Best podcast hosting platform in 2022

What is the purpose of a podcast host?

To manage all the information of your podcast

For a podcast to be broadcast on all listening platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Deezer, its audio file must be stored online on a host. The principle is simple: you upload your files in audio format to your host and it automatically creates a special page that is communicated to the listening platforms and is called the RSS feed.

This RSS feed is a bit like the identity card of your podcast. It contains all the information related to your show, most of which is then visible to your audience. Among this information, we find: the name of your podcast, the title of your episodes, your descriptions, your images, your audio files, your name or that of the host, your email address, the URL of your website, etc. This is called metadata.

Thanks to this technology, your episodes are automatically published as soon as they are uploaded to your host and your show is updated almost immediately on all listening platforms.

To broadcast your podcast everywhere

A host is, more broadly, the gateway between the audio files you’ve recorded on your phone or computer … and the rest of the world. From your hosting platform, you can connect your RSS feed to all the listening platforms that currently exist on the podcast market such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, Amazon Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, Pocket Cast, Castbox, etc.

How to choose a podcast host?

Today you have the choice between several types of podcast hosts. In order for you to choose the one that perfectly fits your project and that you don’t slow down the success of your podcast, here is what you should pay special attention to.

Make sure you have unlimited storage

Some hosts limit the number of episodes you can upload to their platform or the number of listens you can record per month. To push this limit, they offer you to upgrade to a more expensive but less restrictive subscription. This is your first point of attention: don’t slow down the success of your podcast with limited storage. Go straight for a host that doesn’t block you in the creation and publication of your episodes.

You don’t know what your podcast may become. It could become a reference in its field and help you establish your expertise on the subject you have chosen. It would be a shame if your host was the reason why your podcast could not evolve.

Do not limit your distribution to only a few platforms

The vast majority of podcast hosts offer distribution on the biggest listening platforms on the market such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer or Google Podcasts. But not all of them offer the possibility to reference your show on other applications that may seem more secondary at first glance, but which nevertheless record a lot of listening every month.

As said before, depending on the devices used by your listeners, these listening platforms differ. It would therefore be a shame to miss out on a part of your potential audience by only broadcasting your show on the biggest platforms.

Save time with an easy-to-use platform

Creating a podcast takes enough time and energy to waste unnecessarily with its host. On the contrary, a hosting platform should make life easier for podcasters.

And this includes simplicity of use, a nice design and easy-to-use features. Choose a hosting platform that offers a fast and simplified distribution process with the possibility to reference your podcast on all applications in one click.

Don’t be satisfied with your number of listeners

Even if this data is very important (it is certainly the compass of many podcasters), it is not the only statistic to monitor to measure the success of a podcast. A host has access to lots of valuable data that allow you to track your progress.

To ensure that podcasters have accurate statistics, there are certifying bodies such as the IAB or the ACPM which are very strict in the method of calculating the number of listeners. For the ACPM, for example, we consider a listening from the 1st second of reading. But, if a person re-listens to the same episode over a 24-hour period, only one viewing is counted.

Carefully study the marketing tools offered by the hosting company

Once you have hosted and distributed your podcast on all listening platforms, comes the communication and promotion of your new episodes. Without this, you won’t get any listeners.

To help you get the word out about your show, convince your target audience to listen to it and then keep them coming back, pay special attention to all the services and additional features that your hosting company offers.

Some hosting platforms offer communication tools to make your podcast visible everywhere or to automate the promotion you want to do around your show. These marketing tools are real assets to propel your podcast and their usefulness should not be underestimated.

For example, to be well referenced by Google and boost your listening, you need a website dedicated to your podcast and 100% optimized that your host must be able to provide automatically.