Why Overcast Is One of the Best Places to Advertise Your Podcast | PodCraft 1311

Check out the full book - Podcast Growth: How to Grow Your Podcast Audience 

Overcast is one of the most popular podcast listening apps in the world today. And with good reason – it's a superb app, packed with useful features.

Overcast is built for podcast listeners. But, they also provide the tools for podcasters to advertise their shows in the app. These ads appear as unobtrusive little banners, which the app’s users see at the bottom of their screen. 

On these banner ads, you’ll see a podcast’s name, cover art, and a little snippet description tempting the listener to click it. 

With Overcast ads, 100% of the folks that you reach are podcast listeners. That's why they're looking at Overcast when they see your ad. They're likely either listening to a podcast, or about to hit play on one.

This means they're literally one click away from browsing your podcast inside their chosen listening app. And one more click away from hitting Play or Subscribe.

There's no education needed here. There's no “what is a podcast?”, no “find us at…”. It's simply down to the snippet you write when you create your ad. 

The ads are unobtrusive, yet clearly visible to the user. 

Costs vary on topic, and on-demand, but you can usually start advertising on Overcast from around $300.

Type: Short Task

Time Required: 15 minutes to set up. Runs for 1 month. 

Podcast Level: 3 episodes or more.

You need to sign up for an Overcast account at Overcast.fm.

Overcast is an iOS-only listening app, but anyone can sign up for an account on their computer.

Once you're in, go to overcast.fm/ads where you'll see the full details. This includes info on current pricing and estimated reach.

As you'll see, ads are broken out into different categories. Naturally, the cost is higher for the more popular ones. You can see how many slots are available, and which ones are currently sold out. If it's one of the sold out ones you're after, you can ask to be notified when they become available.

Once you select a category, you'll click through to a page where you can customise your snippet. You’ll want to write a sentence or two that acts as a ‘hook’, to be displayed alongside the podcast name and cover art. 

If you leave this blank, Overcast will use the start of the description in your feed. It’s much better to write something in there that doesn’t cut off. Try adding “Click here to get started”, if you have the room. 

Then, you can preview your ad, before reviewing your purchase, and making the payment. It's really simple.

Task List: 

• Sign up for an Overcast account at Overcast.fm.
• Select your targeted podcast category.
• Customise your snippet.
• Preview your ad.
• Complete your purchase.

Further Reading: Promoting Your Podcast on Overcast

Check out the full book - Podcast Growth: How to Grow Your Podcast Audience