When we plan and then finish recording the podcasts, we often wonder which sites to upload and publish them too. We take account of many things such as the popularity of one place over another, how good the marketing is and the user interface. With a podcast, you want to get the audio in as many places as possible. But choosing the best is a struggle. On top of that, it is good to know what to expect from sites that host your podcasts.
Today I will compare and contrast four hosting sites to work out where to upload your content.
Spotify
Spotify is the music app every young person is using. The moment it started allowing podcasts onto its site, it was a game-changer. Just because it’s a game-changer doesn’t mean it changed for the better. So let’s look at the stats and see how good it would be for your audience and podcast.
Spotify is reported to have 165 premium users and 365 million users that aren’t on premium. When you think about it, you begin to realise that’s a huge audience that could listen to your podcast. And considering Spotify and their podcast section is growing in popularity, it’d be a no-brainer to upload your podcast there.
It surpassed Apple podcasts in terms of listeners earlier this year.
However, with all the pros of Spotify, such as its open-access platform! The listening experience is bad enough to turn people away because they can’t get to their favourite podcast quickly enough. Not separating between music and podcasts makes it worse!
Plus, you can’t comment or review podcasts. The community element to podcast listening is gone. So it might make it harder for you to reflect and improve using constructive criticism.
In short, Spotify is the popular and modern version of music/podcast listening. But it has a lot to sort out with its user interface before it can be the best.
Apple podcasts
The next big name of podcast hosts is Apple podcasts. The monthly average user count is 28 million. On top of that, it is beginning to put a subscription service for podcasters. In theory, you should be able to customise to suit your needs as a creator, and if you have Apple products, then streamline your process.
The only problem is that after the I.OS 14.5 updates the app became unusable with many issues. From being unable to add or delete podcast episodes from your library to old podcasts reappearing.
While these app issues are reported to be fixed, many users logged off and went to Spotify. So I’d take the popularity of the site by the general public into account. Especially when there are other apps out there that are more reliable, like Spotify, google podcasts and anchor.
Podchaser
Unlike Spotify and Apple podcasts, Podchaser has been around since 2016. But is it a service you would want to use for your content?
The service has 500,000 users per month and 100,00 registered users. If my maths is correct (which admittedly it isn’t!), it isn’t as popular as the other two platforms but is still impressive considering it's only six years old.
Now there are some great things about Podchaser. Like the fact you can put the merch you sell on your profile, you can connect with other creators. And on top of that, you can get reviews and feedback from listeners.
Plus, you can easily add other collaborators to your profile. Ultimately Podchaser is great for growing your show and marketing.
However, whilst it makes it easier for marketing and growth, you could easily do this using other platforms like Redbubble and Patreon. Or a youtube comment section.
Ultimately I think for Podchaser, it depends on how much you want everything to be based on one easy find a place instead of 30+ social media apps.
TuneIn
TuneIn is another popular podcast hosting site with 75 million users. What’s excellent about TuneIn is that you can listen to a podcast episode on Alexa enabled devices and Google Home ones!
As the host, this doesn’t necessarily affect you. It enables your audience to listen anywhere and anytime, giving it an extra level of accessibility that everyone enjoys.
Plus, it is highly trusted and has embedded players and easy sharing options like Podchaser and Apple Podcasts.
My only worry is that, like Spotify, all the radio and steaming content is lumbered with the podcast content. And it can ruin the listening experience because of how long it can take you to find what you want.
In the end, my typical advice for podcasters is to put your content anywhere and everywhere! But if you want to scale it back to make management more straightforward for you, or you want to learn the ropes, then expand. It’s up to you, but it’s good to have this knowledge!
Thanks for reading this article:
Hopefully, you found this article helpful, and as always our wer8 family is always available to help you on your content journey. If you haven’t already, please also download any one of our FREE ebooks to help you with your online presence.
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