Have you ever needed to begin a podcast, however you are confused to decide among the platforms out there? Recently, podcasting has emerged as a trend, with India being the third largest podcast listening market in the world! And with monetizing a podcast becoming possible, it presents some exciting opportunities for us as content creators. 

As a creator, the primary question is: where to begin? Creating a podcast can have mutiple benefits like facilitating the sharing of concepts to grow your business, connecting with folks of comparable interest, or just merely as your hobby. Selecting the correct platform, though, is crucial to get the right audience.

In recent times, India has been witnessing an uncommon boom in podcasting, which is well supported by smartphone users in conjunction with unlimited mobile data usage, and the demand for on-the-go content.

The best platforms out there

Deciding on a podcasting platform is a complete process from ideation to release. The host you choose plays an important role.

Some of the major platforms are:

  • Google podcast
  • Apple Podcast
  • Stitcher
  • Anchor
  • Hub hopper
  • Pod bean
  • Podcast
  • Cast box
  • Khabri
  • Sound cloud
  • Kukufm
  • Headphone
  • Aawaz
  • Suno India, etc.

How to select a podcasting platform among all available

A good platform will get you better results and maximum reach. Podcasting platforms provide listening directories for additional reach to gain more audience. For example, a podcast hosted on Anchor can get traffic from Apple podcast, Spotify, and Google podcasts as well.

The main factors to look for in any podcast platform are:

  • Managing RSS feed
  • Storage
  • Ease of use
  • A central webpage
  • Features available
  • Network options
  • Directories
  • Monetization
  • Pricing
  • Demography of listeners
  • Engagement factor
  • Traffic along with analytics

Podcasting platforms and their advantages

The podcast market is rapidly getting noticed and finding the correct one may be a huge call to make. There are several hosting platforms giving varied options:

Anchor: Free, widely used, and is easy to use.

Hubhopper: Claims to own the simplest free audio content, and features a big selection of local native shows “by Indians, for Indians” in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada along with English.

Khabri: India’s initial and fastest-growing digital audio platform providing content within the regional language, particularly Hindi.

Podbean: User-friendly, with an added feature to play podcasts by embedding into WordPress posts.

Buzzsprout: Connects on any device, and easy to use with designer dashboards.

Spotify: It’s widely heard and features Indian podcasts that are in high demand on Spotify. The favoured genres vary from lifestyle, education, arts, and entertainment.

JioSaavn: A good place for comedy, movies & television, and storytelling.

IVM: Specialises in regional language podcasters and listeners.

Suno India: Calls itself a “multilingual and multi-generational podcast platform.” It focuses on problems that matter.

Aawaz.com: One of all India’s initial audio-on-demand platforms. It has more than 300 hours of audio programming in Hindi. Which incorporates health and wellbeing shows, devotional chants and bhajans, historical and mythological stories, celebrity interviews, comedy, and more.

Headfone: Focusses on vernacular podcasts, talk shows, short stories, and alternative styles of audio content.

With numerous decisions at hand, it’s challenging for first-time podcasters to choose the right platform. Instead of trying to be everywhere, try to find one that fits your needs better. For example, it's better to put your regional content podcast on a platform where the listeners are looking for it, rather than putting it where it may get lost in the volume of podcasts available.

PS: If you're looking for more podcast-related resources, check here.

Happy Podcasting!