How BlackRock’s Branded Podcast Amplified Awareness with PSO

How BlackRock's "The Bid" Climbed to #1 on Apple Podcasts, and What It Means for Your Branded Podcast

Why Podcast Visibility Matters for a Brand Like BlackRock

1 in 2 listeners discover new podcasts directly on listening apps, and 70% of them use the search bar to find new shows. That means podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify aren't just listening platforms. They're discovery platforms. And if your show doesn't appear when your audience searches for the topics you cover, it simply won't reach them, no matter how strong your content is.

For a brand like BlackRock, which launched "The Bid" back in 2018 to break down markets, geopolitics, and the trends reshaping the global economy, this represented both a challenge and an opportunity. The content was there. The authority was there. What was missing was the visibility.

How BlackRock Used "The Bid" to Reinforce Authority in Search

Before any optimization work was done, "The Bid" had room to strengthen its search visibility for many of the market topics its audience was actively looking for. For terms such as "US tariff pause," "geopolitical shifts," and "AI and geopolitics," the opportunity to improve its positioning was clear.

After implementing a structured, two-part search visibility strategy, "The Bid" climbed up to 99 positions in search results, reaching #1 on Apple Podcasts US for keywords like "US equities," "infrastructure investment opportunities," and "venture debt," while simultaneously securing top branded positions for "BlackRock podcast" and "BlackRock insights" across Apple Podcasts and Spotify in the US, UK, and Canada. And it didn't take months to see results. The first ranking gains appeared in as little as 4 weeks.

A Two-Part Strategy: Topics and Brand

What makes this case study particularly instructive is that the strategy wasn't built around a single objective. It addressed two distinct visibility challenges at once.

The first was about topical authority: making sure "The Bid" showed up when listeners searched for the major market conversations BlackRock is built to lead: AI, geopolitics, infrastructure, the future of finance.

The second was about brand ownership: ensuring that any listener with clear intent to find BlackRock content would land on "The Bid" first, across every platform and every market.

You Don't Need to Be BlackRock to Apply These Principles

The strategy behind the results of "The Bid" isn't reserved for global asset managers. Whether you manage a branded podcast, a media network, or a content program for clients, the same principles apply: identify the keywords your audience is actually searching for, optimize your metadata with intention, and track your performance over time. Most branded podcasts aren't optimized for search, which means there's still a significant opportunity for those who act now.

Improve Your Podcast Discoverability with Ausha's PSO Control Panel

To implement this strategy, the BlackRock team relied on Ausha's PSO Control Panel, a complete Podcast Search Optimization toolkit designed to help branded podcasts get found where listeners actually search: on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The PSO Control Panel gives podcast teams the data and recommendations they need to:

• Identify the right keywords
• Optimize their episode metadata
• Track their rankings over time
• Understand the competitive landscape

All in one place.

Download the free case study to discover how "The Bid" used it in practice, and what it could mean for your own branded podcast's visibility.