You may have been planning to create your own podcast channel. That is why you have been browsing the internet to find a suitable and fit hosting site for your content. There is a variety of platforms that you can use to publish your hard-worked content. However, we all want the best place where it would continuously grow.
We want a podcast hosting site wherein both listeners and creators could have easy access to listening and publishing content, has good features packaged in their plan, good growth and marketing tools, and pricing that should fit into your budget.
With that, let us compare and identify the differences between these two among the famous podcast avenues you may consider: Libsyn vs. Simplecast.
Established in 2004, Libsyn is one of the third generation publishing platforms, which is also one of the pioneers of publishing podcasts. It is considered one of the leading and largest podcast avenues globally. Specializing in iTunes and iPhone applications, they offer podcasting solutions with the use of their world-class tools, service, and support.
Being a podcaster requires a lot of needs, and mostly it is shouldered by the host that will help you publish your content. In Libsyn, you can enjoy a wide range of features that are part of their services. Either in customization, adding and removing content, or even automated Social Media sharing, you would be able to enjoy it all on this platform.
One of the main features of Libsyn is its robust sharing feature. With its automated Social Media sharing feature, a podcast creator would not worry about the optimization of the possible audiences in their content.
Automated social media sharing is an advantageous characteristic of a podcast avenue because it helps every content creators’ channels grow along with their efforts.
In Libsyn, you can also customize your app for your podcast content. Whether you prefer an IOS or android app, Libsyn will allow you to make it according to your preferences.
Other features in Custom Mobile apps include Car Mode Ready (making the listeners able to listen to your podcast contents while driving), compatibility with other media files such as PDFs, videos, texts, and audios, and a user-friendly communication feature.
Now that you know the special features of Libsyn, let us look at the Pros of this podcasting host.
Libsyn is an expert in the field of podcasting. Provided that they were established in 2004, their knowledge and expertise in the field are one of the advantages of this platform.
Their contact support and services are easy to access and are always ready to help. Also, despite having so many amazing features, they continuously discover and innovate more features for the satisfaction of their clients.
Despite having a lot of advantages in this platform, there are also a few disadvantages you may be encountering in the long run of your podcasting career. Here now are the few cons of Libsyn as your podcast platform.
Libsyn does not offer a free service. Unlike their other competitors, they do not offer a free trial on their platform. There is a hosting price that you need to pay in order to use their features. Also, Libsyn does not have a user-friendly interface when it comes to publishing your podcasts.
Aside from the fact that it is complex, you may encounter some terms that might not be familiar to you. You have to have some extra effort looking into the internet to understand some of its terms.
In Libsyn, On-publish is a cool growth and marketing tool because it allows the creators to publish their works on other major podcast apps and websites, including podcast platform giants, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It is a very useful feature because through this, you can reach millions of other listeners to other prominent apps, platforms, and services.
In Libsyn, there are some analytic tools you may find useful in your podcasting career. As someone who wishes to grow their channels, the analytics of the audience helps you analyze what content you should be publishing, and who are the people who show interest in it.
Libsyn provides everything as part of its services. User Agent stats let you know in what platforms your podcast contents grow.
Social Media stats lets you deliver analytical reports of your performance in connected social media through your Libsyn account.
Episodes Stats and Breakdowns is an analytical tool that lets you view detailed statistics of every episode of podcasts you published. Other analytical tools of Libsyn are: Geographic Heat Map, Date Range Selector, and Downloadable Stats Reporting.
The best part of being a podcaster is monetizing your podcast content. Libsyn offers monetization features as well through podcast advertising.
However, various requirements must be met before being eligible to monetize your creative works. Initially, the podcast episodes in your content should have at least 5,000 US downloads within 30 days of their release.
Once you have met the U.S. download requirement, you can start requesting to Libsyn that your content should be added to the list for advertising campaign consideration.
Libsyn has a 50/50 sharing revenue on the advertising campaign, and the best part of this is that you are the one who will approve what is inside of your podcast content as an advertiser (this can be applicable in your life read advertising shows).
You can refer to the list below of their plans that you can try once you have decided that Libsyn is a host site that is the best suit for you:
If you think Libsyn is not suited for you as your podcast hosting site, Simplecast offers varied features and services that are different from the services of Libsyn.
Simplecast is a podcast hosting site with an easy way of publishing your content—all over the world—in just a few clicks. It can be published on the platforms your audience wants to listen to. Simplecast has provided its clients with industry-leading publishing, distribution, analytics, and sharing tools for seven years in the industry.
Suppose Libsyn has automated social media sharing and Custom mobile apps. In that case, Simplecast also has a Recast tool as its highlighted feature (which allows you to share a few clips from your podcast to social media on a scheduled basis). Other features include audience engagement, mobile access, dashboard, engagement tracking, and—what’s best—unlimited storage and uploads.
Simplecast is known for its easy-to-use interface. From the name of the Hosting site itself, the simplicity of uploading your podcast content, unlike in Libsyn, is a good feature that you have to consider. Its monthly plan is comparatively more affordable than other hosting sites. Lastly, it also has great customer support, which you can always consult whenever you are facing a problem.
If you are a podcaster who is too excited to share your content with your audiences and want them to listen to it immediately, maybe Simplecast is not a good host for you. Their uptime feature has a 75% rating, which in this case, is below average. Also, their RSS feed has a below-average rating of 53%. RSS feed allows the listeners of your show to subscribe to every content you have uploaded into your podcast catalog.
Recast is a powerful marketing tool that is exclusive and can only be found in Simplecast. This tool allows your content to be discovered by sharing it on social media and other discoverable platforms available. It could be shared both by you and your listener.
By sharing a few clips of your content there is a high chance that other people will get interested in your show and perhaps, discover more of what you can offer.
Libsyn has a cool ‘On-publish’ feature, but Simplecast’s marketing tool was focused on the discoverability of the creator’s content by adhering to the right social media avenues. Similarly, Recast also offers insights from the sharing habits of your listeners, which you can use to study and analyze for your future growth.
Every plan that is available in Simplecast has access to most of the analytic tools that it offers. This is a great feature because you don’t have to purchase a higher and more expensive plan in order for you to view the analytics of your content.
There are varying analytic tools you can view in Simplecast. This includes the report of your all-time total downloads (including today’s downloads, on the last 7 days, the previous 7 days, and unique listeners of your show), top episodes and top listening methods, a popular time of the day, downloads by location, audience insights, interactive map of the listeners and many more.
If you want to study the potential of your audiences, analyzing the data provided by the host is a must.
In this area, Simplecast has never failed to provide every information that their clients need because they follow the guidelines of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Following the guide, you will expect accurate data provided that the IAB tech lab approves.
In Simplecast, monetization is not just focused on the advertising of the content creators. A live-read advertising show is one way for you to monetize your works. However, it has a specific audience requirement before you could apply for that form of advertising.
Simplecast has introduced another way of monetizing your content. Even if you are just a small, growing creator, you can find money through your podcast contents because they introduced AffiliateLinks.
In this form, you can promote a certain product or service in your podcast contents and a code (usually for discounts) or a landing page that will help you earn 4-5% of the commission.
This commission will be garnered once the provided link has generated a sale. Is it cool to know? Simplecast does not just think and prioritize popular creators but also those who are still new and need more time to grow.
You can refer to the list below of their plans—and the perks on each plan—that you can pick once you have decided that Simplecast is a host site that is the best suit for you:
