Articles by Craig Hewitt on the Castos blog.https://castos.com/en-ushttps://castos.com/podcast-monetization-platforms/https://castos.com/podcast-monetization-platforms/Eight podcast hosts compared on what actually earns money: dynamic ad insertion, paid subscriptions, built-in ad marketplaces, and the cut each platform takes. Most of them do not publish that last one.Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-monetizationhttps://castos.com/podcast-advertising-rates/https://castos.com/podcast-advertising-rates/Pre-recorded podcast ads run $15 to $30 CPM in 2026 and host-read sponsorships $25 to $40, with business and finance shows above $40. Here are the benchmark tables by format, placement, category and download count, every figure sourced.Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-monetizationhttps://castos.com/best-podcast-analytics-tools/https://castos.com/best-podcast-analytics-tools/Your host says the episode got 1,400 downloads. Apple says 900 people pressed play. Spotify shows something else again. Here are the 12 podcast analytics tools worth using in 2026, what each one actually counts, and why the numbers never match. ... Read moreTue, 11 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotionhttps://castos.com/best-video-podcast-platform/https://castos.com/best-video-podcast-platform/We compared the main video podcast platforms on what actually matters: where they send your video, what they charge for storage, and which ones handle Spotify and YouTube properly.Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-productionhttps://castos.com/iab-podcast-measurement-explained/https://castos.com/iab-podcast-measurement-explained/The IAB podcast measurement guidelines define what counts as a real download. Here's how IAB-compliant measurement works, why download numbers differ between hosts, and how to compare listener data accurately.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotionhttps://castos.com/what-are-unique-listeners/https://castos.com/what-are-unique-listeners/Unique listeners count the individual people who play your podcast, not the number of downloads. Here's what unique listeners mean, how they're calculated, and why they matter more than download counts.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotionhttps://castos.com/where-are-my-podcast-listeners-located/https://castos.com/where-are-my-podcast-listeners-located/You can see where your podcast listeners live in your host's geographic analytics, which map downloads to country and city. Here's how to find listener location data and how to use it.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotionhttps://castos.com/video-podcast-playbook/https://castos.com/video-podcast-playbook/A video podcast is a podcast you can also watch. The audio distributes through your RSS feed to every podcast app, same as always. Video distributes separately to YouTube, Spotify Video, and Apple Podcasts through direct uploads, HLS in your RSS feed, or a dedicated video feed depending on your setup. The fastest way to ... Read moreMon, 11 May 2026 14:36:19 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotionhttps://castos.com/top-podcasts-on-youtube-2026/https://castos.com/top-podcasts-on-youtube-2026/The top podcasts on YouTube in 2026 like Joe Rogan, Kill Tony, Good Mythical Morning, and Diary of a CEO succeed because they treat YouTube as a video platform first and a podcast second. The patterns that separate them from everyone else come down to three things: Most podcasters who move to YouTube do the ... Read moreTue, 05 May 2026 14:53:36 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotionhttps://castos.com/how-to-start-a-podcast/https://castos.com/how-to-start-a-podcast/We’ve seen the successes and failures of hundreds of podcasters first-hand. Avoid the pitfalls and launch the right way with our 10-year veteran guide.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 18:19:42 GMTCraig Hewittlaunching-podcasthttps://castos.com/youtube-podcasts/https://castos.com/youtube-podcasts/YouTube viewers watched over 700 million hours of podcasts per month on their TV screens in a single month in 2025. That number has only grown since. And yet, NPR, one of the biggest podcast publishers on the planet, averages just 179 views per YouTube episode. Something doesn't add up. The gap between those two ... Read moreTue, 07 Apr 2026 17:40:33 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-distributionhttps://castos.com/microphones-for-podcasting/https://castos.com/microphones-for-podcasting/Your microphone is the one piece of gear that can make or break your entire show. Seriously: people will put up with a lot, but muffled, echoey, or tinny audio? They’re gone in under a minute. No fancy editing trick in the world can save a bad recording. The good news? You don't need to ... Read moreWed, 10 Dec 2025 17:29:05 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-equipmenthttps://castos.com/screen-record-phone-podcast/https://castos.com/screen-record-phone-podcast/How to Screen Record on iPhone: Complete Guide for Podcast Creators Most podcasters focus exclusively on audio, but your iPhone's screen recording feature can be a secret weapon for growing your audience with video content. Here's the thing: podcast creators often struggle to create engaging video content for social media promotion, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes looks, ... Read moreTue, 09 Dec 2025 14:55:38 GMTCraig Hewittcontent-creationhttps://castos.com/podcast-ads-guide/https://castos.com/podcast-ads-guide/US podcast advertising revenue reached $2.86 billion in 2025, up 17.6% year over year. And here's what most podcasters don't realize: you don't need millions of downloads to start earning from podcast ads. Traditional ad networks will tell you that you need 10,000 or even 20,000 downloads per episode before you can monetize. But the ... Read moreWed, 05 Nov 2025 15:49:27 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-monetizationhttps://castos.com/embed-your-podcast-player-anywhere/https://castos.com/embed-your-podcast-player-anywhere/Distribution is the name of the game when it comes to any kind of content, and podcasting is no different. We all want easy, and ideally automated, ways to share our content everywhere our audience is already hanging out. To help with this, we've built beautiful, responsive players and Playlist Players to allow you to ... Read moreMon, 18 Aug 2025 11:59:52 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/why-coaches-choose-podcasting/https://castos.com/why-coaches-choose-podcasting/Most coaches and consultants believe they need to be everywhere online, posting daily on social media, writing weekly blogs, and constantly networking, just to build authority and attract clients. But this scattered approach creates a serious problem: your expertise gets diluted across crowded platforms where prospects scroll past without truly understanding what makes you different. ... Read moreSat, 02 Aug 2025 23:55:49 GMTCraig Hewittcontent-creationhttps://castos.com/ghost-to-castos-integration/https://castos.com/ghost-to-castos-integration/Running a successful podcast while managing multiple subscriber platforms can feel like juggling flaming torches. If you're using Ghost for your website and newsletter management but hosting your podcast on Castos, you've probably found yourself manually transferring subscriber information between platforms...a time-consuming process that's prone to errors. What if you could automate this entirely? Today's ... Read moreMon, 23 Jun 2025 22:11:58 GMTCraig Hewittprivate-podcastinghttps://castos.com/ways-to-use-hybrid-podcasting/https://castos.com/ways-to-use-hybrid-podcasting/Hybrid Podcasting sits in that sweet spot between public and private content, offering a "freemium" model similar to what you see with platforms like Substack. You provide your regular public content while offering exclusive Subscriber Benefits to your most engaged fans, creating deeper, more profitable connections with your audience. We look at Hybrid Podcasting as ... Read moreFri, 23 May 2025 11:28:40 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-monetizationprivate-podcastinghttps://castos.com/apple-podcasts-subscriptions/https://castos.com/apple-podcasts-subscriptions/We're thrilled to announce that all Castos customers can now offer exclusive Subscriber Benefits to listeners directly through Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. In this guide, we'll show you how to get started with this exciting monetization opportunity that works alongside Castos' other revenue-generating features like Dynamic Ad Insertion and Castos Commerce. First, A New Type Of ... Read moreTue, 06 May 2025 12:50:00 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/one-click-podcast-distribution/https://castos.com/one-click-podcast-distribution/Today, we're thrilled to announce a huge addition to the Castos platform: One-Click Podcast Distribution. With this, Castos becomes the first and only podcast hosting provider to offer true one-click submission to all eight major podcast directories: All automatically, literally just a click of a button. Whether you're launching your very first podcast or adding ... Read moreThu, 24 Apr 2025 14:14:51 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/add-chapters-to-your-episodes/https://castos.com/add-chapters-to-your-episodes/Podcasting is so great because it allows us to share long-form storytelling-type content with our audience. And it is this long-form engagement and "intimacy" that our listeners love about following along with our journey. But along with this, sometimes we want to give listeners an idea of what's ahead and what they can expect in ... Read moreWed, 02 Apr 2025 12:12:50 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/show-submission-to-apple-podcasts/https://castos.com/show-submission-to-apple-podcasts/When it’s time to launch your podcast, one of the first things you think about is how to get your podcast live in directories like Apple Podcasts.  Apple Podcasts is where mass adoption of podcasting all started, originally dating back to June 2005.   And sometimes, understanding what an RSS feed is, logging into Apple Podcasts ... Read moreThu, 20 Feb 2025 18:10:00 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-distributionhttps://castos.com/hollyland-lark-m2-review/https://castos.com/hollyland-lark-m2-review/For content creators looking to upgrade their audio setup without breaking the bank, the Hollyland Lark M2 wireless lavalier microphone system presents an intriguing option. At $160, this compact wireless microphone system promises professional-grade audio in a package smaller than a pair of AirPods. But does it deliver on these promises? After extensive testing and ... Read moreWed, 08 Jan 2025 18:30:01 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-equipmenthttps://castos.com/apple-podcasts-in-any-browser/https://castos.com/apple-podcasts-in-any-browser/Last week, Apple announced that all Apple Podcasts content would be available directly on your browser. That's great news for all of us content creators because instead of having to use (and link out to) the Apple Podcasts app, we can utilize the full functionality of Apple Podcasts directly in Chrome, Safari, Edge, or whatever ... Read moreTue, 27 Aug 2024 12:43:46 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-promotiondevelopmenthttps://castos.com/starter-studio/https://castos.com/starter-studio/Every podcast needs a great-looking website. Whether you're using it to grow your podcast subscriber base, increase your YouTube channel followers, or connect with your listeners, your podcast website is your home base online. And while Castos offers built-in podcast websites for free with every show we host, sometimes customers want a bit of extra ... Read moreMon, 05 Aug 2024 12:07:09 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/directly-publish-from-riverside-to-castos/https://castos.com/directly-publish-from-riverside-to-castos/One of the best things about podcasting is how efficient it is in creating several different usable forms of content in a very short amount of time.  In one 60 minute recording session you can create a week’s worth of podcast, YouTube, blog post, and social media assets. But previously, you had to duct tape ... Read moreMon, 11 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/sony-zv-1/https://castos.com/sony-zv-1/The Sony ZV-1 is a solid choice for podcasters, YouTubers, and content creators. In this review, we consider its features and performance.Sat, 09 Mar 2024 19:24:03 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-equipmenthttps://castos.com/free-podcast-transcripts/https://castos.com/free-podcast-transcripts/Today the entire Castos team is thrilled to announce that free podcast transcripts are now available to all customers. This project, we dubbed "Transcripts For All" internally, is something we've been wanting to provide to the podcasting community for a long time. But until recently, it has been technologically and financially infeasible to offer. But ... Read moreTue, 19 Sep 2023 12:40:10 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopmenthttps://castos.com/best-chairs-for-podcasting/https://castos.com/best-chairs-for-podcasting/In this article, we explore some of the best chairs for podcasting, considering factors like ergonomic design, adjustability, and durability.Tue, 22 Aug 2023 16:38:39 GMTCraig Hewittpodcast-equipmenthttps://castos.com/listener-donations/https://castos.com/listener-donations/As creators, we all dream of better ways to monetize our podcasts without only relying on the traditional advertising model as the only way to make money podcasting. And the answer for many of us is through direct listener donations to support our podcasts. But doing this for a podcast has been clunky and not ... Read moreTue, 08 Aug 2023 10:00:00 GMTCraig Hewittdevelopment