Episode Summary: A walkthrough of Apple Podcasts Connect — how to manage an existing podcast, validate and submit a brand-new show, and read the new Podcast Analytics dashboard Apple rolled out in December 2017.
What You'll Learn
- What Apple Podcasts Connect is, and why Apple calls it three different names (iTunes Connect, Podcasts Connect, Apple iTunes Connect)
- The Manage, Resources, and Validate & Submit features inside Podcasts Connect
- How to launch a brand-new podcast: validating and submitting an RSS feed
- What Apple Podcast Analytics tracks: unique devices, time listened, subscriber breakdown, and listener drop-off trends
What Is Podcasts Connect?
Podcasts Connect is the portal Apple launched in 2016 for managing existing podcasts, launching new ones, and viewing performance analytics. Apple isn't consistent with the name — you'll see it called iTunes Connect, Podcasts Connect, or Apple iTunes Connect, but they're all the same tool.
Warning: don't touch your RSS feed URL or the Mirror URL inside Podcasts Connect unless you know exactly what you're doing. Your RSS feed is how listeners subscribe and get notified of new episodes — mess with it carelessly and you risk breaking subscriptions.
Managing an Existing Podcast
Every podcast tied to your account — new or old — shows up under Manage. Click your cover art to open a show's management page.
The features available there:
- Status & Refresh Feed — a green dot means your podcast is active and healthy; red means something needs fixing. Refreshing isn't usually necessary, but it's useful after metadata changes that are slow to update in iTunes.
- Mirror URL — a permanent link to your RSS feed. Listeners who subscribe via the mirror URL stay subscribed even if you change your actual feed URL later. Only touch this if you understand RSS feeds.
- View in iTunes — see how your show looks live in the iTunes Store.
- Hide Podcast — keeps a show active but undiscoverable/unlisted.
- Delete Podcast — self-explanatory.
Tip: subscribe to your own podcast, and check it on your devices every time you publish a new episode. If something looks wrong, Podcasts Connect's status indicator is the first place to check.
Resources & Help
The Apple Podcasts Partner Resources library has FAQs, news, videos, and guides covering all of podcasting. It's accessible from the dropdown menu in the upper left, under My Podcasts.
Launching a New Podcast: Validate & Submit
Validating and submitting is the last step before a new podcast goes live — same process whether it's your first show or another one added to an existing account.
Copy your RSS feed URL to your clipboard. In Podcasts Connect, click the blue + in the upper-left corner (or paste into the empty text box) and hit Valida…
Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.
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