You’re probably reading this post because you want to enter the world of podcasting. It’s a popular form of content now.
That’s all nice.
Do you know the most important facts around podcasting?
Ones who routinely spend 5 hours or more a week listening to Podcasts are generally young, aged between 25 to 49. Dubbed power users, they are mostly affluent male, says a Westwood One-Audience Insights research report.
That’s not all. Nearly 70% of “power” podcast listeners are male with 40% of them being millennials.
The next big segment is Gen Xers (aged between 35-49) who account for 34% of the audience segment.
Why am I even talking about power users
How does this matter?
Because 81% of all podcast listening stems from this power segment. To attract these power listeners the best thing to do is use a powerful podcast player. A good podcast player like the fusebox podcast player comes with lots of different skins to toggle from, plenty of control options, and embeddable formats you can use.
They spend 12 hours a week listening to podcasts.The vast majority (85%) of “power” podcast listeners have taken action after hearing a podcast ad.
Not only do they listen to podcasts, they’re a coveted segment of action takers.
For most of them, i.e. 60% the ability to choose what you can listen to is the number 1 reason they choose to listen to podcasts.
For 46% their top reason is the ability to tune into unique, one-of-a-kind content.
44% find podcasts to be more immersive and engaging than all other forms of media.
(44%) of total monthly podcast listeners first started listening to podcasts because they heard (from friends and family) about the said podcast on a topic of interest.
For 39% friends and family directly recommending a podcast they liked was the influential factor.
Only 31% listened to a podcast because it had authors or celebs they dig.
That goes to show how influential word of mouth can be in getting someone to subscribe to your podcast.
Infographic by: MusicOomph.com
Infographic created by Financial Services Marketing and Technology agency Gate 39 Media.
When you host podcasts you should make sure you’re using platforms that are reliable. Great customer experiences create customers who want to come back time and again.
When you want to make your site available to the world you host it on a web server. The sites that provide servers for hosting podcasts is called a podcast hosting site.
They allow file downloads and host .mp3 files and RSS feeds for your podcast.
In addition you can see how many listeners you have, you have social sharing options and support.
File storage, bandwidth and a secure platform to host podcasts add another flavor to these podcast hosting websites.
Let’s get to the meat and potatoes. Which are the best podcast hosting sites today in 2019?
Can you host files simply on your website
You can. BUT why would you. The files are much larger than your textual content. And the bandwidth requirements are high. If your podcast blows up suddenly which is a good thing you can easily exhaust your bandwidth limits on your website This causes the site to go down.
Better safe than sorry.
A good podcast hosting service can coast through hundreds of thousands of listeners. They can both store episodes and get you high bandwidth to make up for all those listens.
With podcasting directories you get more places to distribute you podcast getting more listeners to your creation.
Podcast hosting solves all these problems for you.
BuzzSprout
They have been in the podcasting hosting business long before podcasting was a thing. No upfront costs to get started. There’s a free tier for those who want to test the waters and aren’t ready to plunge into podcasting fully. I like this aspect where even established platforms like Buzzsprout offer a fully-functioning tier to allow users to get a feel of the platform. The free plan is obviously limited but that doesn’t mean you don’t get to explore the full set of features, analytics and robustness built into Buzzsprout.
Let’s look at the features of the free tier.
Wth the free plan you can upload upto 2 hours worth of content. They keep your files for 90 days. After 90 days the files will get dumped automatically, From where I stand that’s enough time in both capacity and duration to test out the service fully and explore all the available features. If Buzzsprout is the right platform for you, you will be able to gauge it within this time period.
There are three paid plans with the lowest starting at $12 per month. With it you can store files for as long as you are a member. You can opt for unlimited storage and 250 GB bandwidth.
What does it mean practically? The bandwidth allows you to get 20000 episode plays a month.
Podbean
Just like Buzzsprout you start with a free tier for podcasting. With this podcast host, you get 5 hours of content upload per month. The bandwidth is limited to 100 GB per month.
The cheapest plan starts at $9 with which you get access to a rich suite of analytics tools. The analytics suite offers a detailed view of which podcasts are successfully able to garner visitors.
The $20 /mo option gets you unlimited hosting and video storage
In addition to this monetizing is easy with the help of adding advertisement campaigns to each episode.
Podbean also supports Patron helping you generate recurring revenue from your podcasts.
Blubrry Podcast hosting
The first is the small plan that starts at $12 per month. It gets you just 100MB of storage with unlimited bandwidth and statistics on podcast downloads.
The medium plan is priced at $20 a month with 250MB storage
The large plan at $40 per month gets you 500 MB storage.
The final extra large plan is at $80 per month for 100 MB extra storage.
- You get unlimited bandwidth. You get your own site with hosting called Powerpress sites
The powerpress plugin is a good option. If you want to get started with Blubrry podcast hosting, this Blubrry coupon is an ideal choice to begin with.
Spreaker
Spreaker as an app is available on both iOS and Android.
The spreaker studio is their powerful desktop app that you can use to record and edit podcasts.
You can even broadcast your podcasts live with Spreaker. Along with that Spreaker lets you publish podcasts directly to Spotify, TuneIN, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and others starting at zero per month.
Transistor.fm
Don’t be fooled by the name. It’s a premier podcasting platform.
Transistor is another extremely popular podcast hosting platform.
You can host unlimited shows, get multiple people to manage account. Start sites and a distribution channel to host all these podcasts.
The pricing structure is unique in the sense that you can host unlimited podcasts. The storage doesn’t factor into pricing. Instead, you pay based on the number of downloads your podcast generates.
There’s a 14 day free trial that lets you explore the ins and outs of the platform. Starter plan begins at $10 per mo. The starter plan is limited to Two users, unlimited podcasts and 10k downloads per month. The pro plan at $49 per mo lets you add up to five team members.
And 50k downloads per month.
Finally, their Business podcast hosting Plan is priced at $99/month with up to 10 team members and 150,000 downloads per month.
Castos
Castos is one of the best podcast hosting solutions for those who already have a WordPress site.
You can integrate podcasts with it at the click of a button.
With the seriously simple podcasting plugin you can upload episodes directly to your website.
Sign up for the 14 day trial, install the WordPress plugin and as soon as you’re ready to host podcast episodes add those to the podcast section that newly appears courtesy of the plugin.
Captivate
Captivate is new to the list of podcast hosts.
But that’s not to say it’s any shabby. It packs a lot of much-needed features that swell in number as more and more people begin using the platform.
The USP of the product is they help you grow your podcast audience. Makes sense since you won’t continue with hosting if your podcast fails to take off the ground.
It isn’t a blanket statement. The features do help you grow.
There are three hosting plans at the moment.
The starter’s plan starts at $19 per month with 10000 downloads.
The second plan called audio influencer is priced at $49 per month for 50k downloads.
The third plan at $99/mo supports 120000 downloads a month.
SoundCloud
You must have heard of SoundCloud. It’s a popular music streaming service and is also one of the biggest podcasting hosts.
They leveraged the fact that millions are using the streaming service to discover new content and offered podcast hosting to satisfy that craving.
The player is easy to embed. There are social sharing options and so on.
The basic plan is free with 3 hours of upload time, basic analytic features and embedding.
SoundCloud Pro is priced at $6 per month has embed controls, advanced stats and quiet mode that disallows comments.
With the $12 per month option you can upload and host unlimited amounts of audio.
There’s also a premium service that comes with the pro or pro unlimited ($12/mo) plan
With this you get added options to monetize your audio tracks.
Factors That Decide Which Podcast Hosting Platform You Should Choose
Before going on ahead with a podcast host here are the most important factors that you should consider. I will publish a feature length article delving into the pros and cons that go into deciding a good podcast host but for now, here’s a primer.
Is the platform easy to use
You’re hosting your podcast for the first time. As a beginner, you can hardly wrap your head around technical factors. Instead zero down on something that does the heavy lifting for you.
Ease of access is a number of things. It boils to good UX, if the dashboard and interface is easy to navigate.
The technical factors should be easy so you can rest your focus on the more complex things.
Pricing
Pricing is another big factor that trumps others when choosing the host.
If you’re starting out, may be its a good idea to go with the free tier that Buzzsprout and Podbean offer.
Also consider how they’re pricing things. Some podcast hosts charge by the amount of storage on offer while the bulk charge based on the number of downloads your episodes generate.
Whether it be storage or bandwidth consider what makes it an ideal platform for you.
For most people starting out, any paid plan in my list will offer plenty of storage – but it is always something to consider!
Or go with something that offers a cheap plan. With the annual plan, you generally tend to save around 20% upfront which reduces costs further and in hindsight looks like a great investment.
If you happen to completely dislike the product that’s where a refund policy shines. Most have a 30 day refund policy if you don’t like the product.
Support
Hosting inevitably causes problems later down the road. So you must see if the customer support team delivers all that it promises.
If there isn’t quick help that may mean losing out on podcast downloads.
Finally look at if the analytics and other features are there and if they’re easy to understand.
What do you think of the podcast hosting platforms I listed above?
Any favs?