Do you have a podcast idea for your company? Great.
B2B podcasts are a fantastic way to build your brand, expand your reach and establish yourself as a leading voice in the industry.
But before you turn the microphone on, there are a number of important decisions to make. For one, you’ll want to secure an engaging podcast name and brand identity — one that’s close enough to your corporate VBL (so that it’s aesthetically linked), but isn’t so close that it comes across as uninspired.
You also need to decide where you’re going to host your podcast audio files. While this may seem like a minor technical detail, which podcast platform you choose will have big implications for your workflow.
What is podcast hosting, exactly?
A podcast hosting platform is designed to do two things:
- To provide a place on the web where you can upload and store your podcast episodes.
- To generate an RSS feed, ready to submit to directories — e.g. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. — allowing people to subscribe to your show.
More often than not, podcast hosting is a subscription service: you agree to a monthly fee and, in return, you get space to upload your episodes and share them with your audience.
There are a number of extra features differentiating one service from another — which we’ll talk about in more detail later. But in its purest form, a podcast hosting platform acts as a home for your recordings.
On the topic of fees: there are a few free podcast hosting platforms out there. But we don’t recommend using them for your company podcast.
If a service is free, that usually means your data is owned by the platform itself. Primarily, this opens up a privacy risk, but there have also been many cases of free podcast hosting platforms shutting down — taking hard-worked B2B podcasts with them!
So, if you’ve got the capital to invest in a B2B podcast, it’s well worth putting some of that money towards a trustworthy, paid-for hosting platform.
What to look for in a B2B podcast hosting platform
- Price: As with any business expense, you should have a clear idea of budget before you get started — this will govern what options are realistic for you.
- Podcast goals: Who you’re trying to reach? What features might be important for your company? How many episodes will you be uploading each month? These questions will help you decide which hosting platform is best for your B2B podcast.
- Essential capabilities: By and large, every business will need a hosting platform that allows them to upload monthly content, store that content, and be compliant. On top of this, you may consider analytics, web players, scheduling tools, social sharing features, and distribution options ‘essential’ as well. Some hosts offer additional levels of support and can help you with advanced promotional activities. And if your plan is to create content which can be monetized, you should opt for a platform that integrates ad networks to boot.
Our top 6 recommended podcast platforms for businesses
Libsyn – An established player with advanced features
Libsyn is one of the original podcast hosts, having started their hosting service back in 2004 — way before podcasts went mainstream. They serve tens of thousands of happy customers including podcast networks, celebrities and media companies.
The Libsyn hosting site offers a load of super handy features such as easy distribution and detailed audience statistics, so you can analyze what’s working well and what isn’t. There are also options to monetize your audio through premium content subscriptions and opt-in advertising.
Libsyn is also well known for its Enterprise offerings and tailored service. If you are thinking big with your podcast or have quite specific needs, then Libsyn might be the host for you.
Libsyn pricing plans
Libsyn starts at $5/month for 50MB of uploads — just about enough for one podcast. That said, their plans go up to 1500MB of monthly storage, which should be enough for even daily uploaders.
The most popular packages are:
- Classic 50 ($5/month) – Upload 50MB of content per month (approx 50 minutes). You then have to pay extra for basic analytics.
- Classic 250 ($15/month) – Upload 250MB of content per month (approx 4 hours) and get access to basic analytics.
- Advanced 400 ($20/month) – Upload 400MB of content per month (approx 7 hours) and get advanced analytics and tools.
- Advanced 800 ($40/month) – Upload 800MB of content per month (approx 14 hours) and get advanced analytics and tools.
Buzzsprout – Great value and perfect for beginners
Buzzsprout prides itself on simplicity and speed. They make it quick and easy to upload and publish your podcast, and their import tool completes migration in no time at all — perfect if you’re currently using a different platform and want to switch.
Buzzsprout also offers a few unique features, such as the ability to create video highlights. Just choose which section of your show you want to promote, and Buzzsprout creates a video version of that clip which you can share on social media. It’s a nice way to give your audience a taste of each show, and to adopt an omni-channel marketing approach with ease.
They also give the option to add chapter markers inside the podcast player. This gives listeners the ability to jump back and forward easily and listen to a specific part of each show.
Buzzsprout pricing plans
Buzzsprout offers a 90-day free trial so you can familiarize yourself with the host before investing any money. The useful trial offer — and excellent value service overall — makes Buzzsprout our recommended hosting platform for beginners in the podcast game.
- Free – Upload 2 hours of content per month. Episodes are deleted after 90 days.
- $12/month – Upload 3 hours of content per month. Episodes are hosted indefinitely.
- $18/month – Upload 6 hours of content each month. Episodes are hosted indefinitely.
- $24/month – Upload 12 hours of content each month. Episodes are hosted indefinitely.
Podbean – Easy to use with unlimited options
Podcast-makers flock to PodBean for its flexibility, unlimited storage and unmetered bandwidth.
PodBean has been in the hosting space for over 10 years, and they specialize in making podcasting straightforward through limitless hosting, plus distribution/promotion on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Alexa, and all the major apps and directories.
PodBean has a range of brilliant tools to help Podcasters grow and monetize their shows such as their sponsorship marketplace, dynamic ad insertion and premium content service.
Another excellent feature for PodBean users is the free YouTube version of their podcast, which is auto-uploaded to the user’s YouTube channel when publishing. PodBean provides a mobile app, analytics, and automatic posting to social channels, too.
Podbean pricing plans
To get started, PodBean has a free plan where you can upload up to 5 hours of content per month, but only get 100GB of bandwidth. This plan gives you some basic stats, but you’ll need to upgrade for more advanced analytics.
If you like the idea of PodBean, but you’re looking for a more professional setup, then it’s worth considering PodBean Unlimited Plus or Business plans. These plans give you everything you need plus great video features including video support.
- Free Plan – upload 5 hours per month and get 100GB of bandwidth.
- Unlimited Audio ($9/month) – Unlimited storage, unmetered bandwidth and a custom domain.
- Unlimited Plus ($29/month) – Unlimited storage, unmetered bandwidth, a custom domain and video support.
- Business ($99/month) – Unlimited storage, unmetered bandwidth, a custom domain, video support and multiple admin accounts.
Podcast.co – A friendly new company with a stylish interface
Podcast.co launched relatively recently, in April 2019. And its brand has made quite the impression.
As well as automating publishing on all the major podcast platforms, podcast.co includes a number of innovative features: podcast transcription, listener analytics and players that you can embed on your website. Podcast transcription is not only helpful to the deaf and hard of hearing, it also gives those who prefer to read the option to do so.
Podcast.co uses Intercom on its landing page and throughout its website. This feature replicates a cheerful, efficient co-worker — available by your side while you’re working. If you don’t like “cheerful,” this is not your podcast host.
The platform extends this proposition into its support offer; providing a database of helpful tech articles, plus a Matchmaker service — “like Tinder for podcasters” — to connect guests and hosts for interview shows.
Podcast.co pricing plans
You can buy in as a monthly fee, or buy a year in advance and get two months free. The tiers are based on shows per month, user logins and transcription hours per month.
- Starter ($29/month) – 1 Show per month, 1 user login and transcription (2 hrs/month).
- Pro ($49/month) – 20 Shows per month, 20 user logins and transcription (5 hrs/month).
- Business ($99/month) – Unlimited shows, 50 user logins and transcription (10 hrs/month).
Castos – The solution for WordPress users
Castos is the company behind the popular Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin, which you can use to set up Castos hosting on your company site.
Once you install the WordPress plugin, you can upload and publish podcast episodes direct from your website CMS.
Other features include tools for private podcasts and premium content.
Private podcasting is an effective way to monetize your B2B show and/or to engage an existing community. Imagine creating a community-based show, available for a select group of listeners only. Or an internal staff podcast which updates your company’s team every week.
Castos also has a transcription service, generating a podcast transcription to your dashboard within minutes. You can then either copy and paste this transcription into WordPress, or download the PDF and add it to your site.
Castos pricing plans
The Castos plans range from $19 to $99 per month. The higher tier plans allow you to republish to YouTube and get podcast video hosting. If you’re looking for podcast hosting which works well with WordPress, Castos is a good choice.
- Starter ($19/month) – Unlimited podcasting without republishing.
- Growth ($49/month) – Unlimited podcasting with republishing on YouTube.
- Pro ($99/month) – Unlimited podcasting with republishing on YouTube, video file hosting and advanced analytics.
Transistor.fm – Professional service with the best analytics
Last — but by no means least — on our list, Transistor.fm hosts a number of popular podcasts (Drift and Cards Against Humanity to name just two).
Noteworthy features include hosting unlimited shows, managing multiple users per account, generating branded websites for your domain name, podcast distribution, and advanced analytics tools.
Like to get stuck into the metrics of your show performance? Transistor.fm delivers superb analytics, via a user-friendly dashboard. Users can quickly assess downloads per episode, the number of subscribers, and downloads over time.
Keen to record a private episode? This host lets you do that, too.
Transistor.fm pricing plans
Transistor.fm allows you to scale your podcast as your audience grows. Your plan choice will most likely depend on downloads per month, so sign up to a Starter Plan and upgrade as needed.
- Starter ($19/month) – Unlimited podcasts and episodes, up to 2 users, and 10,000 downloads per month.
- Professional ($49/month) – Everything in the starter plan, but now with up to five team members and 50,000 downloads per month.
- Business ($99/month) – All features in the previous plans, but with up to 10 team members and 150,000 downloads per month.
The Tech Qualified podcast provides B2B technology marketers with access to real world case studies and best practices. We interview industry leaders to uncover what is working in the world of B2B technology marketing.
Written by Tristan Pelligrino
Tristan Pelligrino is the Co-Founder of Motion. He’s a serial entrepreneur who started his career as a consultant with large IT companies such as PwC, IBM and Oracle. After getting his MBA, he started and grew one of the fastest video production companies in the country – which was listed on the Inc. 5000. Tristan now enjoys leading the content marketing strategies of some of the most innovative B2B technology companies in the country. You can find him on LinkedIn and Facebook.
