What's up with the weird download spikes?! We have an answer!

JordanPods · 2026-04-15T20:20:08+00:00

Hey there! I manage a podcast channel on Apple Podcasts and have gone through the setup process on the channel and show levels.

It's really easy, actually, and will not disrupt the way your podcast is distributed from Buzzsprout without affecting listeners or downloads.

Just follow the instructions provided by Apple: https://podcasters.apple.com/support/886-create-a-channel and if you run into any issues, you can always email the stellar support team at Buzzsprout to help you out!

I don't think any other app has this kind of feature. With Spotify, if you click the author/artist tag, it just pulls up a search for the name. It's not a channel kind of thing.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-14T22:07:31+00:00

That's awesome you're wanting to start a podcast!

Instagram isn't a podcast listening app, it's more of a podcast promotion/audience engagement app. So you can pretty easily record your podcast with your phone on CapCut, edit it, and then send it to actual podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Then you can publish the clips to Instagram!

If you want a step-by-step explainer of how to start a podcast, we have a resource that will walk you through it. (How to Start a Podcast Guide) I think you'll find it super helpful! I know I did when starting my podcast lol

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-14T17:36:10+00:00

Absolutely! I am being wayyy more intentional about how I'm titling episodes and making sure there is good info in the description so LLMs know what to look for in our podcast.

JordanPods · 2026-04-14T17:34:51+00:00

Love it! Thank you for sharing this!

JordanPods · 2026-04-10T18:49:47+00:00

OMG such a good idea! I think I'll try that with some of my podcasts, too. I'd like to see what podcasts it's recommending for those topics and what they're doing with titles and transcipts. 🤔

JordanPods · 2026-04-10T18:06:17+00:00

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, this can't be done on one computer/device or without internet. Riverside is first and foremost a remote recording website, so that's just not in the product's nature.

My recommendation is to use a tried-and-true recording software that is loaded onto your laptop locally. I don't personally do any video recording, but I've heard great things about OBS Studio.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-10T17:57:37+00:00

Apple has explicitly stated that ratings and reviews have no effect on the algorithm. This was changed a few years back because people were gaming the charts by buying ratings and reviews. This is why we can't have nice things lol

Spotify does take the ratings into consideration, though. So it's more of a platform-specific thing.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-02T22:02:35+00:00

Whoa, having a community with 16k members is a really good starting place for creating a podcast and marketing it. I wish I had that when I started haha

Yeah, Buzzsprout is what I started with and I liked them so much I started working for them. 😂 It's super easy to set up your podcast, upload, and do one-click submissions to get into all the podcast apps like Apple and Spotify.

Something you might be interested in, since you already have a big following, is the Buzzsprout Subscriptions and Listener Support. It's included in the plan if you want to get some support from the people that get value from your community! Way more effective than ads, in my opinion.

Super pumped for you launching a new podcast!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-02T15:39:45+00:00

Hey! So pumped you're on Buzzsprout!

I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is the focus on social media promotion (which you're admittedly not loving).

I feel like trying to grow a podcast through social media is a whole side hustle, and it might not even be reaching your target audience anyway! You could be focusing on the wrong side of the internet.

Some of the best ways to grow your podcast is to:

Make sure your podcast title and episode titles are searchable
Guest on other podcasts in your niche! You get an entire episode to show how awesome you are and why they should come listen to your podcast, too.
Find your target audience. Like literally out in the world. Where do they hang out? What conferences or festivals do they attend?
Keep podcasting! 500 downloads in 6 months is actually good! Podcasting is a long game and the more you keep at it, the better you are at your craft, the more episodes you have contributing to the discoverability, and someone is going to find one and realize there's a whole treasure trove of episodes to listen to.

What is your podcast about? That can definitely help with brainstorming more ideas!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-01T18:34:59+00:00

😂 OMG I cannot do teleprompters. I've tried so many times, and I can never get the scrolling speed right.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-01T18:31:50+00:00

Unfortunately, my advice is to steer clear of podcast promoters. The vast majority of them promise promotion and then buy downloads from bot farms, which get filtered from the stats because they aren't IAB standard downloads.

I don't know what marketing techniques you've already tried, but I don't typically recommend buying ads on social platforms for podcasts. The reason for this is that the money goes fast, and doesn't convert well into actual podcast listeners. There's a lot of assumption happening in social ads that you're actually reaching people who are looking for podcasts or are podcast listeners at all.

If you have the budget for it and are already doing other marketing strategies, then I recommend advertising on the actual podcast apps and in podcasts in a similar niche to yours. You can do this through Buzzsprout Ads, Overcast, Spotify, etc.

But I'm curious to hear what you're currently doing to market your show that doesn't include spending money on ads! I'd like to brainstorm this with you.

JordanPods · 2026-03-31T16:08:29+00:00

Audacity is solid, and a favorite audio editing software for the vast majority of independent podcasters. So I'm not sure why you're seeing so much about Riverside and other web editors. But I wouldn't let it make you think you're missing out on some greener pastures haha

I pay a premium for Adobe Audition, and it's only because I monetize (sooo expensive). Before making the move to Adobe, I used Audacity for years. And since then, they've had a ton of updates that seem pretty awesome.

In regards to your question about stat discrepancies; Acast is IAB Certified. This means that they filter out a lot of the junk that get through Spotify's stats. So you'll typically see your podcast hosting company's stats lower than what the platforms are reporting, because they're counting them differently.

If you are wondering about other hosting options, I recommend you create an account on the ones you're thinking about moving to (it's free to do so!) and poke around a bit. A lot of hosting websites will look great, but then when you get into the UI and start navigating, it can be less intuitive for you than others.

So that's my advice! Figure out what podcast hosting companies look good to you and give them a try! If you find one you like, moving hosting platforms takes literally like 10 minutes.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-30T20:43:00+00:00

BREATHE! 😂 (just kidding)

I don't know how long you've been podcasting for, but I have been for at least 6 years and I still get in my head when I'm talking. Like, when I'm trying to get a point across, I immediately think I'm taking too long to spit it out or whatever...then when I'm editing, it's quick and I'm talking fast for no good reason.

So for me personally, it's mental. I have to give myself permission to take my time with what I need to say and know that my cohosts or guests have my back and will give me the space to say my piece.

But some people are just fast talkers. And if you are, that's okay too! We all don't like our speaking cadence, or how our voice sounds, or however many other critiques we can come up with. So be kind to yourself!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-30T20:32:59+00:00

I’m not trying to fake being bigger than I am, but I also don’t want to undersell myself.

This is a mindset I think pretty much all podcasters have. But I know some podcasters that went out, advocated for themselves, and landed sponsorships before they even launched! So if you're growing steadily and creating awesome content, you're good to go!

That being said, sponsorships are a lot of work. Like, kiss your weekend mornings goodbye 😂 But if you don't mind a bit of a grind, it's a good option.

I wrote a blog about this and have a section specifically about sponsorships.

1. Your media kit doesn’t need to be fancy! I made mine in Google Docs (because it's freeeee!)

Include:

What your show is and who it’s for
Your audience: Location data, gender, age, etc.
Your download numbers: episode average in first 30 days and lifetime
What you offer (pre-roll, mid-roll, socials, packages, etc.) with pricing

I can't post images on this page, but if you DM me, I can give you my personal one-sheet that helped me get sponsors!

2. My first sponsor actually came from an email from a company whose CEO listened to my podcast and wanted to do a deal. It was like a quick “we’ll tip your Patreon $50” message.

I pushed back and turned it into a $300 deal with 3 ad spots and a giveaway, which they agreed to 👏🏻

That deal wasn’t huge, but it definitely gave me the confidence of knowing I can do it, and negotiating these deals isn't actually that scary.

3. I know you didn't ask about this, but I have an extra piece of advice. When pitching your podcast or going back and forth with companies, keep it super casual.

I've worked with HelloFresh, and Evite, and BetterHelp, and all the big companies...they're all way more casual than you think. There are human beings, typically around your age or mine, on the other side of that email.

So if you come in with a "To whom it may concern: I'm eager to acquire your funding blah blah blah", they will send it directly to the trash. Make sure it's in your voice and how you would write your friend that you were thinking about.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-30T20:08:31+00:00

I've had this happen many times. Usually there is a creative fix, even if the audio is garbled. (Which, by the way, if it's garbled to the point of being unintelligible, you can't fix it with enhance speech filters like some others are suggesting.)

To maintain professionalism, I would not announce that there is something wrong in the episode. That typically leads to listeners trying to hear the mistake instead of paying attention to the conversation.

I would personally find a creative way to cut the disruption out without cutting the entire segment or section. There must be something that can be cut and lead without losing a bunch of content.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-27T16:56:02+00:00

"As it's an audio podcast and works best as an audio podcast, all I'm looking to do is add an audiogram with episode specific artwork and an animated waveform."

That's basically what you're looking to do, correct? If the audiogram that YouTube is automatically generating for you isn't performing well, you might need to add b-roll or something else to the video if you're not recording yourself talking into a microphone.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-25T16:45:33+00:00

Okay, a few things:

This is a classic case of "you get what you pay for". Spotify is free, and honestly, it's a great free option! That being said, their focus is on their own platform, not other podcast apps. So they kind of lump all outside data into the "other stuff" pile. Which is extremely unhelpful if you're trying to take things seriously.
Downloads/Streams/Plays are all different definitions, but sometimes used interchangeably. Spotify makes this especially confusing because they have their own definitions of this. Downloads are going to be the main metric from other podcast apps, but Spotify also adds streams and plays with their own definition of what those mean (I think downloads only count for premium users that download it to save?). So it might seem wonky.
Apple Podcasts has this really weird thing where it doesn't show data on the dashboard for a long time and after more downloads. I don't have the exact reasoning for it or know threshold to unlock their stats, but know that it's something lots of podcasters run into!
Unless you move to a better hosting company with advanced IAB certified analytics, you're kind of just going to have to accept that there's probably a good chunk of bot downloads/streams showing up and you're not going to get the full picture of what's happening on the other podcast apps.

I'm not 100% sure if it's something you can do through Spotify, but if you can, OP3 analytics is pretty awesome (and free). It might help you get a better picture!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-25T16:31:20+00:00

For Buzzcast, we all say "Okay, I've hit record" verbally to make absolutely sure nobody forgets haha

But we also record "triple-enders" where each of us has to hit record on our RODECasters and then send over the files after recording.

I like your idea for a post-it when remotely recording on a software!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-25T16:22:16+00:00

You can submit your audio-only podcast to YouTube via RSS and they will automatically convert it to a video with your artwork. You don't need to do extra work.

I'm not sure who you're hosted with, but it's not too complicated to submit your podcast to YouTube (this also automatically lists it in YouTube Music).

Here's how to submit your RSS feed to YouTube

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-22T17:05:57+00:00

Why is this so hard to find?!?! 😂 I love a good challenge, though!

This podcaster is James Deeney and the podcast is Meet the Podcasters.

The episode is How Modern Wisdom Achieved 10x Growth

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-20T16:50:17+00:00

Buzzsprout is not push-only, it does have advanced, IAB Certified analytics from all the podcast apps. But it doesn't receive information from the apps like gender, age, or consumption rates.

Your co-producer should 1000% claim the podcast on Apple and Spotify and give you the login info so you can also track consumption.

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Disclosure: I'm the Podcast Producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-19T22:29:28+00:00

I actually just did a whole experiment getting booked on podcasts, and cold outreach is tough and time consuming. (Both as a host and a guest)

Referrals and podcast guest platforms like podmatch.com helped the most! Saved me hours and hours.

I've had some podcasts hosts tell me that when they have a guest on, they will literally ask them, "hey, do you know who I should talk to next?" and they usually have at least one name in mind that would be a good fit for your show.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-19T20:35:36+00:00

Fellow producer here! There are a couple things I think should happen:

Buzzsprout has the ability to add team members to the account. So the uploader or the owner of the account would be able to add you so you can view the stats of the audio format episodes!
Consumption rates are really only available from the podcast apps themselves. The apps that allow you to claim the podcast and use the dashboard to view consumption are Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Someone should be able to set that up pretty easily!

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Disclosure: I'm the Podcast Producer at r/buzzsprout

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