When you want to build an audience for your podcast, YouTube is a great place to find new listeners.
YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. It is a media search engine which means people expect to hear and see results such as an instant sample of your podcast. You can’t do that on any other search engine.
YouTube is also becoming more podcast friendly. They recently hired a Director of Podcasting, have plans to ingest podcast RSS feeds directly and may change their settings to allow audio to play when the screen is off.
The audience is there too. According to the Edison Super Listeners survey, 19% of people find new podcasts through YouTube.
How Do You Use Youtube As An Effective Tool For Podcast Discovery?
You start with a companion YouTube channel for your podcast. This will allow you to post highlight clips or full episodes of your podcast and build up over time to make a great collection of content.
Video is short-form content so we recommend using short highlight clips and animating them using audiogram software like Headliner or basic video editing software like iMovie. Full-length episodes work well with just your podcast logo because people will be listening not watching.
Make sure that you have a clear call to action in the video and use text in the description below to give the audience information on your podcast’s web page or website so they can add it to their podcast player.
Now, when people search for your topic on YouTube, your podcast will be included in the results.
How To Reach Even More Potential Listeners On Youtube
Advertising on YouTube can be low-cost and highly effective.
Not only is it the second biggest search engine on the planet but it is owned by the biggest! This means everything ties together exceptionally well and using Google Ads to place your podcast in front of relevant videos is easy to do.
Firstly, create a short promo video which can be anything from thirty to sixty seconds. Make sure you start with what people will learn and your podcast name within the first five seconds. Get your best stuff in there because your ad will be shown for a guaranteed five seconds before people can click ‘skip video’. If people do skip in the first 30 seconds, you are not charged, but they will have heard your podcast name and benefits. After a few of these plays, people will click through to your podcast to sign up.
When your prom video is made, hop into your Google Ads account and set up a new ad.
Here you can choose your ad goal, which could lead users to a specific URL such as your podcast web page, a listen now page on your website or to YouTube channel.
Using the Google Ad settings, you can choose who sees your ad by using targeting such as language, region, subject/topic, age groups etc This will decide which videos your ad is seen in front of, meaning you can be really specific about where it is shown.
What Ad Format Should You Use?
Skippable
Your video has to be at least 30 seconds long. You pay when a user watches either at least 30 seconds of your video (CPV) or clicks for more information (CPA), whichever comes first.
Non-skippable
Your video has to be 15 seconds or less, and you pay per impression, or after every thousand views (CPM). If you simply want to get your podcast’s title, logo and one-sentence description in as many people’s minds as possible, this is your format.
How much does it cost?
Your bid strategy determines not only how much you’ll pay to advertise your podcast on YouTube, but what action you hope the user takes. You’re telling YouTube that you want to pay by one of the following:
- Cost per view (CPV)
- Cost per impression, or 1,000 views (CPM or cost per mille)
- Conversions or cost per action (CPA). This appears to be another way of saying cost per click, i.e., when a user clicks on the video ad for more information.
You can set a daily budget or a total budget for the campaign.
For most people, ads cost around €0.30c per click to your website or €20 per thousand views. The only way to know for sure how must it costs to advertise your podcast on YouTube is through trial and error.
Go For It
YouTube is most effective if you make your own channel. Repurpose your podcast with highlight videos and use them to expand your audience. Try a small advertising campaign and see your numbers climb faster!
If you have any questions about how to use YouTube to promote your brand podcast, email us or book a call. We’re happy to walk you through the process.