Alexis Hue, Author at Audiotiq

Juin 06

Podcast Promotion Strategy – Audience Segmentation

By Alexis Hue Podcast promotion

Ask around about podcast promotion strategy.

You will hear about short links, smart links, deep links, podcast visibility optimization, landing pages, videograms, audiograms, newsletters, podcast guesting, etc. You will quickly get inundated with those words and a multitude of hacks to make them work to grow your audience.

Those are hacks, tactics at best, but not strategy. Strategy is your high-level plan for achieving your objectives, the big picture, or, as I learned in business school, the “where to play.” Tactics are the specific steps and actions to get you there, the “how to win”.

Quite often, podcast marketing people jump right into tactics without taking the time and/or effort to step back and reflect on whether they are playing in the right place.
This article introduces a simple method of segmenting your podcast audience and the associated ways to reach individuals in those segments. We wanted to put the basics back into perspective to help publishers assign resources, time, budget, etc., where it will have the most significant impact.

Podcast Audience Segmentation Basics

An audience could be segmented via a simple 2×2 matrix like this one. It is simple and easy to understand, highlighting the key insights and allowing prioritization.

The two axes of the matrix answer two questions:

Does the audience listen to podcasts? Yes or No.
Is the audience interested in the topic of my content? Yes or No.

That’s it.

Based on the answers to those two questions, we can now segment our audience and define marketing strategies to reach them.

Segment #1: The Death Valley

This segment comprises potential listeners who are not familiar with podcasts and have no interest in your content. To attract them, you must convince them to start listening to podcasts—ideally, make it a habit—and become interested in your content.

This double-convincing will be a tough sell. Don’t waste time or effort there: this is the Death Valley.

Segment #2: The Ghosts

That segment listens or at least is familiar with podcasts but has no interest in your content.
Imagine a podcast listener not interested in a given sport, such as long-distance running. You may have the most outstanding podcasts about marathons, ultra-trail, endurance, etc., but she will not be interested in listening to them.

You may see, hear, and read about this audience, but you will have a very hard time catching anyone. Those are the Ghosts.

Back to our podcast listener above, maybe (and that’s a massive maybe) her taste will change over time, and with the help of other mediums, she may grow an interest in your content. But that’s a long-term effort and a big stretch. Don’t rely on it in terms of immediate impact.

Segment #3: The Late Adopters

This segment is interested in your content but needs to learn about podcasts.

If you read this article, you are likely active in or interested in podcasts or digital audio in general. And you very probably listen to podcasts. Well, that is not yet the case for anyone.

While studies vary from country to country, age group to age group, and survey to survey, it’s safe to say that only about two-thirds of the population has ever listened to a podcast, and only half listen regularly (at least monthly).

This segment has a lot of potential, but it requires considerable effort to get them to discover and enjoy your content. You can’t reach them directly on the listening platforms, so you must rely on off-platform promotion. This includes:

Social Media: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, but also X or LinkedIn. While platform shifts are complicated as they require several clicks, and users may not be “in the mood” to listen, social media, either earned or paid, represents a massive promotion opportunity.
Leveraging your own assets: If you are a radio, TV, newspaper, or magazine, you should use your own assets to promote your podcasts. Why not promote your great running podcasts at the end of your soccer talk show or in that daily sports newsletter you are sending?
Other Media in the space: You may want to reach out to Media specialized in your vertical, such as blogs or forums.
Offline events: people sharing common interests like to meet to exchange on their favorite topic. Being present and promoting your podcasts at such events could also have significant potential.
Web Search: if you have a website promoting your podcast and master SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you may be visible to users searching for your content. While it doesn’t have the reach of social media, your assets, or offline events, it could bring some rewards.

Also, remember to include some educational material on the benefits of podcasts for them and, eventually, step-by-step guides on accessing and listening to podcasts.

Segment #4: The Sweet Spot

This segment is your absolute Sweet Spot, your top priority: they are both interested in your content and familiar with podcasts.

Promoting your content directly on platforms such as Spotify or Apple Podcasts is the best way to reach them. Here, the potential listeners are already on their favorite listening apps and don’t need to shift platforms, which generates significant friction and waste.

On-platform promotion consists of two main pillars:

1. Podcast Visibility Optimization.

Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) improves a podcast’s visibility on the listening platforms, ensuring it appears as a top result for relevant search queries. This is crucial for podcast discovery as surveys indicate that 30% to 50% of podcast downloads come from on-platform discovery. Imagine a listener typing “marathon” on the Spotify search bar and your podcast arriving at the top….

2. Cross Promotion.

Cross-promotion is a marketing strategy where podcasts are promoted on other podcasts. This is done in a variety of ways, such as mentioning the promoted podcast in the other podcasts you manage, automated ads as post-roll on some of your shows, inserting a trailer into an RSS feed, guest appearance, etc. The more podcasts you publish, the greater the possibilities.

While on-platform promotion is proven to be highly effective, you should also complement your efforts with off-platform promotion, as detailed above.

Conclusion

By segmenting your potential audience in the very simple way shown above, you can focus your efforts on what matters the most and adopt the proper marketing strategy for each segment. That should be the very first step of your podcast marketing strategy, from which everything will follow.

Mai 13

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How to leverage Spotify’s Impression Data to boost your Podcast Visibility Optimization game

By Alexis Hue Podcast Visibility Optimization

In the rapidly evolving world of podcasting, success hinges not only on creating engaging content but also on understanding and leveraging the right tools to amplify visibility across major platforms like Spotify. With the latest update to Spotify for Podcasters, a new metric has emerged that is setting new benchmarks in the industry: impressions.
This data-oriented addition to the analytics offered by Spotify marks a crucial step for audio publishers aiming to boost their reach and grow their audience. Podcasting is slowly but surely getting closer to being as data-driven as the web and app ecosystems.

What are Podcast Impressions? Why does it matter?

Impressions are defined as the number of times your podcast cover art and metadata appear in Spotify’s search results, on the homepage, or within a user’s library. This metric is extremely valuable because it gives a preliminary gauge of your podcast’s reach before a listener presses play.

Impressions are often considered currency in the online world, and maximizing impressions is key to maximizing the reach of your content. As we like to say at Audiotiq, “To be heard, your content first needs to be seen.” Impressions measure how often your content is seen—not heard but seen within the listening apps.

Furthermore, Spotify’s data allows podcasters to understand how users discover their shows on Spotify. This information is extremely valuable for determining where to focus your marketing/growth efforts.

If your search results are not predominant, it’s probably time to give Podcast Visibility Optimization. Just like with new marketing data, being among the first to leverage it and take action will give you an incredible edge against your competitors. Just like what we noticed in the early days of what is now called the mobile app industry.

Where to find the new Podcast Impressions dashboard?

Step 1: Log into Spotify for Podcasters
Step 2: Pick the podcast you want to look at
Step 3: Check your total impression data

Step 4: Click on the audience tab to get more details

There, you will find the two interesting charts next to each other:

Impressions by day for the last 30 days (line chart)
Impression by source for the last 30 days (bar chart)

Why are Spotify Impressions important for Podcast Visibility Optimization?

First of all, Spotify Impressions data validates the importance of Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO). During our workshops with clients, all were surprised by the predominance of “Spotify Search” in impressions. This emphasizes the need to work on optimizing the show’s visibility.

To summarize, PVO consists in both optimizing the visibility of your shows within the listening platforms AND the conversion from “seen the assets” to “pressed listen”. If you want to dig deeper, we have created the first and most complete framework for Podcast Visibility Optimization.

Spotify impression data gives you a good idea of how you perform in terms of overall visibility within the platform. To get into the details at a keyword level and optimize your ranking, you can then rely on your Audiotiq dashboards.

When it comes to conversion, you get a conversion rate by dividing the downloads on Spotify by the number of impressions. From there, you can work on optimizing the conversion rate by modifying some of your show’s assets. The biggest levers are the cover art and the titles (show and episode).

What can publishers now implement and measure? What kind of results can they expect?

The Spotify impression data that is available opens many doors. First, it enables publishers to finally track the visibility of their show within the platform and understand how users discover their shows via the Home, Search, Library, or other Spotify features.

Spotify Home: When a user is on the homepage of her Spotify app (web or mobile), and Podcasts are recommended, either because the user has subscribed or the Spotify recommender engine believes the show will be of interest
Spotify Search: When the show appears on search queries from users
Spotify Library: When the show appears on the user’s library because the user is following your show
Spotify feature: When Spotify promotes your show,

With that information, you can track and improve your show’s visibility. If your search numbers are going up, this means your PVO (link) efforts are paying off.

Second, the Spotify impression data allows you to derive additional metrics to conduct tests.

The main metric is the Click-Through Rate (CTR), i.e., the ratio of users clicking on your assets to users seeing your assets. The higher the CTR, the better; it means you convert users to listeners. Many factors have an impact on the CTR:

– Your Metadata (show or episode title, publisher name, first few words of the description)

– Your Cover Art (show or episode)

Most smart publishers use this data to test different cover art and determine which one offers the best CTR. Here are examples that the team at RTBF is currently conducting:

At Audiotiq, we have seen podcasts double their CTR (admittedly from a low base) while most enjoy a 20% to 30% increase. Competent A/B testing of a well-designed cover art still remains the best way to discover the best design to maximize your audience.

How to A/B test the cover art of your podcast?

First, let’s define A/B testing. A/B testing compares the performance of two versions (A and B) of a cover art to identify the one that performs better. It’s a method that helps you make decisions based on real data rather than just guessing. A/B tests are extremely common in the online world (web and mobile), where publishers test pretty much anything: website/app layouts, email subject lines, button text, colors…etc.

To A/B test your cover art, you need to create two different versions while all other parameters remain the same. This means your metadata will not change while you test your cover art. Then, you will show these two versions to two similarly-sized audiences and analyze which one performed better.

You can test those two simultaneously in the web and app worlds by directing traffic to two different pages. However, within Spotify and other listening platforms, you can’t. This means you need to run the two cover art one after the other, which is not ideal.

We recommend you run it over a long enough period of time to have a large enough sample size for the test to have any significance. You will find plenty of A/B test significance calculators online, such as this one from Convertize.

Depending on your show’s impressions, this could be a few days, weeks, or months. Keep in mind the seasonality that impacts listeners’ behavior: impressions tend to decline during summer breaks, and the listeners’ appetite for sports or new habits is typically higher in January.

The most advanced publishers keep testing: A vs. B, then the winner vs. C, then the winner vs. D….etc.

What are the current limitations of the Spotify Impressions data?

No complete funnel view

Imagine being able to see the full user flow from impression to start and streams: this would have been a true killer feature for any podcast market. Matching streams with search impression data would have been the simplest, most reliable way to measure the impact of PVO.

Streams and downloads are not the same event, but calculating your stream/download ratio would have been the only extra step required to get a clear number of downloads.

Limited time range

Spotify only shows the last 30 days of data, and there’s currently no way to recover historical data. Our tip: set a weekly reminder in your calendar and save the data on a spreadsheet.

No data export

With the current version of the dashboard, you have to save the data manually in a separate spreadsheet… Since you can’t export the data, this implies copying and pasting, which is always error-prone. Let’s hope someone at Spotify corrects this: it would make everyone’s life so much easier.

Conclusion

While not perfect, the Spotify impression data is a significant improvement for any publisher serious about understanding and growing its audience. It allows you to understand how listeners discover your podcasts and highlights the levers, such as PVO, you could pull to grow your audience. And if you need help making the most of the dashboard, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Avr 09

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Are Apple Podcasts Transcriptions Training its AI Models?

By Alexis Hue Podcast Industry

A few weeks ago, Apple announced a new feature—currently in beta and not available for every language—that will improve the podcast landscape: transcriptions on Apple Podcasts. Let’s look at this new feature and see how it can be both a valuable asset and a challenge for audio professionals.

The Benefits of Podcast Transcription

Transcripts are no longer optional niceties but essential tools for content reach and audience inclusivity:

Empowered Accessibility: Transcripts break down barriers for those with hearing disabilities and cater to those who absorb content better visually.
Improved Searchability: They turn spoken words into searchable text, magnifying your podcast’s online presence and discoverability.
Better Navigation: Listeners can leap directly to interest segments, enriching user experience and content interaction.
Expansive Audience Engagement: The feature supports multiple languages, dismantling linguistic barriers and welcoming a diverse international audience.

Podcast Transcription: how does it work?

When a podcast goes live, Apple’s automated transcription kicks in. Every word spoken becomes a written record, searchable and selectable. Listeners can initiate playback from a word of choice. For those who follow along with the audio, the transcript highlights each word as it’s spoken, creating an immersive reading-listening hybrid experience.

Choice in Customization

Apple Podcasts recognizes each podcast’s unique style, allowing creators to personalize their transcriptions. This bespoke option via Apple Podcasts Connect will enable podcasters to maintain their unique voice and ensure the accuracy of their content.

Podcast Transcription and Intellectual Property

While transcriptions fuel content accessibility, they may also feed Apple’s AI algorithms, giving the company an edge over the competition.

Transcriptions are a gray area, and the heart of the matter lies in intellectual property rights, the cornerstone of creative work. This poses pressing questions:

Potential Overreach: Does the feature of transcribing content overstep the boundaries of content ownership?
Fair Use and Monetization: Could accessing podcast creators’ data be considered fair use as AI learns from their work? Will publishers be compensated? All of them? How? How much?
Brand Integrity: With AI’s ability to replicate and potentially distort the podcast’s voice, how can publishers safeguard their uniqueness and brand integrity?

Spotify as a Pioneer in Podcast Transcription

Spotify has long used podcast transcription on its platform and has even shared it with others for (mostly) research purposes. The Spotify Dataset contained over 100,000 hours of audio and over 1 billion transcribed words from over 100,000 episodes each in English and Portuguese from different podcast shows. The episodes span a variety of lengths, topics, styles, and qualities. In other words, it is a fantastic dataset!

Knowing how focused the company is on data and how vital their recommender is to their success, it’s a fair assumption (and one we are taking) that the dataset has also been used to train their models.

Are Podcast Transcriptions Training Apple’s AI models?

With each transcript added, the question lingers: Does this empower content creators, or does it provide Apple with an arsenal of data to hone its AI capabilities?

The implications for media publishers are vast. As AI’s footprint expands, so does the need for vigilant monitoring and stringent protections. Digital rights management becomes a precaution and a necessity to combat potential misuse and maintain control over content distribution.

As this article from The Verge highlights, companies like Open AI have exhausted all the “obvious” data sources a long time ago and are now transcribing podcasts, videos, and whatever they could get their hands or crawlers on.

A Significant Change for Audio Publishers?

Transcriptions on Apple Podcasts herald a new age for digital content: more accessible and discoverable. Yet, they simultaneously open a debate on the ethics and economics of AI in the realm of intellectual property. The conversation is just beginning on how to navigate this new landscape, where innovation intersects with the rights of creators and the definition of fair use, given the open nature of podcasting.

Every week comes a new announcement of either a legal battle (New York Times) or a monetary agreement (Le Monde, Axel Springer) between print media publishers and AI companies.

Knowing the richness of radio and audio content, one can only wonder how far companies like Open AI will go to access it to train their LLM.

Time for the Audio Industry to regroup?

The balance between embracing a new feature and protecting the value of original content is delicate and deserves, first and foremost, awareness of the real implications of the feature.

Given the specific nature and diversity of publishers’ types and sizes in the podcasting ecosystem, a joint position on the topic is unlikely to prevail.

It could, however, be an opportunity for leading publishers to get together and defend their stand.

Mar 16

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What is Podcast Visibility Optimization? Why is it important?

By Alexis Hue Podcast Visibility Optimization

What is Podcast Visibility Optimization?

Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) is the process of improving the visibility of a given podcast on audio platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube (if you publish your podcast there), Deezer,….etc, so that their search engines show it as a top result for given search queries.

Search within the listening platforms is paramount to podcast discovery. Users on their preferred platform seek audio content for immediate consumption with a single tap or click. In contrast, social media users encounter more friction, requiring multiple taps before accessing content, assuming they are ready (e.g., wearing AirPods/earbuds)

Surveys indicate that 30% to 50% of podcast downloads originate from on-platform discovery.

PVO improves podcast visibility on given search queries within the audio platforms.

Why is Podcast Visibility Optimization important?

At Audiotiq, we emphasize that “to be heard, you must first be seen.” Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) enhances a podcast’s visibility, ensuring it ranks higher on relevant search queries. A successful PVO campaign leads to increased podcast discovery, driving more downloads.

Like how Search Engine Optimization (SEO) boosts website visibility and traffic, PVO plays a crucial role in growing a podcast’s audience. In a landscape with more than 2 million podcasts, visibility is essential. After investing time in designing, recording, producing, and editing your podcast, it would be a shame if your content goes unnoticed.

What does Podcast Visibility Optimization consist of?

Like SEO, Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO) depends on proper indexation, content strategy, and manipulation of audio platforms’ algorithms.

PVO is the science of presenting your show and episodes in a way that increases the likelihood of your podcast being among the top results when users search for relevant keywords.

While we have developed a comprehensive overview of the PVO levers, the Podcast Visibility Optimization Stack, to simplify, PVO relies on optimizing two main levers:

Podcast Metadata:

Show Name
Author or Publisher Name
Show Description
Episode Names
Episode Descriptions

Podcast Authority:

Number of downloads/streams
Number of subscribers
Ratings & Reviews
Completion rate
Binge listening
…etc

Podcast Visibility Optimization is an ongoing task since rankings evolve and new shows/episodes are continuously released.

Mar 14

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The Podcast Visibility Optimization Stack (2024 Edition)

By Alexis Hue Podcast Visibility Optimization

The Podcast Visibility Optimization Stack is a cheat sheet for podcast producers and marketers who want to understand better the levers they can pull to improve the visibility of their audio content on podcast platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.).

PVO (Podcast Visibility Optimization ) has plenty of similarities with both SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and ASO (App Store Optimization) but is a different science due to the sheer nature of podcasting and the listening platforms.

By simplifying PVO to “SEO for podcasts,” the danger is to focus mostly on keyword optimization. Leading podcast marketers have realized that the conversion rate (from seeing the details of your podcast to clicking/tapping the icon to start listening) is just as important.

When considering PVO holistically, one needs to consider it a complex and interconnected system of elements that influence its two main goals: increasing visibility and conversion.

For example, ratings and reviews impact a show’s visibility on a given search query and the conversion from “seeing” to “clicking”.

This article details the various elements of the Podcast Visibility Optimization Stack and shares examples of tactics to leverage.

Let’s dive in.

Before jumping to the various elements to optimize, let’s quickly summarize how the listening platforms’ search algorithms work.

To make it overly simple, the platforms rely on two elements to rank your show on a given search query:

The Podcast Metadata
The Podcast Authority

Podcast Metadata is the data that describes your show. Not the content of your episodes, but how you describe them.
Podcast Authority is an index – proprietary to each platform – that evaluates the authority or strength of a podcast. The various elements the platforms are taking into account are:

Number of subscribers
Number of downloads/listens
Reviews & Ratings
Completion rate
Binge listening
Velocity
Freshness of content
etc.

Now, let’s review the practical details and see how to optimize the visibility of your audio content.

1. Show and Episode Assets

Impact on increasing visibility: high
Impact on increasing conversion: medium

The number one way for podcast listeners to discover new content is by going straight to the search bar of their listening app. This is a behavior inherited from the web and mobile worlds, where approximately half the websites or mobile apps are discovered via a search query. Listeners could be searching for generic keywords (“news”, “football”, “meditation”), sometimes with typos (“nwes”, “fotabll”, “meditaiton”) or branded ones (“New York Times”, “Joe Rogan”).

Podcast producers need to remember that search is at the bottom of the conversion funnel: users want something and know what they are looking for.

The goal with PVO is ultimately to attract new listeners that will then be retained. One of podcast publishers’ main levers and a massively untackled opportunity is keyword optimization.

By optimizing their position on the right keywords, publishers can rank high or keywords relevant to their content. They can ensure that people looking for that kind of content see their show or specific episodes.

Therefore, the goal is for a podcast to rank as high as possible on keywords with high search volume that are relevant to the podcast. High search volume means that the topic is highly searched by potential listeners. In other words, there is demand for it.

Podcast publishers also need to consider the difficulty of the keywords they decide to optimize. A good example here is news. It will require a tremendous effort and massive podcast authority for a show to outrank The Daily on the search query “news”.

While a search query on the web interface of Google shows 10 results on its first page, podcast apps tend to show less, and Spotify even mixes podcasts with playlists. Therefore producers should focus on getting their content ranked in the top 3 to 5 positions. To achieve this, the process is:

Identify the high-volume, relevant keywords and search terms that users would type in their apps’ search bar. Ideally, also identify those with a low level of competition.
Integrate those keywords in the podcast’s assets: show name, artist name, short and long descriptions, episode title, and episode description. The presence of a given keyword in those different places doesn’t have the same weight. A keyword in the show title obviously has more weight than in the episode description.
Analyze the impact of the changes and iterate. Keyword optimization is a continuous process. To continuously rank high on important keywords, publishers need to keep optimizing as search trends and the ranking algorithms of Apple, Spotify, and other platforms evolve. Not to mention that competition may also be trying to get that first spot on those lucrative keywords.

Our training sessions and workshops cover extensively how to pick the right keywords and the optimization process.

2. Podcast Followers and Subscribers

Impact on increasing visibility: high
Impact on increasing conversion: low (indirect)

The latest Apple Podcasts and Spotify search algorithm updates increased the importance of the follower (or subscribers) count. A high follower count indicates that a show interests listeners, so they don’t want to miss an episode release. That interest reinforces a podcast’s authority, pushing it up the ranking for the keywords used in its assets.

It also has an indirect and low impact on conversion as it generates extra – automated – downloads for every new episode published, depending on the subscription settings of the subscriber.

3. Ratings and Reviews

Impact on increasing visibility: high
Impact on increasing conversion: medium

In addition to increasing visibility, the number of reviews and average ratings significantly impact conversion. Apple Podcasts, like most platforms, lets users rate podcasts from 1 to 5 stars. However, the process of leaving a review is cumbersome, and not many users will go that far. Therefore, it is another strong authority signal sent to the platforms.

Positive ratings and great reviews are part of a virtuous circle: the more positive ratings you get, the more visibility our podcast gets, the more conversion, and ultimately the more users….who then generate more positive ratings.

Several studies in the mobile ecosystem have shown the importance of ratings, and so far, there is no reason to believe that this is different for podcasts. Below is one from Apptentive (now Alchemer), where the numbers speak for themselves.

4. Episode Formats and Lengths

Impact on increasing visibility: medium
Impact on increasing conversion: medium

The length of a podcast has a psychological impact on users. Those who discovered your podcast after a search query and have a 20-minute window to listen may not be ready yet to listen to a 60-minute episode.

Even if users could drop out at any time, it feels like a long commitment, especially at a time when attention spans are constantly decreasing.

So when producing and editing an episode, publishers should consider options such as 1×60 minutes, 2×30 minutes, 3×20 minutes, 4×15 minutes, the full (long version) next to a “best of” or “summary” version…etc. This will impact the conversion rate.

This is what we call the “salami tactic”: taking one piece of content and slicing it into as many slices as possible. Someone wanting a short version will find what she wants; the same goes for someone wanting an extended version.

Some radio stations are increasingly using this tactic, as it allows them to top the chart (“the most downloaded sports podcast in France,” for example) and gain the attention of the advertisers as subscribers often have shows on auto downloads.

More downloads mean more ads sold. Now, let’s be honest: Most of those downloads will not be listened to, but that’s a different topic.

5. Platform Distribution

Impact on increasing visibility: medium
Impact on increasing conversion: none

Imagine a customer walking into a grocery store and looking for something to drink: she will pick whatever is available on the shelves. The same applies to podcasts: to be heard your content needs to be in the listeners’ favorite listening platforms.

Today – excluding some specific exclusives – most shows are on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. But what about Amazon Music, Deezer, Pocket Casts, Gaana, Podeo,…etc?

And let’s not forget YouTube, which now also ingests RSS feeds and seems to be growing in popularity with younger audiences listening (!) to podcasts.

6. Category Ranking and Recommendations

Impact on increasing visibility: high
Impact on increasing conversion: none

Potential listeners are not only searching for content; they may also be browsing the platforms and various categories, checking the latest hottest thing, or simply letting the platform recommend what to listen to next. So having a strategy to be either visible in the relevant categories or be recommended is important to grow an audience.

There are plenty of tips and tricks for reaching the top of the Apple Podcasts categories with a small budget. If that interests you, reach out—we help plenty of publishers with this.

The importance of the Spotify Recommender has significantly increased in recent years. And to no one’s surprise, the data Spotify uses to recommend are quality content, metadata, authority and the Host Recommendation feature.

If you want to explore the topic further, we have a complete article on how to boost your visibility with Spotify Recommender.

7. Show and episodes cover arts

Impact on increasing visibility: none
Impact on increasing conversion: high

As the saying goes, “Never judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to podcasts. When searching for content around a given topic, potential listeners will be presented with a list of shows, and the cover art occupies the most space on the screen. Listeners will often decide which one to click/tap simply by judging the cover art.

It is, therefore, paramount to optimize podcast cover art. Art is always a question of perception and taste, and we know too well that there are sometimes imperatives, such as showing the face of the anchorman/woman on the cover (even if most won’t recognize him/her), but we recommend to at least:

Think mobile first (ie small screens)
Have your cover art easy to read and grasp in a split second
Test if before launching

The section on the cover art is often one of the most discussed and debated in our training sessions. Data has proven that optimizing a cover art could increase your conversion (from “seeing” to “clicking and listening”) by more than 10%.

8. Black Hat Optimization

Impact on increasing visibility: it depends
Impact on increasing conversion: it depends

Black hat Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO), just like black hat SEO – a practice against search engine guidelines used to get a site ranking higher in search results could deliver substantial results in terms of visibility and conversion.

The challenge is that the platforms have different guidelines that are kept necessarily vague as the technology and ecosystem evolve. It is, therefore, not always easy to know when you are crossing the line.

What is clearly within the guidelines is named white hat, what is clearly against black hat, and the big blurry space in between grey hat. Some of the tactics we are aware of in the podcast world are and our classification of it

Incentivized or paid reviews & ratings – black
Own reviews & ratings – light grey
Negative reviews on competition – dark grey
“Burst campaigns” –light grey to grey
Bot download or streaming – black
Incentivized downloads/search – grey
Keyword stuffing – grey
Using fake brand names – black

To sum it up

As detailed above, there are plenty of levers to pull when it comes to Podcast Visibility Optimization Plenty. None of them is extremely demanding, but a coordinated approach is necessary to maximize the impact of PVO efforts and reach higher rankings.

We have trained many teams at organizations such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph, RTBF, RTL, and Europe 1 on Podcast Visibility Optimization and are supporting them in their ongoing efforts.

If you think you need help maximizing the visibility of your content within the listening platforms, get in touch: we will be happy to help!

Get in touch

Mar 15

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The Ultimate Podcast Glossary – all the terms and jargon explained

By Alexis Hue Podcast Industry

If you’re a newcomer to podcasting and find yourself overwhelmed by the various terms, jargon, abbreviations, and slang, this podcast glossary is designed to help you. For those who already have experience in podcasting, revisiting this glossary and its regular updates could serve to stay up to date.

Analytics

Podcast analytics involves a comprehensive analysis and collection of data pertaining to a podcast’s reach, listener behavior, and overall engagement. This method provides deeper insights into critical metrics such as download counts, listener statistics, trends in subscriber growth, geographical spread of the audience, and detailed demographics of listeners. These analytics are crucial for podcast creators and advertisers, aiding them in making well-informed choices, refining their content, and tailoring their marketing strategies for maximum impact.

Attribution

Podcast attribution encompasses two key areas:

Outgoing Attribution – The process of tracking and measuring the effectiveness of advertising within a podcast 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).

Incoming Attribution – This refers to the process of tracking and analyzing the influence of marketing efforts in directing traffic to a podcast, helping to understand the reach and engagement driven by these marketing strategies.

Authority

Podcast Authority is a set of criteria used by podcast platforms to evaluate the quality and relevance of a podcast. Key indicators include the number of downloads, rate of new downloads (download velocity), listener ratings, reviews, and detailed data on listener engagement, like the average episode completion rate. Alongside these metrics, metadata plays a crucial role in influencing how a podcast is ranked and discovered in search results within podcast apps.

Baked-in Ads

Baked-in ads are mostly host-read ads, commercials that are directly read and recorded by the podcast host(s). These ads are integrated into the podcast episode, ensuring that every download of the episode includes the same advertisement.

Bit Depth

Bit depth in audio refers to the amount of data captured in each audio sample, impacting the dynamic range of the sound. Common bit depths are 16, 24, and 32 bits, with 16-bit being a widely used standard in audio production, balancing quality and file size.

Bit Rate

Bitrate in audio refers to the rate at which audio data is transferred or processed. Higher bit rates result in larger audio files but can offer better sound quality. For podcasters, a commonly used bitrate is 96 kbps (kilobits per second) in mono format, balancing quality and file size.

Bumper Music

Bumper music consists of brief music clips used to transition between different segments of a podcast or to signal the introduction and conclusion of a show. These musical interludes are key in providing a smooth flow and maintaining listener engagement throughout the podcast.

Clipping

Clipping in audio is a type of distortion that occurs when the signal exceeds the maximum level that can be accurately captured by the recording equipment, leading to a loss of audio quality and potentially damaging the recording equipment.

Compression

Audio compression is a technique used to reduce the dynamic range of a recording. This process lowers the volume of the loudest parts while amplifying quieter sections, resulting in a more consistent and balanced overall sound level in the recording.

Condenser Microphone

Condenser microphones, also known as capacitor microphones, feature sensitive diaphragms capable of accurately capturing high-frequency sounds. They are well-suited for detailed audio recording, capturing a wide range of sounds in an environment.

Cost Per Action (CPA)

Cost Per Action (CPA) is a pricing model where podcast producers are compensated based on specific actions triggered by their content, such as acquiring new users or clients for a service or product. Tracking these actions is often achieved through unique coupon codes or similar methods, facilitating the measurement of the campaign’s effectiveness.

Cost Per Download (CPD)

Cost Per Download (CPD) is a metric used to assess the efficiency of marketing campaigns aimed at increasing podcast downloads. A lower CPD indicates a more cost-effective campaign.

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

Cost Per Mille (CPM) is a measurement used to determine the cost of an advertisement per thousand listens or downloads. For instance, a $25 CPM rate means the advertiser pays $25 for every thousand listeners of the ad.

Cross-Promotion

Cross-promotion in podcasting occurs when two or more podcast shows mutually promote each other’s content. This strategy is often employed to help grow the audiences of the participating podcasts, leveraging the listener base of each show to reach a wider audience.

DAW

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) refers to the software and tools used for recording and mixing podcasts. Examples include Adobe Audition, Audacity, and Reaper, among others.

Demotion

Demotion in the context of Podcast Visibility Optimization and search algorithms refers to the practice of lowering the rank of a podcast in search engine results. This can happen due to various reasons, such as violating listening platforms’ guidelines or poor content quality. Demotions are applied to ensure that users receive high-quality and relevant results for their queries, maintaining the integrity of the listening platforms’ search engine results.

Direct Download

Direct download is a method of acquiring a podcast episode by downloading the audio file directly from a website. This approach differs from subscribing to a podcast through a podcatcher or RSS feed and is often used by listeners who prefer to manually select and download specific episodes.

Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)

Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) is a technology that automates the insertion of targeted ads into audio streams, allowing for precise audience targeting without the need for manual negotiation over ad placements. This technology gives podcast producers who use DAI little control over the specific ads played to their audience.

Dynamic Microphones

Dynamic microphones, known for being less sensitive than condenser microphones, are better suited for louder environments and are commonly used in live settings due to their robustness and ability to handle high sound pressure levels.

EQ

Equalizers, or EQ, are tools used in audio production to balance sound quality by selectively cutting or boosting certain frequencies. This enhances the clarity and overall quality of the audio.

Encoding

In podcasting, encoding refers to the process of converting audio recordings into a format suitable for distribution, typically MP3, to facilitate easy uploading and sharing.

Format

Podcast formats refer to the various ways of structuring a podcast’s content. Common formats include narrative, solo, co-hosted, interview-based, and roundtable discussions, among others.

Fair Use

Fair use is a legal doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without the need to obtain permission from the rights holders. This concept is applicable under specific conditions, such as for purposes of commentary, news reporting, criticism, or educational use, and is a key consideration in content creation and distribution.

Feed Drop

A marketing tactic for podcasts to advertise their show on other shows to attract new listeners. A feed drop typically involves a host-read introduction followed by a pre-recorded trailer, clip, or full episode from the promoted podcast, published as a new episode in the promoting podcast.

Gain

Gain in audio refers to the adjustment of a microphone’s sensitivity and the audio’s loudness before it is processed by a recording device. It is a crucial setting that needs to be optimized before recording to ensure the best sound quality.

High-Pass Filter

A high-pass filter is an audio processing tool that eliminates frequencies below a certain threshold, helping to reduce unwanted low-frequency noise in recordings.

Hosting

Podcast hosting providers are services that store, manage, and distribute podcast audio files. They function similarly to web hosting services but are specifically designed for podcasts. Popular hosting providers include Megaphone (by Spotify), Buzzsprout, Simplecast, Acast, Podbean, Anchor (by Spotify), Captivate, and Audiomeans.

IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau)

The IAB is a prominent organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry. Comprising over 650 media and technology companies, the IAB plays a crucial role in influencing and shaping digital advertising policies and practices. The organization’s guidelines and standards, particularly in areas like digital advertising, audience measurement, and podcast advertising metrics, are widely respected and adopted across the industry. The IAB’s initiatives and research contribute significantly to the growth and sustainability of digital advertising ecosystems globally.

IAB logo

ID3 Tags

ID3 tags are metadata containers used in MP3 audio files. They store essential information about the track, including the title, artist, album, track number, and various other details pertinent to the podcast episode or music track. These tags are crucial for organizing and displaying audio file information in digital media players.

Interface

An audio interface acts as a bridge between a microphone and the recording platform, functioning similarly to a mixer. It allows for the provision of phantom power, which is essential for powering condenser microphones.

Jingle

A podcast jingle is a brief musical introduction, typically lasting 30 seconds or less, that includes the podcast’s name, a succinct description of its content, and the host’s name.

Live Streaming

Live streaming in podcasting involves broadcasting an episode in real-time, as opposed to the traditional method of recording, editing, and then publishing the episode. This format allows for immediate listener interaction and engagement, offering a dynamic and spontaneous podcasting experience.

Low-Pass Filter

A low-pass filter in audio processing removes frequencies above a certain threshold, helping to eliminate unwanted high-frequency noise from recordings.

Metadata

Podcast metadata encompasses all the information about a podcast provided to platforms via an RSS feed. This includes details like the podcast category, show title, description, publisher name, and individual episode titles and descriptions. Effective metadata, enriched with relevant keywords, can significantly increase a podcast’s visibility and audience engagement.

Mix Down

Mixdown in audio production refers to the process of combining multiple audio tracks into a single file, typically the final step before mastering.

Monetization

Podcast monetization refers to the various ways podcasters can generate revenue from their content. Direct monetization methods include selling subscriptions for premium content or running advertisements, either host-read or dynamically inserted. Indirect monetization involves using the podcast as a platform to acquire or retain customers for a related business.

Mono

Mono, short for monophonic sound, refers to audio that is recorded or played back using a single channel, creating the perception that the sound originates from a single source or direction.

Native Podcasts

Native podcasts are original audio programs created specifically for the podcasting medium. Unlike radio shows or other audio content adapted for podcast formats, native podcasts are designed from the ground up to be consumed as podcasts. They often take full advantage of the podcasting format, including its on-demand nature, flexibility in episode length, and intimate, conversational style, to create content tailored to the podcast listening experience. This distinction allows for creative freedom and innovation in content creation, often leading to a diverse range of podcast-exclusive shows.

Narrowcast

Narrowcasting in podcasting targets a specific, often smaller, audience as opposed to broadcasting to a general, widespread audience. Examples include podcasts created for internal company communication or for members of specific organizations, which are often protected by passwords and not publicly accessible.

Normalization

Audio normalization is the technical process of adjusting the volume of an audio track to a standard, consistent level. This is crucial in podcast production to ensure that sound levels are uniform throughout an episode, providing a seamless and professional listening experience.

Peaking

Peaking in audio refers to instances where the amplitude of a waveform exceeds the optimal level, often resulting from loud noises like coughs or yells, which can lead to distortion.

Podcast Audit

A podcast audit is a thorough review and analysis of a podcast to assess its overall quality, effectiveness, and alignment with its goals and target audience. The process typically involves evaluating various elements of the podcast, such as its distribution and visibility within the listening platforms, format and structure, monetization setup, and qualitative audience feedback via ratings and reviews. Audiotiq is a leader in podcast audits, having supported tens of publishers with in-depth audits of their podcasts.

Podcast Glossary

A podcast glossary is an alphabetical list of terms and definitions specifically related to the podcasting industry, serving as a specialized dictionary for those involved in or interested in podcasting. Like what you are reading right now.

Podcast Network

A podcast network is a collective of podcasts that are marketed and sometimes produced under a unified brand or organization. These networks offer a range of support services to their member podcasts, including advertising, marketing, technical assistance, and sometimes content development, facilitating growth and outreach. Their main objective is facilitating the sale of advertising on their members’ podcasts, hence offering a bigger reach to advertisers.

Podcast Visibility Analytics

Podcast Visibility Analytics (PVA) tracks and analyzes the visibility of podcasts and episodes across various listening platforms. PVA is a key component in Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO), with Voxalyze being a notable provider in this field.

Podcast Visibility Optimization

Podcast Visibility Optimization (PVO), also known as SEO for podcasts, involves strategies and techniques to enhance a podcast’s visibility on audio listening platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Improved visibility leads to increased listener discovery and, ultimately, to audience growth.

Podfade

Podfade is the phenomenon where a podcast gradually loses momentum and frequency in updates, often leading to an eventual cessation of production. This term reflects a common challenge in the podcasting world, where maintaining a consistent publishing schedule can be difficult due to various factors such as lack of time, resources, or dwindling listener engagement.

Prefix

A podcast tracking prefix is a short URL added to the media URL of a podcast episode within the RSS feed. It enables third-party analytics platforms to monitor downloads and user devices, providing podcast creators with valuable insights into listener behavior and marketing effectiveness.

Replay Podcasts

In the context of radio, a replay podcast refers to the practice of converting a segment or full episode of a radio broadcast into a podcast format. This allows listeners to access and replay the content at their convenience beyond the original broadcast time. Radio replay podcasts effectively bridge traditional radio with the digital, on-demand listening experience, expanding the reach and accessibility of radio shows to a broader audience. Replay podcasts are often opposed to native podcasts.

RSS Feed

RSS, meaning Really Simple Syndication, is a file format that summarizes updates from a website, allowing its content to be consumed outside of the website of origin. In podcasting, an RSS feed contains information about the podcast and its episodes, facilitating distribution to platforms like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Courtesy of Hubspot

RSS Enclosure

An RSS enclosure is a specific tag within an RSS feed that enables the inclusion of media files, such as audio or video, alongside feed content. This tag is fundamental in podcast distribution, allowing podcast episodes to be easily accessed and downloaded by listeners through various podcasting platforms and apps.

Show Notes

Show notes are a detailed written description of the content of a podcast episode. They typically include a summary of the episode, links to resources mentioned, biographies of guests, and any other information relevant to the episode’s content. Show notes are invaluable for providing listeners with additional context and resources, enhancing their listening experience, and having the content well indexed by the listening platforms.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is a prevalent monetization strategy in podcasting, where a company pays to have their product or service mentioned or endorsed during a podcast. This approach provides a revenue stream for podcasters while offering sponsors targeted access to the podcast’s audience.

Stereo

Stereo sound involves using multiple audio channels to create a more lifelike and natural listening experience, with sounds appearing to come from various directions, as opposed to the single-source effect of mono sound.

Stinger/Sting

A stinger, also known as a sting, is a brief, distinctive piece of music or sound effect used in podcasts. It serves as an auditory cue that marks the beginning, end, or transitions between different sections of a podcast. Typically lasting no more than five seconds, stingers play a key role in enhancing the production value and listener engagement of a podcast by providing a consistent and recognizable audio signature.

Transient Noise

Transient noise refers to short, unintended sounds captured during recording, such as clicks, pops, or extraneous background noises. These noises are typically undesirable and are removed or minimized in post-production to enhance the overall audio quality of the podcast.

Voice Over IP (VoIP) Recording

Voice Over IP (VoIP) recording is a method of recording podcast audio over an internet call. This technique is particularly common for conducting interviews or co-hosting podcasts with participants in different geographic locations, enabling remote recording while maintaining audio quality.

Waveform

A waveform is a visual representation of an audio signal, showing the variations in amplitude over time. It is an essential tool in audio recording and editing, allowing creators to visually analyze the dynamic range, identify peaks and troughs, and make precise edits. Waveforms are fundamental in ensuring the quality and consistency of recorded audio.

WAV File

The Waveform Audio File Format (WAV) is a widely used file format for storing high-quality, uncompressed audio. Developed by IBM and Microsoft, WAV files are a standard in the Windows operating system and are favored for their audio fidelity and versatility in professional audio editing and production settings. WAV files are ideal for podcasters seeking the highest quality audio, especially during the editing and mastering stages.