CoHost, a Toronto-based podcasting platform which launched earlier this month, is helping podcasters with one of their biggest challenges—audience growth.
The company combines a suite of powerful tools and features that make it easier for creators to launch, distribute, grow, and measure their podcasts.
The U.S. podcast industry is predicted to become a US$4 billion industry in two years, and in Canada, 1-in-3 claim to have listened to a podcast in the past month, averaging over four hours of listening time per week.
A recent survey from Quill, a Toronto-based production agency specializing in corporate audio, surveyed podcasters about pain points in the industry.
The survey revealed that 91 per cent said growing their audience is one of the hardest things about podcasting. Fifty five per cent of audio creators struggle with understanding how new listeners are finding their podcast and 82 per cent said getting discovered by new listeners is one of the most challenging aspects of podcasting.
Additionally, 76 per cent of podcasters currently monetize or have plans to monetize their podcasts, and 48 per cent of those are relying on sponsorships to do so.
To help solve some of these challenges, CoHost’s tools include:
- One-click publishing to distribute the show to all major listening apps
- Robust analytics to better understand a podcast’s performance and audience
- Custom campaign links to track, analyze and optimize marketing tactics
- Automatic transcriptions for accessibility and improved search visibility
- Personalized podcast websites to help drive traffic, engagement, and downloads
CoHost was created by Quill Podcasting, which works with companies like PwC, Expedia, Amdocs, SickKids Hospital, and TD, helping those companies with their podcast journey. Quill focuses on producing high quality audio and strategic podcast marketing tactics.
“Over the past three years our team has launched and scaled hundreds of professional podcasts, and we realized that a lot of fantastic podcasters simply lack the experience and tools to grow and scale their podcasts. They’re fed up with wasting time logging into multiple tools and platforms to access siloed and confusing data,” said Fatima Zaidi, chief executive officer and founder of CoHost and Quill Podcasting Agency. “That’s why we built CoHost, the place that smart podcasters go to find reliable analytics and insights about their shows and audiences.”