Do podcast directories bring listeners? We checked.
Submitting your podcast to "50+ directories" is one of the first things every launch checklist tells you to do. So we looked at where listeners actually come from for the shows we work with.
The short version
Three listings matter: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Together they account for the overwhelming majority of listening. Everything else combined rarely reaches 5% of downloads, and most of that is Amazon, Overcast and Pocket Casts pulling from the same feed automatically.
Third-party directory websites, the ones that list shows with ratings and categories, send almost nothing. People don't browse them. They're built to sell services to podcasters, not to help listeners find shows.
Where discovery actually happens
Ask a hundred listeners how they found their newest podcast and you get the same four answers:
- Someone told them (a friend, or a host they already listen to)
- They saw a clip on social media
- They searched for a topic and found an episode
- The app recommended it (which mostly rewards shows that are already growing)
Notice that a directory listing enables none of those. It's a phone book entry. Nobody reads the phone book for fun.
What to do instead
Get on the big three, then put your effort into the channels that create discovery: guest appearances, clips built around a clear question, and written answers that rank on Google.
The search channel is the one most shows leave empty. Every episode answers questions people are searching for right now, and none of those searches reach your audio. Writing the answer down, crediting the episode, and linking to the show is how a stranger with a question becomes a subscriber. That's what PodAnswer does for shows on the network.
One caveat
A listing on PodAnswer is a directory listing too, and on its own it won't do much. The listing is free because the value isn't the listing. It's the articles built from your episodes and the readers Google sends to them.