you can continue to listen to a video podcast uninterrupted while doing other things on your device. And earlier this week, Spotify announced support for simultaneous podcast and listening streaming for Premium users and up to five friends—a hot tool right now in the streaming service world as well, as many of us are distanced from friends and family.

The Apple Watch will no longer be counted in podcast listener numbers for Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab partners because it has been found to falsely inflate listener numbers.

Currently, when a podcast is automatically downloaded by an ‌Apple Watch‌ user, it is counted as two listeners; one from the ‌Apple Watch‌, and one from its paired iPhone. Since the ‌Apple Watch‌ and ‌iPhone‌ download the same podcast episode by default, and they both report different device user agents, the podcast appears to be downloaded by two different people. This means that the ‌Apple Watch‌ falsely inflates podcast listener numbers.

Starting a new podcast is a lot like starting up a new business from the ground up. There are steps you have to make sure that your podcast is entertaining while still being successful. You need to think about your content, your equipment, and your marketing plan. Will this be something people want to listen to? And how will you get them to listen? With so many small details that make up the massive project, we want to make it a little easier to get your podcast idea up and running!

Backtracks functions as a kind of fifth layer in the podcast listening ecosystem, enhancing the RSS feeds basic download-counting abilities with supplemental data from partners and podcast streaming app APIs.

None of that data is rigidly standardized, though. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has attempted to standardize podcast analytics terminology, but, so far, every podcast hosting service and audio analytics software provider counts engagement slightly differently.