These days you can find a podcast for almost anything from true crime and finance to baking and plant parenting. With new podcasts popping up daily, the market seems oversaturated. With an overflow of such content, the issue is not about having enough podcasts but rather a matter of podcast creators being able to separate from the crowd and effectively target the right audience. Let’s dig into what G2 data says about the podcast market, podcast hosting software, and how creators can leverage the software to differentiate the listening experience.

Standing out with podcast hosting platforms

According to Edison Research, 38% of Americans (over 12) are monthly podcast listeners, and only 28% of Americans (over 12) are weekly podcast listeners. Both of these figures are expected to grow in the coming years consistently. There are over two million podcasts and 48 million episodes, which are more than enough to meet the current demand. However, the market for podcast listeners still has plenty of room for growth. Creators can take advantage of this fact and use podcast hosting platforms to create a unique experience for their listeners and be conspicuous.

G2’s Podcast Hosting Platforms category was created in 2018 with only 10 products and has since grown to 54 products in under four years. These products have solved various business challenges for podcasters, including:

Distribution: Podcasters can distribute their episodes to numerous listening apps with a single step using these platforms instead of manually uploading episodes to each application.

A review says:

“The best thing is its distribution; once you post the podcast on Anchor, it automatically distributes it among top podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, and many others.”

Analytics: These platforms analyze traffic and listening activity to give users a better picture of their audience to help adjust their content, frequency of episodes, and marketing efforts.

A review says:

“Their reporting really helped us make key decisions internally, understanding trends per episode release.”

Monetization: Podcast hosting platforms offer subscription-based pricing structures to help creators monetize their podcasts. They may even integrate with advertising platforms so that creators can record audio ads in their voices and include them in their podcasts.

A review says:

“I also love their monetization plan, you can easily earn money by podcasting, and it's up to them to take care of how to monetize your podcast.”

Podcast editing: Many podcast hosting platforms include editing features to help creators edit various parts of their podcasts, including the introduction, outro, length, and transitions.

G2 data shows users are highly satisfied with podcast hosting products 

All products listed in the Podcast Hosting Platforms category have a G2 score calculated using Satisfaction and Market Presence scores. To generate the satisfaction score, reviewers are asked to score products based on six metrics: Meets Requirements, Ease of Use, Ease of Setup, Ease of Admin, Ease of Doing Business With, and Quality of Support. G2 calls these our ‘Simple Six’ metrics. 

The Podcast Hosting Platforms category performs exceptionally well across the board compared to other categories under the Design Software parent category. Five out of the six metrics score an average above 6 out of 7. The quality of support metric has the lowest score, with an average of 5.98 out of 7. Several of these products have launched recently in response to the surge in podcast creation, so vendors may still be ironing out kinks and working to improve their products and customer support. Overall, these products are well received by users who repeatedly mention the value they’ve gained in their reviews.

The growth in the podcast market is far from slowing down. People are busier than ever, and there is more content to consume. This might be why podcasts are becoming increasingly popular. Whether listening to podcasts while taking a scroll, working out, cooking, or driving, audio content fits seamlessly into people’s daily routines.