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Guides for both sides of the mic

Practical, no-fluff playbooks for getting booked as a guest and booking great guests - from the team building Let's Make A Podcast.

What it costs

Fees, rates and who pays whom, with our own measured figures where we have them.

Studio headphones resting over a broadcast microphone in a dark recording room

For hosts · 9 min read

Podcast Sponsorship Rates

Current CPM benchmarks, worked campaign costs, and a practical rate-card formula for hosts and advertisers.

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A vintage broadcast microphone in front of warm out-of-focus lights

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

Do Podcast Guests Get Paid?

Why the norm is $0 in both directions, the few cases where money does change hands, and what a guest spot is actually worth.

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A person at a desk works out a budget on a calculator beside a notebook and coffee

For guests · 8 min read

How Much Does It Cost to Be a Podcast Guest?

Getting booked can cost nothing but time. The honest price of every path, from free DIY outreach to paid databases and agency retainers, and the research cost almost nobody counts.

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A person working out a figure on a blue desk calculator beside a keyboard and a mug of coffee

For guests · 7 min read

How Much Does a Podcast Booking Agency Cost?

Nobody in the done-for-you category publishes one: 6 of 8 named services publish a price and the 2 booking agencies publish none. So we priced the work instead, down to the 78 shows worth pitching.

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An open monthly planner lying on a wooden desk with the month's squares still empty

For hosts · 8 min read

How Much Does It Cost to Find Podcast Guests?

The host's side of the money question, priced per booking rather than per month. 2377 guest chairs a year across 290 live shows, and a median of 21 for the shows that fill any.

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A close-up of a sound mixing console, its channel faders set at different levels

For hosts · 8 min read

How Much Do Podcasts Make?

The third number in the earnings equation, and the only public one: 290 live shows publish a median of 52 episodes a year, which is how many ad slots exist to sell.

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A studio audio mixing desk photographed close up, faders and knobs lit in green

For hosts · 8 min read

How Much Does Podcast Hosting Cost?

Six hosts, read off their own pricing pages on one day. Two of them will host a show for nothing, the free tiers have conditions worth reading, and every paid plan costs less than one sponsored slot.

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A red neon ON AIR sign glowing on a dark studio wall

For hosts · 8 min read

Podcast Hosting Ad Programs: What Each Host Pays You

Which hosts publish the podcaster's share of ad revenue, who can join each program, what advertisers pay on the other side, and what a small show actually earns.

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Platforms, agencies and tools

How the booking platforms, matchmaking services and agencies in this market compare.

Rows of amber-lit channel meters on a professional studio mixing console

For guests · 9 min read

Podcast Booking Agencies: Costs & When They're Worth It

What booking agencies actually do, the retainers they really charge, the pay-to-play red flags, and how to decide between an agency, DIY, and the tools in between.

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Sunlit knobs on a vintage audio mixer, up close

For hosts & guests · 9 min read

Best Podcast Guest Booking Platforms

An honest map of every way to book guests: matching marketplaces, databases, agencies, and direct outreach, with the real pros, cons, and costs.

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A podcast creator researches a show on a laptop beside a studio microphone

For guests · 8 min read

Best Podcast Pitch Tools

Compare finders, research databases, generators, graders, and outreach trackers by the bottleneck each one actually solves.

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A podcast host and guest review their conversation together at a studio laptop

For hosts & guests · 8 min read

Best Podcast Matchmaking Services

Compare marketplaces, directories, communities, and done-for-you booking services by fit, effort, control, and cost.

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Four broadcast microphones lined up side by side on a table

For hosts & guests · 8 min read

PodMatch Alternatives

Marketplaces, databases, agencies, or your own outreach: compare the alternatives by the trade-off each one asks you to make, not by the logo.

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An empty podcast studio with a boom microphone on each side of a long table under two softbox lights

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

MatchMaker.fm Alternatives

Metered starts, a big pool to search yourself, or no time to pitch at all: the alternatives to MatchMaker.fm, matched to the reason you are leaving.

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Two microphones set up side by side on a table for a panel discussion

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

PodMatch vs MatchMaker.fm

One pushes matches at you, the other hands you a pool to search, and they are priced accordingly. Both on their own published terms, plus the 253 podcasts we measured that you can reach without either subscription.

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A hand pulling a record card out of an open wooden library catalogue drawer

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

Podchaser vs Listen Notes

One indexes who has guested where, the other indexes what was said in every episode. Both on their own published terms, plus the 95 shows in our feed read that a database would still hand you after they went quiet.

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A row of ticket-gate turnstiles in a station entrance, lit in orange and green

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

Do Podcast Matching Services Actually Work?

They sell searching, ranking and booking admin, not access: 253 of the podcast feeds we read publish a contact route anyone can use free. What a subscription can and cannot buy, and the 5 platforms you can look inside before paying.

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Choosing which shows to pitch

Which podcasts are worth a pitch, cut from our own directory of real shows.

Two people seated across from each other mid-conversation in a recording room

For guests · 7 min read

Podcasts Looking for Guests

Nobody can tell you which shows want a guest today. We can tell you which ones publish proof they book them, named show by named show, from 385 feeds we read.

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A wall of wooden card-catalogue drawers, each one hand-labelled

For guests · 6 min read

How Many Podcasts Should You Pitch?

Nobody can honestly quote you a reply rate. We qualified 408 real shows check by check: 78 survived all four, which is what should size your list.

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A shelf packed with dozens of vintage radios of every size, side by side

For guests · 6 min read

Should You Pitch Small Podcasts?

Everyone says start small. We split 385 real feeds by size: only 34% of the smallest had published within six months, against 96% of the biggest.

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Two presenters talking across a mixing desk in a professional radio studio

For guests · 6 min read

Should You Pitch Podcasts on a Network?

A network means a booking desk in the way. Across 385 feeds, 21% of network shows and 20% of independents passed the same three checks, for opposite reasons.

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A wall covered in dozens of clocks, every one of them showing a different time

For guests · 6 min read

Should You Pitch Weekly Podcasts?

A weekly show fills a slot every week, so surely it wants guests more. Across 384 feeds the guest-evidence rate barely moved with pace: 19% at the fastest, 31% at the slowest.

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A vintage reel-to-reel tape recorder with a spool of tape on the deck

For guests · 6 min read

Should You Pitch Short Podcasts?

Nobody screens a show list on episode length. Across 382 feeds it separated them better than size or schedule: 10% of shows under 20 minutes publish guest evidence, against 37% above it.

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Rows of vinyl records filed upright in labelled bins in a record shop

For guests · 6 min read

Which Podcast Niches Actually Book Guests?

Pick a guest-friendly topic and the rest gets easier. Across 17 topics, the one whose shows advertise guests most (58%) is also one of the likeliest to have stopped publishing.

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A stack of paperback books on a wooden shelf beside a speaker

For authors · 6 min read

Podcasts That Interview Authors

The 43 shows whose own notes introduced an author in their newest episodes, grouped by topic, each with the episode that proves it.

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Rows of records in a store, each section marked with a hand-written divider card

For hosts & guests · 8 min read

Podcast Niches

Every list of podcast niches is a brainstorm. We read 385 feeds across 17 of them and measured how many shows had quit and how many book guests.

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Rows of wooden card catalog drawers, each with a small metal label holder

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

Podcast Categories

All 19 Apple Podcasts categories and 91 subcategories, and what 368 real feeds do with them: how many they pick and which one Apple files them under.

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For guests · 6 min read

Should You Pitch Podcasts That Link to Their Guests?

The shortlist you built is still publishing, reachable and visibly booking guests. We checked whether it also links: 77% of its guest episodes link out, against 78% of everyone else's. The checks predict nothing here.

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A close-up of a recording studio mixing board with rows of faders and dials

For hosts & guests · 9 min read

Podcast Guest Statistics

Every figure we have measured about podcast guest booking in one place: 385 feeds read, 31% publishing visible guest evidence, and the denominator and read date under each one.

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Sizing up one show

The checks worth running on a single named show before you spend a pitch on it.

A single black chair against a white wall with a wireless microphone lying on the seat

For guests · 6 min read

How Often Do Podcasts Actually Have Guests?

A list of thirty shows reads as thirty chances. Across 290 feeds we read that were still publishing, we can see about 2377 guest seats a year, and ten shows hold 47% of them.

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A magnifying glass resting on a page of small printed text

For guests · 6 min read

Does This Podcast Interview Guests?

The blurb and the episode titles are the two ways to check, and they barely agree. 76 shows say they interview guests, 56 credit one in a recent title, 12 do both.

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An empty radio studio, two microphones facing each other across the desk with nobody there

For guests · 6 min read

Is This Podcast Still Active?

A quarter of the shows worth pitching have quietly stopped publishing, and your research will hand you those first. 95 of 385 feeds we read had gone six months silent.

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An empty armchair beside a microphone on a stand, lit by candles in a quiet room

For guests · 7 min read

Should You Accept a Podcast Invitation?

An invitation is the one booking you did no research for. 25% of the feeds we read had gone quiet and 69% publish nothing a guest can check. Five checks, four minutes.

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Rows of identical white archive boxes filling wooden shelves, receding out of frame

For guests · 6 min read

How Many Episodes Should You Check Before Pitching?

Everyone opens the feed, reads the first screen and decides. We read 379 feeds twice on one day: a 5-episode scan misses 55.4% of the shows that visibly book guests.

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A podcast host in headphones working at a laptop in a home studio

For hosts · 8 min read

How to Vet a Podcast Guest

Every guide says check their past appearances. We measured it: a glance at a show's recent episodes surfaces its guest bookings 46.1% of the time.

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Writing and sending the pitch

The outreach itself: who to send it to, what goes in it, and how to send it.

A podcast guest wearing headphones gestures while speaking into a broadcast microphone mid-interview

For guests · 8 min read

How to Get Booked as a Podcast Guest

Build a one-sheet hosts say yes to, find the right shows, write pitches that land, and become the guest hosts refer.

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A podcast recording setup on a desk: a microphone on a stand beside an open laptop and a camera

For guests · 7 min read

How to Contact a Podcast Host

Every other guide lists the routes you could try, in an order somebody guessed. We read 385 feeds and measured which one shows actually publish.

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A typewriter, notepad, and crumpled paper drafts on a desk while a pitch gets written

For guests · 7 min read

Podcast Guest Pitch Template

Copy-paste pitch templates that get you booked: a cold pitch, a warm intro, and a follow-up, plus subject lines that get opened.

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A pair of black earbuds resting on the open pages of a paperback book on a dark desk

For guests · 8 min read

How to Plan a Podcast Book Tour

When authors should start pitching podcasts, which shows to pick, a pitch and follow-up to copy, and how to talk about the book on air.

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A weathered brass apartment intercom panel with rows of unlabelled buttons

For guests · 6 min read

Why You Can't Find a Podcast Host's Email

A missing address is usually a fact about the show's publishing software, not about the host. Across 384 feeds matched to the platform that built them, the no-door rate runs 0% to 65.2%.

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The interview itself

Preparing for the conversation, running it well, and the one-sheet hosts ask for.

A guest with headphones reviews notes on a laptop while set up at a podcast microphone

For guests · 8 min read

How to Prepare for a Podcast Interview

The complete guest checklist: research the show, shape your stories, set up clean audio, and turn the episode into real results.

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A neatly printed stack of one-page media kits on a marble desk

For guests · 8 min read

The Podcast Guest One-Sheet

What to put on your guest media kit, a copy-paste template to fill in, and the details that get you invited instead of skipped.

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An open handwritten notebook, two pens and headphones on a wooden desk beside a desktop microphone

For guests · 7 min read

How to Write a Podcast Guest Bio

Three bio lengths every guest needs, six fill-in templates, two before-and-after rewrites, and how to end with one link a listener can remember.

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A host and guest share a laugh mid-conversation in a dimly lit podcast studio

For hosts · 9 min read

Questions to Ask a Podcast Guest

A copy-paste bank of 50+ interview questions, how to structure the conversation, and the questions that quietly kill an episode.

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A podcast host at a studio microphone talks across the desk to a guest in headphones

For hosts · 7 min read

How to Introduce a Podcast Guest

Five copy-paste intro templates, the three-part structure that works on air, what to ask the guest before you record, and the written introduction most shows skip.

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A small recording booth lined with acoustic foam, with a microphone on a stand, a tablet and headphones on the desk

For hosts · 7 min read

Podcast Guest Questionnaire

The pre-interview questions to send a guest after the yes: a short email version, a full intake form, a recording setup check and a call agenda.

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Three podcast microphones on boom arms above a white table, with two pairs of headphones resting on it

For hosts · 7 min read

Podcast Interview Template

How to structure a podcast interview: a run of show to copy, minute splits for three episode lengths, and the prep, pre-record and closing scripts.

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After the episode

Getting the episode, and the show it ran on, heard once it is published.

A podcaster films a short promo clip on a phone while recording with a guest in the studio

For guests · 8 min read

How to Promote Your Podcast Guest Appearance

The post-interview playbook: grab your assets, work launch day, repurpose one episode into weeks of content, capture the backlink, and earn your next booking.

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A microphone on stage in front of a warmly lit audience

For hosts · 9 min read

How to Promote a Podcast

A practical growth system for hosts: sharpen the promise, package each episode, borrow guest reach, build search demand, and measure what actually grows the show.

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A white card lettered "thanks!" in black brush script beside a pen on a dark wooden table

For hosts & guests · 7 min read

Podcast Guest Thank-You Email

The emails after the recording, for both sides: the guest's thank-you, the host's next steps, the episode-is-live email with a share kit, and the two harder ones.

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An open notebook and pen in front of a laptop, a mug and a small vase of flowers on a wooden table

For hosts · 7 min read

Podcast Show Notes Template

What podcast show notes should include, templates for interview and solo episodes, and the guest credit block most shows leave out.

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A phone resting beside a pocket notebook and pen on a pale wooden desk

For guests · 7 min read

Do Podcasts Link to Their Guests?

The show-notes backlink is the second prize every guesting page sells. We read the notes of 14144 episodes across 383 shows: a guest episode carries 0.72 more outbound links than the same show's own, and for the median show it is 0.05.

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A loose stack of printed pages covered in dense typed text

For guests · 6 min read

Do Podcasts Publish Transcripts?

A transcript is the one part of a guest appearance a search engine can read. 71 of 384 feeds publish one a machine can find, and the rate runs 60 points from the top publishing platform to zero. It is barely a property of the show.

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For hosts: booking guests

The host's side of the same table: sourcing, inviting and booking the guests you want.

A man and a woman seated in chairs facing each other in a filming studio, waiting to record

For hosts · 7 min read

How to Get Guests to Pitch Your Podcast

Guests screen shows before they write, using only what your feed publishes. We ran that screen across 408 shows: 78 survive it, and the last check removes 175 on its own.

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A host interviews a guest across the table in a podcast studio lit by softbox lights

For hosts · 9 min read

How to Find Great Guests for Your Podcast

Source relevant guests, vet for audience fit, invite and schedule without the back-and-forth, and keep your pipeline full.

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Two people in conversation across a table, one listening as the other speaks

For hosts · 9 min read

How to Book Podcast Guests

The booking loop that keeps a recording calendar full: build a target list, vet for audience fit, invite well, and schedule in one reply.

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A person seated at a wooden table writing an email on a laptop

For hosts · 9 min read

The Podcast Guest Outreach Email

Copy-paste invitation, warm intro, and follow-up emails, plus the subject lines and the six lines that get invitations ignored.

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A podcast guest wearing headphones explains a point with his hands while speaking into a studio microphone

For hosts · 9 min read

How to Get Better Podcast Guests

Define the conversation your audience needs, find people with first-hand stories, vet how they communicate, and make stronger guests want to say yes.

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Black over-ear headphones beside an open silver laptop on a dark wooden desk

For hosts · 6 min read

Podcast Guest Confirmation Email

The emails that take a booked guest from yes to recording: what a confirmation should include, the day-before reminder, the reschedule note and the no-show follow-up.

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A person in a light blue shirt signing a sheet of paper with a pen at a dark wooden desk

For hosts · 7 min read

Podcast Guest Release Form

What a guest release should cover, a plain-English template to copy, the email that gets it signed and the consent line to say when the recording starts.

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A condenser microphone on a stand beside an open laptop on a plain desk

For hosts · 7 min read

Is Your Podcast Too Small to Book Guests?

Every new host assumes the answer is yes. We split real podcast feeds by how much each has published: the share showing they book guests moves 2 points end to end.

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Starting a show

Making a podcast in the first place, for anyone not on either side of the mic yet.

A creator works at a home podcast setup with a boom-mounted microphone and pop filter

For hosts · 9 min read

How to Start an Interview Podcast

From a focused concept to your first published episode: format, gear, recording, and lining up your first guests before you hit record.

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Two microphones beside phones showing a podcast episode being edited

For hosts · 11 min read

How to Make a Podcast

Idea to published episode: concept, format, the smallest setup that sounds good, recording, a light edit, the feed, and the guest pipeline that decides whether the show survives.

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Two friends laughing side by side at a wooden table in front of a brick wall

For hosts · 8 min read

Podcast Co-Host Agreement

Who owns the show and the feed, how money and costs are split, and what happens if a co-host leaves, with a plain-English template and the email that starts the conversation.

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