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Podcast.co: Good hosting, great support

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You can’t make a podcast without a good podcast host, it’s undeniable. Finding the one with the right mix of price, features and customer service is overwhelming. After you read our article about why you need a media host, and our hosting roundup, then you should consider Podcast.co. Not only do they include transcription, audiograms, and unlimited storage, but their customer service is almost as good as having them in the room with you.

Who are Podcast.co?

Podcast.co launched in April of 2019, created as a companion to Radio.co. Their connections to brands,  journalists and universities give Podcast.co a solid business backbone. Radio.co’s commitment to direct relationship to listeners shows in Podcast.co’s direct relationship to consumers.

On my first web site visit, I was chatting with their Customer Success Manager within five minutes. You’ll know exactly who you’re working with.

Pricing

Like most hosting services, Podcast.co offers three price tiers. Rather than measuring growth by uploads or downloads, their tiers show growth as” working with more people.” You can buy in as a monthly fee, or buy a year in advance and get two months free. There are no limits to download numbers, or amount of storage. The tiers are:

  • Power Plan- $29 a month, with one user login
  • Little Network- $49 a month, with three user logins
  • Big Network- $99 a month, with 5 user logins.

All of these tiers let you add more podcast shows for $15 each. Podcast.co also includes:

  • Custom podcast web pages
  • Branded players
  • Automated distribution
  • Audiograms for expressive visual media sharing
  • Private episode sharing

User Interface

Their dashboard walks you through the process of uploading your sound files. Every step has a video explaining how to do it and why. They can submit your podcast to directories for you, a crucial time-saver. If you use Alitu, and have your scripts planned out, you could have a podcast with three short episodes up and running in an hour.

Stats and Downloads

Their analytics show downloads, unique listens (what’s shared with advertisers: the listener, rather than the download), most popular episodes, top locations, and top clients. It seems that they show the top five locations and the top five clients. If you need greater detail than that (i.e., what type of device people are using to listen to your podcast in your eleventh-ranked nation of fans), I’m sure they would help you if you asked. They’re really friendly.

Sharing and Visual Media

Audiograms are a great way to share your audio on visual platforms. Podcast.co works with Headliner to make clips which can be shared easily. The Podcast.co audiograms are a clip from your episode, illuminated with text, that fits neatly into YouTube, Instagram, or other social media.

Transcription is an additional feature. Podcast.co uses Amazon Transcribe: for the user, it only takes four clicks.

If you’re interested in making a podcast, you have met at least one person who doesn’t know how to listen to a podcast, and isn’t interested in using a podcast listening app. Podcast.co makes your podcast even easier to introduce your work to these folks. The podcast website that they offer is a visually engaging, easy-to-read feature that lets you share each episode or series right away.

You can make am embeddable subscribe button for another web site. Or, let’s say you were doing a guest post on someone else’s page, and you wanted to include this in a call to action. It’s eye-catching, and has buttons for up to five of the services in your distribution list.

Podcast.co's embeddable subscribe button

Monetization

If you have more than a certain number of listeners, podcast.co can work with you to secure advertising. If you don’t, you can add buttons to help listeners reach your Patreon, ko-fi or other crowdfunding site.

Customer Support

Podcast.co uses Intercom on its landing page and throughout its website. This feature makes you feel like you have a cheerful, efficient co-worker at your side while you’re working. If you don’t like “cheerful,” this is not your podcast host. You can even communicate with gifs.

Not only do they have a database of helpful tech support articles,  but also, Podcast.co can help you with some of the tricky bits of content. Their music library offers royalty free music for your intros, outros, background, or whatever else your show needs. Their Matchmaker service, “like Tinder for podcasters,” helps connect guests and hosts for interview shows.

The negatives

I wish that the dashboard page had a link to the tech support articles. Clicking on the chat option does provide an option to search for articles right away, but I came of age in the 90s. I like a big fat link that says F.A.Q. or SUPPORT. True, I could just type in the url for the home page, scroll down to “Help Center,” click and search for the information I needed. But a more direct link would be nice.

The podcast web pages are good looking, and they get the user straight to listening. But, you’d need to have a separate website for things like your media kit, transcripts, or additional information. Their web site is less a central hub of information for your brand, and more of a brand asset. This makes the embeddable button with subscription options a big help.

Ultimately, there isn’t much to make me turn up my nose at this media host. For $29, unlimited hosting and downloads are right up there with cherry pie and hot coffee on a cold day.

Summary

Making a podcast is hard work, and sometimes it’s not fun. This host could be the antidote to gloom. If you feel like you’re left out in the cold, Podcast.co offers visual warmth and community-centered options to help you grow your show. Their web site says, at the bottom, “Made with love in Manchester.” Their focus on adding users shows their commitment to sharing voices and personalities.

You might feel like you could use some expert help and support with your podcast. Why not have a look at Podcraft Academy? Our courses, videos, and downloadable resources can help whether you’re a first time creator, or want to improve an existing podcast. Plus, our community forums and live Q&As are great spaces to build skills. Join us!

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