Following Podcasters’ Preferences Can Help Pitch Success

MuckRack’s State of Podcasting Highlights How to Best Pitch in a Booming Industry 

Nowadays, it seems like almost everyone has a podcast. Your boss. Your spouse. Your childhood best friend. Your dentist. They’re everywhere and on every topic imaginable. But it shouldn’t be a surprise since it’s a booming market for people to tap into, from celebrities like Anna Faris, Oprah, and even Joe Rogan, to everyday people who love true crime, sports, history, and unique stories. 

When totaled all together there are more than 2,000,000 podcasts globally, and more than 48 million podcast episodes. 

That’s a lot of podcasts, but there are also a lot of listeners. In the U.S. alone, there are approximately 120 million podcast listeners. That number is expected to top 160 million in 2023. And in terms of financial gains, ad revenue from podcasting is expected to exceed $2 billion in 2023. That’s huge considering advertising only generated $842 million in the U.S. in 2020. 

As the scope of podcasting expands, so do the opportunities for public relations professionals to maximize outreach within the market. To do so effectively, just like when PR pros are pitching traditional media, there are tricks to the trade that should be followed in order to have the best chance of success. 

The how-to of pitching podcasts comes from the podcasters themselves in a recently released report from Muckrack, “The State of Podcasting 2021”. They share quite a bit of overlap with traditional reporters, which is important to know since 83% of podcasters said they receive PR pitches. 

To improve the chances of a pitch succeeding podcasters shared why pitches often fall flat with them: 

• 47% said pitches are rejected due to a “Lack of Personalization” 
• 42% said “Bad Timing” 
• 40% said “Other” reasons, which included lack of relevancy 

Podcasters also said the most preferred method of contact is via personalized email at 91%, which is pretty similar to reporters. But they also said pitches fail due to the channel in which contact is made: 

• 65% said they prefer not to be reached by phone 
• 58% said they don’t want to receive a mass email or newswire pitch 
• 34% said they don’t want to be contacted by Twitter 

If a podcaster is to receive an email pitch, it is also important to keep the email “short and sweet” in terms of length. Overall, 53% of podcasters said they prefer emails that are 200 words or less, while 20% said they prefer pitches that are 100 words or less. 

Lastly, 90% of podcasters also ask for PR pros to be familiar with their shows’ topics and themes (which sounds a lot like reporters asking for relevant pitches to their beats). Within this, 26% of podcasters asked pros to listen to at least one episode, while 46% asked PR pros to listen to multiple episodes. 

Following these tidbits will give your pitch a chance to break through the crowd in a market that will only get bigger in the years to come. 

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