Voxalyze

Author: Solal Cohen-Steiner

Podcast Discovery & Consumption – Fall 2021 Report

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In Fall 2021, we at Voxalyze conducted a Podcast Discovery & Consumption report to understand better how users discover and consume podcasts. We surveyed listeners across four countries (USA, UK, France, Germany) to assess local differences.

In this article, we will uncover seven learnings and their practical implication on growing your podcast’s audience.

1. Consider the Podcast audience

There is a higher percentage of male listeners than female listeners. While every podcast will attract a different audience, this means that there are more males than females looking for audio content.

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In the UK, France, and Germany, the number one age group is 18-29 years old, while the 30-44 years old dominate in the US.

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It is also interesting to note that 48% of the listeners started listening in the last 12 months. You should keep this in mind when planning your content as a podcast producer: a large proportion of users are newbies and it could be worth repeating some “podcast rules”.

2. Be on every podcast platform

We often hear from podcast producers: my show is on Apple (Podcasts); why should I go on other platforms?

First of all, a podcast listener consumes audio on 1.9 platforms on average. This could mean Apple Podcasts on his mobile while on the go and Spotify on the laptop at the office or at home. And the dominant platform currently is Spotify, not Apple Podcasts.

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Potential listeners will not install a new listening app and change their habits only to listen to your show. Joe Rogan is probably the only exception out there.

Amazon Music is relatively new but is already the third-largest listening platform with almost as many users as Apple Podcasts.

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Google Podcast is a must to reach Android users, and so is Deezer, especially if you are targeting the French market.

We can’t emphasize this enough: to grow your podcast, go where your audience is. And that is on a multitude of listening platforms. If you want to dig deeper in terms of platforms usage, we recommend download the full survey,

3. Consider publishing time

Publishing time is often overlooked by podcast producers. It’s a mistake. Consider a user that is following (or subscribing to) a few shows and listens to podcasts on her commute back from work in the evening. When she goes into her podcast listening app, what will she see first? The episode the most recently released from all the shows she follows. You want that episode to be yours.

Furthermore, just like social media platforms favors content that get shared/liked right after being published, the listening platforms may be factoring your listen numbers right after publishing in their ranking algorithms.

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It may be worth considering and testing different publishing times.

4. You must have an on-platform promotion strategy

38% of listeners discover new content directly on the platform, either by typing what they are after in the search bar or by browsing the various lists or recommendations. This is the number one way for users to discover new podcasts. As podcast producers, you absolutely need to have a strategy in place for on-platform visibility.

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Furthermore, 74% of listeners have already used the search bar to find content. Just like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is key in having your website rank high on Google or Bing, PVO (Podcast Visibility Optimization) is paramount in having your podcast rank high on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the other listening platforms.

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5. Invest in your podcast assets

The assets of your podcast are the podcast title, author name, show description, and episode titles and descriptions. Those are important in two aspects:

  • This is the data the listening platforms are using to rank you show on specific search queries
  • This is what a potential listener will see first when stumbling upon your show for the first time

Putting the algorithm aside, what potential listeners care the most about are the topic (or what your show is about) and its description. So make sure you provide those future listeners with enough information on your awesome content.

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Copywriting is both an art and a science as you need to write for both the algorithms (that will put your content in front of potential listeners) and humans who will then click/tap on the show assets to start listening.

We update our blog regularly with articles and tips on copywriting for podcasts.

6. Be present on Social Media

As we have seen above, Social Media is the second biggest channel for content discovery. You need to be present there as well. Depending on your content and audience, you may focus on one specific network or several.

Another thing that the survey reveals is that YouTube leads the way. Some listeners use the video platform as an audio platform, so adapting your audio content to generate video content is a great idea.

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There is much more information and details in the survey itself, but if you need to keep in mind only a few things to grow your podcast, the six points above are the main levers.

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Copywriting for Podcasts

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Copywriting is a tough job: while easy to learn, it is hard to master. This article will explore some of the common mistakes when writing copies for your podcast from a Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) point of view.

What is copywriting for podcasts?

Copywriting refers to writing texts used on web pages, advertisements, marketing campaigns, etc. For podcasts, copywriting refers to writing engaging texts for your show description, episode names, and descriptions. Those elements are often referred to as metadata. That is the data that the listening platforms will use to index your content and decide on which search queries your show should be surfaced.

Why is copywriting important in optimizing the visibility of your podcast?

With more than 2 million shows out there, you need to do anything that could make your podcast stand out – great content, good marketing strategy, and appealing texts – to catch both the attention of the listeners and the search engines of Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

According to our Podcast Consumption and Discovery survey, 74% of the listeners have searched for content on the listening platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.), and 42% of them primarily discover content directly on those platforms. It means they search for podcasts organically and then decide which one to listen to based on what they perceive from the search results, including description, title, cover art, user ratings, etc.

So, which of those factors are the most important ones?

Out of 9 criteria that might affect their decisions to follow/subscribe, 13% of listeners care the most about show description, making it the most significant criterion. The episode title (12%) comes right after, before host/guest names, episode length, and user ratings.

So writing a good and crispy description of the show and the episodes is paramount in attracting new listeners. Along with podcast authority, it is the biggest lever to increase the visibility of your podcast.

If you are unsure what keywords to use in your description, read our guide on the subject and create your free Voxalyze account to do keyword research.

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Copywriting mistakes to avoid for podcasts

Unfortunately, few podcasters know how to create fantastic descriptions and metadata. Below are six copywriting mistakes we often encountered when generating over 500 visibility reports and helping hundreds of podcast producers optimize their visibility through keyword tracking and exploration.

1. Barely writing a podcast description 

Out of all the mistakes, this is the most common and fatal one. With Apple Podcasts, you can use up to 4000 characters (approximately 500 words) for your show description. Of course, you don’t have to take up all the space.  However, it’s essential to make good use of the space offered to write a clear and enticing value proposition for your podcast.

A good copy will not only make listeners interested but will also help in improving your ranking on the search engine. If you barely write anything to present your podcast, the number of keywords your show will be ranking for will be lower.

2. Keyword stuffing your podcast description

Another common mistake consists in “stuffing” a podcast description with the same target term in hopes of ranking higher for that term in the search engines. Here is a fictitious example:

“This podcast is all about product marketing. As you know, product marketing is everything, and I love product marketing. In fact, good product marketing can change the fate of your company. We will talk in this show about how the right product marketing could help you be more successful.”

With a keyword-stuffed description, you run the risk of chasing the listener away. She may well think that the content of your show is similar to what he is reading and find it repelling. There is also the risk that the platform spots you playing and penalizes you. While extremely low, the risk does exist.

3. Not using the correct vocabulary for your audience

Before you create any content, you should be clear about who you’re talking to.

Different audiences require different tones and vocabularies. This is the reason people don’t use their Tinder profile picture on LinkedIn. The same applies to podcasts as the prospective audience expects a particular type of copy that uses the codes of the audience, be it technical terms, abbreviations,…etc.

4. Not focusing on your podcast niche

The description of your podcast and its episodes is like the window of a shop: it will draw either repel or attract visitors. By being too vague, you may end up attracting no one, just like that weird down-the-street shop selling shoes, cold drinks, and power tools.

According to our Podcast Consumption and Discovery survey, 54% of podcast listeners listen to 2-3 podcasts per week, 21% of them to 4-6. No one is expecting a single podcast to be their only source of information.

Imagine if you want to listen to a podcast to learn more about the French New Wave Movement. You would go to your listening app and type in “French cinema” in the search bar, and two results come up:

  1. Evolution of French Cinema: “A guide to French cinema evolution. From Auguste and Louis Lumière to New wave and May 68, and where it stands now.”
  2. French movies: “Everything about the French movie industry.”

The first copy gives more detailed information about its content. It’s clear and specific – it walks you through the evolution of French cinema, talks about the significant movements, and uses the correct vocabulary for film buffs. The second one is too broad and vague – does it speak about the French movie box office? French movie stars? Or do they recommend French movies?

In conclusion, when writing a description for your podcast, don’t try to do it all.

5. Overcomplicated writing

If you look at some of the major podcasts’ descriptions, they are usually relatively easy to read.

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Good copywriting doesn’t necessarily mean using fancy and academic words that only people with high degrees could read. It might look sophisticated and professional, but low readability could diminish people’s willingness to read.

Browsing through podcasts is like skimming through resumes. Recruiters spend an average time of 7 seconds on each resume, according to HR Dive. Likewise, the listener will take a few seconds to check your podcast and decide whether or not to listen. The message should be clear, which means no complex metaphor or poem-like rhymes.

Copywriting is about marketing your product and increasing the conversion rate from “seen to start listening”, not about winning Pulitzer Prize.

6. Using transcripts as the description

Another common copywriting mistake. In the article “How to Promote your Podcast on a Budget“, we mentioned that you should repurpose your podcast into various forms, including transcripts.

Providing transcripts helps the audience better grasp what the episode is about. The transcripts could be posted on your website or blog but not used as episode descriptions. There are there’re several reasons why.

– Listening platforms are designed to listen, not read. The reading experience is often sub-optimal, especially on a mobile phone.

– Listeners expect to find the core content of the episodes in the description. Transcripts are long and are making it harder to grasp the information.

– If you provide the transcript, and some audience read the complete text or read through halfway and decide it’s not interesting, they might not listen or download. It could harm your growth.

If your show is sponsored or it takes a few minutes before getting right into the action, those moments will be at the top of the episode description. This is what potential listeners will read first and what the search engines will use to index your content.

Copywriting tips for podcasts

After listing some of the mistakes to avoid, here are a few tips to improve your podcast visibility.

1. Optimize the beginning of the podcast description

Our survey highlighted that 71% of listeners consume podcasts primarily on mobile phones. This implies limitations from the podcast listening platforms. Apple Podcasts displays the first three lines of texts; it’s about 150 characters or 20-40 words. Spotify shows the first two lines, about 120 characters or 20-30 words.

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So you should really focus on those first few lines. Writing well-structured, valuable, clear, and precise texts within 30 words si really hard. Even professional advertisers struggle with this. Provide enough information and entice listeners to tap the “see more” button.

2. Write for humans first, for search engines second

Managing those two objectives is a balancing act. We recommend always writing for humans, coming up with a great description that will “convert”. The search engines have their own algorithms, and those get updated regularly. Optimizing purely for those doesn’t make much sense.

  • Be clear and concise. Be prudent with every word you use and describe your show with well-structured texts.
  • Avoid unnecessary repetition. Many podcasters like to repeat some information they deem of importance, such as host and guest names. That is not necessary.
  • Nail your value proposition. Entice the users with the uniqueness and value of your show. Don’t use templates that hundreds of other podcasts are also using: stand out of the crowd.
  • Research and pick the right keywords for your show. This is probably the most challenging part. On which keyword do you want your podcast to be discovered? What is the competition on those keywords? Do I have a chance to outrank those other podcasts? The good news is we have a step-by-step guide to help you choose the best keywords for your podcast.

3. Know your podcast audience

Learn your listeners like businesses learn their customers.

  • Research in advance: before launching your podcast, do some research to identify your target audience. Select the right demographic for your show – age, gender, countries and regions, occupations, etc.
  • Draw a listener persona. Persona is what businesses use to conceptualize their target customers. A persona includes all the details – annual income, career, hobbies, educational level, and even ideology. Once coming up with the ideal fictional listener, you can better understand the preferences of your audience.

4. Focus on your niche

Generic keywords usually have significant search volumes, but they also come with high difficulty and competition to rank for. A good approach for Podcast Visibility Optimization is to use long-tail keywords (e.g., guided meditation at home vs. meditation).

Those keywords are easier to rank high for and attract listeners highly interested in the niche. This will also increase your conversion rate from “seen the show description” to “started listening”.

5. Keep testing and iterating

Copywriting is a skill that requires practice. Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) as well. The chances that you will be hitting the nail on the head on the first attempt are slim, and it will probably take a few tentatives before having that perfect copy that describes your show well and optimizes its visibility. That is the price to pay to grow your audience.

 

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How to promote your Podcast on a budget

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You are having trouble growing the audience of your podcast and you don’t want to rely on expensive paid ads? Then this guide on how to promote your podcast on a budget by leveraging social media, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) is for you.

Creating amazing content is just half the work to a successful podcast: great promotion is just as important as great content. You don’t want to spend countless hours inviting guests to your show, recording and editing to end up having 20 listeners, with half of them being close friends or family members.

Regardless of the goals of your podcast (generate leads for your business, monetization…etc.), you will need a listener base. The larger, the better. To get there, you would need to promote your podcast. Period.

How to promote your podcast?

For most podcasters, promoting their show feels like an expensive thing and time-consuming endeavor. In this article, we will go through some low-budget, high ROI promotion techniques that any podcaster should apply.

1. Promote your podcast on social media

According to The Social Co, there are over 3.7 billion active social media users worldwide, and millennials spend over 2 hours and 30 minutes on social media per day. You want to be where your audience is, so social media is a must. Furthermore, our own data shows that social media is one of the main discovery channels for listeners and being active on social media is (mostly) free.

  • Repurpose your podcast’s content

First thing you need to do before promoting your show on social media: repurpose the content into various formats – trailer, transcripts, images, videos, clips, mashups, etc. This is the material that you will be sharing on the different platforms. Make it as easy as possible for users to share and repost.

Here are some ideas to increase your exposure in several channels:

  1. For every episode, share a post with the link and a short clip as a trailer. It would work as a preview for the full episode, so the audience can quickly identify the content and topic of interest, then bookmark the episode for later.
  2. Record a video alongside the audio. Create a YouTube channel for your podcast, get more exposure when people are searching for videos on a certain search term.
  3. Use different formats for different content. For an instruction episode (How to…), repurpose it into a tutorial, a video or a blog article. An informative and explanatory episode could be the basis of an infographic, for example.

  • Craft your content based on the platform

To maximize the impact of your social media efforts, you can not just copy and paste the same content across several platforms. It is important to get familiar with the nuances of different platforms, build content based on each platform’s personality, and attract diversified user groups accordingly.

Remember the Dolly Parton challenge? People were presenting themselves with different images on different social media platforms. In general, LinkedIn is where you show up as a professional, build networks and seek partnerships; Facebook and Instagram could be good for company branding, where you interact with your audience in a more down-to-earth manner. You don’t post Tik-Tok challenge clips on LinkedIn or Facebook articles on Instagram.

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<a href=”https://www.voxalyze.com/how-to-promote-your-podcast-on-a-budget/untitled-design/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-2345″><img class=”wp-image-2345″ src=”https://www.voxalyze.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Untitled-design-236×300.png&#8221; alt=”Dolly Parton challenge on Instagram” width=”293″ height=”372″ /></a> The Dolly Parton challenge

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  • Engage with your community

Regardless of the topic of your show, you are addressing a specific audience. And that audience probably meets somewhere online or offline to exchange on common topics of interest. You need to find that place, be it a Facebook group, a community meetup, and join the audience.

Alternatively, you could build the community by doing direct outreach. This is common on LinkedIn – for business topics – or Quora – for more educational topics.

Once you have joined the community, start engaging with its members: proactively interact with them, build up relationships and start adding value by offering help and solutions, exchanging ideas and thoughts, etc.

  • Outsmart the platform algorithm

Each platform has a different algorithm for accounts, posts, recommendations, but some general rules do apply to all.

The algorithm works like a snowball and favors content with high engagement – the more engagement you get, the more likely you would be recommended by the platform, leading to even more engagement. Encourage your followers to like or comment by using call-to-action captions or Q&A-based posts to leverage the algorithm. It’s best to get as much engagement as you can in the shortest amount of time after posting so that it gets recommended faster and let the snowball begin to roll.

2. Promote your podcast with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO increases organic (i.e., non-paid) traffic to your website. Though social media marketing has been booming in recent years, SEO brings long-term benefits that you can not afford to neglect. SEO should be a pillar of your podcast promotion strategy.

Google is, for many, the entry point to their online journeys. The same applies to podcasts: some users will start googling for podcast content before being redirected to the listening platform of their choice. So, being found on Google for your podcast is paramount, and even more since Google started indexing podcasts.

Here are some tips on how to leverage SEO for your podcast.

  • Create a website for your podcast

Certainly, you don’t need a website to start or publish your podcast show; only a hosting provider will do. Still, creating a website is the first step to improve your SEO. You can own the data when you set up the website.

Google automatically transcribes your podcast to index it when you decide to publish it on Google podcast. However, to optimize your rankings and your visibility, you should also have your own “text” version of your show. Their search engine will like you for it.

  • Provide a transcript of your podcast

For every new episode, you can provide a brief summary in the form of bullet points to inform the audience what they can find in the episode; use metadata (episode name, descriptions, etc.) that follow basic SEO rules; and then repurpose it into a transcript.

Repurposing your podcast makes it easier when promoting it on social media and helps with your SEO.

A transcript is a complete, word-to-word account of the episode. There are a lot of tools you can use to capture and write down every word you say. With some simple modifications, an accurate full-version transcript could be made.

It’s a simple yet highly efficient way for both the audience and Google to digest the episode in more detail – the content structure, key topic, keywords, etc.

  • Embed a podcast player on episode pages

On each episode page of your podcast, embed a player so that people could start listening to your audio content without having to leave your website. Most hosting providers have widgets that you could easily embed on your website.

3. Distribute your podcast on all platforms

If you’re having a hard time deciding which platform you should choose, don’t hesitate and go for all of them.

Of course, distributing on more platforms doesn’t mean you get more listeners automatically, but you can at least reach most of the potential audience, creating the fundamental for them to find your podcast.

Although Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the two major podcast listening platforms, plenty of them are available, with some smaller ones enjoying dominant positions in specific countries or niches. The more platform you distribute your content to, the higher the chance your podcast will be discovered and listened to.

On top of the pure podcast platforms, don’t forget to upload your show on Youtube. As surprising as it might sound at first, quite some people listen to podcasts on Youtube.

4. Promote your podcast with Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO)

  • What is PVO?

Suggested by its name, PVO improves the visibility of your podcast within the podcast listening platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Deezer, etc.) so that when people search for a certain keyword, the podcast comes up as the top result on their search engines.

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<a href=”https://www.voxalyze.com/how-to-promote-your-podcast-on-a-budget/podcast-visibility-optimization-2/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-2420″><img class=”wp-image-2420″ src=”https://www.voxalyze.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Podcast-Visibility-Optimization-300×236.png&#8221; alt=”The Podcast Visibiliy Optimization Flywheel” width=”432″ height=”340″ /></a> Grow your audience with Podcast Visibility Optimization

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With PVO, you can get a virtuous cycle of growth, or a flywheel effect – once your podcast is more visible, you will get more listens and downloads, therefore increased followers and reviews… resulting in a further improved visibility.

  • Why is PVO important?

40% of users discover new podcasts by searching for content directly within the listening platform. Searches are either for the content or name of the show as well as the host or guest names.

With a well-executed PVO strategy, your podcast will rank higher on search queries for certain keywords. More listeners will discover the show, therefore drive the listens and downloads. Just like it’s better for a website to be in the top 3 positions within Google, it’s better for a podcast to be among the very few first results in the podcast listening apps. Listeners typically don’t have the patience to scroll down several times.

A common misconception is that PVO is expensive (it’s not!) and complicated (it’s not!). It simply requires some commitment.

  • How do you do PVO?

To improve your visibility, you need to start measuring it.

That’s why we created Voxalyze. We provide you with all the keywords your podcast ranks for, the details of the rankings, and a search volume estimation.

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<a href=”https://www.voxalyze.com/how-to-promote-your-podcast-on-a-budget/tracking-3/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-2331″><img class=”wp-image-2331″ src=”https://www.voxalyze.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tracking-1-300×279.png&#8221; alt=”Screenshot of Keyword Tracking page of &quot;The Daily&quot;” width=”410″ height=”381″ /></a> Screenshot of Voxalyze’s Podcast Visibility Report for The Daily

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You can also access the evaluation of your rating over time, which is a great proxy to track listeners’ feedback.

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<a href=”https://www.voxalyze.com/how-to-promote-your-podcast-on-a-budget/explorer-2/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-2330″><img class=”wp-image-2330″ src=”https://www.voxalyze.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/explorer-1-300×238.png&#8221; alt=”Screenshot of Keyword Explorer of &quot;B2B Sales&quot;” width=”413″ height=”328″ /></a> Screenshot of Voxalyze’s Keyword Explorer of “B2B Sales”

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Voxalyze also allows users to check which shows are ranking for a given search query and this across several countries and platforms when you need to do some benchmarking.

As for the process and tips on getting started with Podcast Visibility Optimization, the best is to head over directly to our knowledge section, where you will find many articles to guide you.

While the impact of PVO could vary from a podcast to another, we typically see an audience growth of more than 20% within a few months after starting to optimize a podcast’s visibility.

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Podcast Glossary – all the terms and jargon explained

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For those new to podcasting and not familiar with all the terms, jargon, lingo, and slang, this podcast glossary is for you. And for those with some podcasting experience, this is always a good refresher.

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Analytics

Podcast analytics refers to the collection and analysis of data related to podcast visibility, audience behavior, and engagement. It provides insights into key metrics such as downloads, listens, subscriber growth, geographical distribution, and listener demographics. These analytics help podcasters and advertisers make informed decisions and optimize their podcast strategies.

Attribution

Podcast attribution can refer to two things:

1) Incoming attribution – the process of tracking and measuring the effectiveness of podcast advertising campaigns in driving specific actions or conversions, such as website visits, purchases, or app downloads. It helps advertisers understand their podcast advertising efforts’ impact and return on investment (ROI).

2) Incoming attribution – the process of tracking and measuring the impact of your marketing efforts when driving traffic to your podcast.

Audiocast

A type of audio file that is available in digital format and can be downloaded on digital devices.

Authority

Podcast authority (PA) refers to a set of signals used by podcast platforms to assess the quality of a show. The most important signals are downloads, download velocity, rating, reviews, and consumption data such as the average completion rate of episodes. Along with metadata, PA is a major factor influencing the results of search requests in podcast apps.

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Baked in Ads or Host-read Ads

Baked in ads or host-read ads refer to the ads that are read and recorded by the podcast hosts. Baked in ads are inserted in the show, which means people who download the episode all hear the same ad.

Bit Depth

Bit depth controls the dynamic range of audio, it is the number of “bits” and information in each sample. The higher the bit depth is, the more dynamic range. The most common bit depths are 16, 24, and 32. For audio content, 16 is widely used.

Bit Rate

Bitrate refers to the rate at which the bits are transferred. The higher the bit rate, the bigger the audio file. For podcasters, the most used bitrate is 96 kbps mono.

Clipping

Clipping refers to a form of distortion that produces unpleasant sounds. It can go above the power level of the recording window and damage the quality of the recording or even the equipment.

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A simple graph demonstrating clipping: a sine wave exceeds its threshold (the red line). Image from Wikimedia Commons.

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Compression

When compression is applied to an audio recording, the loudest part will be tamed while the quietest part will be highlighted, so that the recording has a more balanced and consistent volume level.

Condenser Microphone

Also known as capacitor microphones, condenser microphones are made of thin diaphragms and sensitivity, they can capture high frequencies with accuracy, and record more of the audio in an environment.

Cost Per Action (CPA)

A scheme where the podcast producers get paid per action they trigger and not per audience volume. The actions are typically new users or clients for a given service or product. The difficulty of CPA agreements between advertisers and podcast hosts lies in tracking. To date, the most common option used by podcast hosts is specific coupon codes.

Cost Per Download (CPD)

The cost per download is a metric used to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns aimed at promoting a podcast. The lower the CPD, the better.

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

Measurement metric of the cost per thousand listens or downloads of each ad. “Mille” means “thousand” in Latin. For example, if the price of an ad on a given podcast is $25 CPM, advertisers will pay the host $25 for every thousand listeners.

DAW

DAW is short for Digital Audio Workstation, it refers to the software and tool that you use to record and mix the podcast. So that it could be Adobe audition, Audacity, Reaper, etc.

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Picture of a Digital Audio Workstation at work.

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Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)

DAI is a technology that allows advertisers to insert targeted ads directly into audio streams to target specific podcast audiences. The whole process is automated and there is no negotiation around buying ad spaces. It also means that the podcast producers choosing DAI as a way to monetize their show don’t have control over the ads that will be played to the listeners.

Dynamic Microphones

Dynamic microphones are less sensitive than condenser ones, but they’re better used in louder environments, thus preferred for live uses.

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Picture of a Silver Dynamic Microphone.

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EQ

Equalizers or Equalization. It can help balance your audio’s sound quality by cutting or boosting certain frequencies so that the audio sounds clearer.

Encoding

In the podcast world, encoding refers to the process of converting an audio file into an MP3 file for upload and distribution.

Format

Different ways to organize your podcast’s content. Some of the most common formats of podcasts are Narrative, Solo, Co-host, 1:1 interview, roundtable, etc.

Gain

Gain is a measurement of the loudness of audio, it is used to adjust the sensitivity of your microphone. It controls the tone and the volume of audio before it goes through a recording device. So it needs to be adjusted BEFORE recording.

High-Pass Filter

A processor that removes unwanted frequencies that are lower than a determined cutoff frequency from your audio.

Hosting

Hosting providers are services that store and help you manage and distribute your audio files. Just like there are servers for websites, there are servers for podcasts. The most common hosting providers are Buzzsprout, Libsyn, Simplecast, Acast, Podbean, Anchor (Spotify), Megaphone (Spotify), Captivate, Ausha, or Podigee.

Interface

An interface works like a mixer, it’s a bridge between the microphone and the recording platform. An interface allows users to provide phantom power for condenser microphones.

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Photo of a Copper Audio Mixer.

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Jingle

A brief intro to your podcast, including the name, a short description of the content, and the host. A jingle usually lasts about 30 seconds or less.

Low-Pass Filter

A processor that removes unwanted frequencies that are higher than a determined cutoff frequency from your audio.

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Metadata

All the information about your podcast which provided to platforms via your RSS feed. This includes the podcast category, show title and description, publisher name, episode titles and descriptions. Each piece of information is called a tag. Inserting the right keywords into the metadata of a podcast can significantly increase the audience’s interest in the show.

Mix Down

The process of combining multitrack audio into a single file.

Monetization

Simply put: when you start profiting off your podcast. There are two types of monetization: direct and indirect. With direct monetization, podcasters make money by either selling subscriptions to their listeners (premium content for example) or by running ads on their show. Indirect monetization is when the podcast allows a business to gain new or retain existing customers.

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Mono

Mono sound means that only one channel is used to convert signals into sounds. It creates an effect of the sound is coming from only one source or one direction, even if there is in fact more than one speaker.

Narrowcast

As opposed to a broadcast, which is aimed at a mass, wide audience, a narrowcast focuses on a specific target audience, such as employees of a company or members of an association. While regular podcasts are available to the general public, narrowcasts (also called private podcasts) are password-protected and can only be accessed with credentials.

Peaking

In an audio waveform, the top is referred to as a peak, and the bottom is a trough. “Peaking” is when the peak goes too high, usually coming from loud noises, such as a cough or a yell.

Podcast Glossary

An alphabetic list of words with brief explanations focusing on the podcast industry. Simply put, a dictionary, but only with podcast-related terms – as what you are viewing right now.

Podcast Visibility Analytics (PVA)

PVA stands for Podcast Visibility Analytics and monitors the visibility of the different shows and episodes across the listening apps. This is a key enabling factor for Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO). Voxalyze is the leader and pioneer in PVA.

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Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO)

PVO stands for Podcast Visibility Optimization. It is also commonly named “SEO for podcasts” as it shares common attributes with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). PVO is the process of improving the visibility of a given podcast on audio listening platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts… etc. The more visible a podcast, the more it will attract new listeners. PVO is done via a variety of levers as explained in this framework.

Prefix

A podcast tracking prefix is a short URL added to a podcast episode’s media URL at the RSS feed level. It allows third-party analytics platforms such as Voxalyze or Chartable to monitor downloads and user devices. This data helps podcasters gain insights, evaluate marketing effectiveness, and customize content for their audience’s preferences.

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Room Tone

The sound of an empty room when no dialogue is happening. Even in a silent room, the mic may still pick up some noises, so it is better to test the room tone before you start recording. This could help reduce the noise.

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Image from The Criterion Collection.

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RSS Feed

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Generally, an RSS Feed is a file that summarizes the updates from a website, with links to a list of articles. Simply put, it means that your audience can access the content outside of your website. In the podcast world, an RSS feed contains information about your show and episodes and passes the information to listening platforms, like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Stereo

As opposed to mono sound, stereo creates a natural, lifelike sound effect by using multiple channels to convert signals into sounds, to reach an effect of sound coming from various directions.

Stinger/Sting

A piece of music used as an intro, end, or linkage of different sections to the podcast, usually no longer than 5 seconds.

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Tag(s)

Tag is a technical term that simply refers to information about your podcast that you pass to platforms via your RSS feed. Typically, show-level tags are filled out in the settings/details page of your hosting provider, while episode-level tags are added to each episode every time you publish one.

Show-level tags:
– Show title
– Show description
– Author
– Category
– Secondary Category

Episode-level tags:
– Episode title
– Episode description

All the tags listed above build what is called podcast metadata.

Timeshifting

The act of watch, read, or listen to content at a later date. Podcasting is an example of timeshifting since it’s not live like broadcasting, instead, you record, edit, and produce the audio, and then upload for the listeners.

Waveform

A graph that demonstrates the recording of audio.

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WAV File

Waveform Audio File Format. It was developed by IBM and Microsoft and is the main format for storing uncompressed audio on Windows systems.

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