Looking to cross-promote a podcast you manage and grow its audience? Rephonic helps podcast agencies and networks find the right shows to partner with.
Cross-promotion is often free. It's also highly effective. You’re speaking directly to people who already love podcasts and are likely to check out something new. And because podcast listeners usually follow more than one show, you’re not poaching someone else’s audience. If they like what they hear, they’ll just add your client's show to the mix.
Key Takeaways
- Explore ad swaps, guest interviews and episode swaps.
- Target podcasts that have already promoted other shows.
- View Rephonic's podcast data to decide if a show is a good fit.
Table of Contents
What is podcast cross-promotion?
Cross promotion is a mutual agreement between like-minded podcasters where they promote each other in order to gain new listeners. Most podcasts collaborate in one of three ways: ad swaps, interviews and episode swaps.
How does each strategy work and which one makes sense for your clients' goals? Let's examine the options.
Ad swaps
Advertising each other's show is the quickest and easiest way to cross promote podcasts.
Cross-promotion ads are a low-effort way for podcast fans to find something new. They can hear a promo, like the sound of it, then search, tap and subscribe, all without leaving the app.
To create an ad swap you can:
- Use a podcast trailer
- Create a bespoke cross-promotion ad designed to attract new listeners
- Record a personal shoutout where the host genuinely recommends the other podcast and explains why they love it.
Exchange ads and run them as either a pre-roll, mid-roll or post-roll ad in an agreed number of episodes.
Ad swap considerations:
Podcast trailer: Most podcasts already have a polished trailer ready to go, so it's easy to use them across multiple partnerships or platforms. But trailers can run over a minute (too long for an ad) and won't feel as authentic as host read ads and recommendations.
Host-read ad: These sound fresh, engaging and can be tailored to the target audience. However, recording takes time and effort. Hosts need to script, edit and record their ad and ensure they're of similar quality.
Personal host recommendation: Shoutouts sound personal and genuine, like a word-of-mouth referral and work especially well for niche shows where there's plenty of audience overlap. However, since they're bespoke to each podcast the host needs to create a new recommendation for every cross promotion they do.
Choose the approach that feels right for the hosts and will land well with their listeners—they can all work when done well.
Guest interviews
Get podcast hosts to take cross promotion to the next level by appearing on each other's shows.
Guest appearances let each host showcase their style and personality directly to the other show's audience. It’s a great chance to demonstrate their podcasting style, build rapport, and spark curiosity in potential listeners.
For podcast hosts, guesting on other shows is a great way to attract new listeners and grow your own audience. When pitching yourself as a guest, aim for shows with a similar popularity level. Both sides need to gain from the appearance.
James Potter, Founder of Rephonic
Guest interview considerations:
Offer more than exposure: Interviews create a platform for long-form storytelling. Hosts get to naturally highlight their backstory, values, mission and expertise and give listeners a better chance to connect than a 30-second ad could ever manage.
Discoverable for months and years: Guest appearances have long lasting value because they become part of the show's back catalog and are discoverable long after the episode first airs.
Lend themselves to shared themes: Agencies can help the two hosts choose a shared theme or topic that speaks to their overlapping audience interests. For example, if both speak to entrepreneurs, their shared theme could be "how to grow an audience without burnout." Or if one show covers personal development and the other storytelling, they might discuss “how sharing your story can boost your confidence.”
Take time and effort: Interview swaps take more time, effort and coordination than ad swaps or trailers, and they work best when there’s a good match between both shows and the hosts are equally keen on the idea.
Hard to scale: Interview swaps aren’t repeatable across dozens of partners. so hosts must do a separate interview for each cross-promotion. For that reason, guest appearances can be ideal for handpicked collaborations between two podcasters with the same agency, but wouldn't work at all well for a network's bulk campaign.
Episode swaps
Two podcasters may agree to swap episodes rather than interviewing each other. It's another valuable strategy because listeners get an even better idea of their episode format and interviewing style. Episode swaps can be ideal for seasonal podcasts, giving them bonus between-seasons content with very little effort on their part.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is there enough audience overlap between the two podcasts for an episode swap to make sense?
- Can the podcasters agree on a timeline?
- Would the swaps be instead of each podcast's own episode or dropped as an extra bonus?
- Encourage each podcaster to signal upcoming change in upcoming episodes and on social media so their audiences know what to expect.
- Ask each host to insert an intro in their own voice letting listeners know why they're about to hear this guest episode.
- Draw up a contract to ensure that both podcasters agree on expectations and deliverability.
Episode swap considerations:
Minimal effort for hosts: Each episode is ready to go, with no need to record new content.
Great exposure to highly engaged listeners: The audience hears exactly what each podcast is like, giving the hosts an excellent chance to make a good first impression and gain new subscribers.
Easy to monitor engagement: Agencies can track performance through download numbers and listener retention to assess campaign impact.
Less control over tone and format: A full podcast episode swap can feel jarring if the sound, pacing or structure don’t match with the host podcast's normal production values.
Interrupts normal programming: Both sides must be confident that the content is high-quality and aligns with their brand: Dropping an unrelated episode into their favorite podcast can frustrate loyal listeners, especially if they're not interested in the topic.
How to find podcast cross-promo opportunities using Rephonic
We recommend three ways to use Rephonic to find cross-promotion partners for clients:
- Cross-promo data
- Search tool and filters
- Graph tool
Podcast cross-promotion data
Rephonic shows podcast data under six tabs: Overview, Audience, People, Sponsors, Feedback and Charts. Head to the Sponsors tab to find cross-promotion data you can use to uncover promising opportunities for your clients.
Take this example, where my client wants to grow their new financial leaders podcast and is looking for podcasts like The CFO show. I opened the Sponsors tab on their data page and scrolled down to Cross Promotions to see podcast titles they've recently mentioned.
I can view each episode that mentions a podcast, and scroll through the episode information to learn more. Then I'll open the transcript and search for the podcast name which may be mentioned in a host-read shoutout, an interview or simply as a podcast the guest likes. I can read or listen to the episode to get more context, if I need to.
I could then search Rephonic for The Better Finance Podcast and check out information such as listener numbers, audience profile, read some reviews and check it's place in the charts. If all that data is similar to my client's the two podcasts have a good chance to run a very successful cross promotion campaign.
Search tool and filters
Rephonic's search tool is most useful if you're looking to arrange guest swaps.
First, enter the topic into our podcast search tool to find a list of podcasts in that category or niche. Then use the guests filter to find podcasts that do guest interviews.
Click on a podcast to see all its data. Rephonic has metrics like how many listeners a podcast has, number of episodes and social media data. You'll also find:
- Listener profiles and demographics—useful for researching audience overlap between two podcasts
- Feedback and Reviews—see the key overall themes from listener comments or read each comment
- Chart placings—knowing where a podcast sits in the charts gives a quick snapshot of how the podcast performs and how well it matches the visibility of potential podcast partners.
- Episode links—listen to a few episodes to understand the host’s approach and decide if it fits your client’s tone
- Contact emails and social media links
- Related podcasts—view podcasts with similar audiences and create a pitching list by selecting Create a new list from these (next to See more.)
Graph tool
Rephonic taps into Apple’s “Listeners Also Subscribed To” section to map out audience connections between podcasts. It lists these under Related on the podcast's Overview page and gives a visual representation of each podcast's ecosystem in an interactive 3D Graph . (Find it by clicking on the three dots next to See more.)
Seeing the connections helps agencies identify natural audience matches and plan collaboration opportunities more effectively.
The graph displays icons of similar podcasts that have some audience overlap with the central show. Click on any icon in the graph to bring up more details and a link to that podcasts graph or Rephonic data pages.
Create a list of possibilities, then pitch the publisher or host. (Use the Status feature in Rephonic lists to keep track of progress.) Find the correct emails under Contacts and use your list's or use the concierge feature and request a search from our team.
Send an email pitch
Listen to at least one podcast episode before you contact a particular show. Their audiences may match on paper but you want to ensure that their style fits your client's podcast so they'll each project a genuinely warm connection during the cross-promo. Listening to a few episodes also gives you something to mention in your email.
Write a friendly email introducing your client and suggesting a potential collaboration. You can use Rephonic's cross-promotion pitch templates to get started.
Mention how well the two audiences align and add concrete details (from the episodes you listened to).
It's a good idea to include relevant details like your target audience profile, listener numbers, niche, engagement etc. and suggest a preferred collaboration strategy (ad, interview or episode swap) or include a podcast one-sheet to keep the email succinct.
How to measure the success of a partnership
When you've finished a cross-promo, it makes sense to measure how successful the collaboration was. Possible audience growth indicators include:
- New listeners: did downloads increase after your cross-promotion campaign?
- Has the subscriber count increased in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or other podcast apps?
- Is there an increase in podcast listeners from the other host's home country or state?
- Was there a spike in reviews around that time?
Check the comments on social media too. What are listeners of each podcast saying about the cross-promotion? Ask for their opinions—perhaps make it fun by creating a poll or quiz.
Suggest your client holds off on other podcast marketing during the collaboration to make it easier to measure their cross-promotional efforts.
Final thoughts
Cross promotion is a fantastic way to find new audiences and grow a podcast without blowing the marketing budget. It's a smart, scalable strategy that works especially well when there's clear audience overlap between shows.
Rephonic helps agencies and podcast networks find potential partners with similar audiences and then write compelling pitches that get noticed.
Start your free trial to find cross-promotion partners with Rephonic.
Article credits
Written by Lyn McNamee, podcast-PR writer with four years of experience transforming podcast insights into practical, results-focused playbooks.
Edited by Becca Butcher, marketing specialist who frequently analyzes Rephonic’s data across 3 million podcasts.
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