This is a comprehensive checklist for how to launch a podcast on Megaphone. For any questions or trainings, please reach out to our team via Live Chat and we are happy to assist!
Launching and Distributing Your Podcast:
Create Your Podcast/RSS: Use the Create Podcast button on the Podcasts tab to fill out the form to add podcast metadata such as title, description, categories and more. Doing so will create an RSS feed that you'll use to distribute to apps. This article shows you how in more detail.
Customize Your Podcast RSS Feed: Megaphone supports additional customizations to your feed such as feed limits (only X episodes live in feed) and third party measurement prefixes (Spotify Ad Analytics, Podtrac, Chartable/Custom). Set these up prior to distributing your podcast.
Publish an Episode or Trailer: Make sure you have at least one published episode in your feed. Apps such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify require one published episode to submit. Follow the steps in this article for how to publish a trailer or full episode.
Distribute Your Podcast: Because you own full rights to your podcast, Megaphone does not automatically distribute your show to applications. The good news is, there are about 7 applications that will cover your distribution needs. Submit to them using the portals and instructions in this article. To do so, you will need your Megaphone RSS feed which you can find using these instructions.
An additional note on distribution: Acceptance into directories such as Apple can take up to 1 week, so we recommend submitting your podcast 1 week prior to when you want your episodes to be live. Apple does allow you to "hide" and "unhide" your podcast via their Podcast Connect portal, but others do not. Many publishers submit to Apple 1 week in advance, and other apps only 48 hours in advance to prevent a show appearing live before it's desired date.
Once you've completed the four steps above, your show will begin being live on apps for listeners to discover!
Optional: Submit to The Spotify Audience Network
The Spotify Audience Network is an optional source of additional revenue for publishers who use the Megaphone platform. Using behavioral and demographic targeting, the Spotify Audience Network sells unsold inventory for publishers who have been opted in without competing with any house sold campaigns. For every impression delivered on your show, you garner additional revenue to support your podcasting business.
We accept submissions to the Spotify Audience Network on a rolling basis following the process laid out here. Note that acceptance into the Spotify Audience Network is contingent on Megaphone approval and adherence to our Community Guidelines. We then accept and opt in according to our submission calendar.
Optional: Setup and Use the Megaphone Embeddable Player
In addition to distributing through apps such as Apple Podcast or Spotify, publishers can take advantage of the Megaphone Embeddable Player on websites and through social sharing. A few of it's features include:
Single Episode Player (horizontal or vertical)
Subscription Options to help listeners easily subscribe via popular podcast apps
Social Sharing to Twitter and Facebook
Megalink to push listeners to Apple or Google apps based on their operating system