If you search “How to start a podcast”, you’ll be inundated with step-by-step guides, video tutorials, and Reddit posts. They’ll often tell you which mic to buy, which software to use, which hosting platform is best–but there’s one thing they always miss: having a good look at what podcasts are already out there, live in the world.

That’s a shame, because the existing landscape of podcasts will impact your success far more than which microphone you use. A strong understanding of your competition can influence everything from your concept and format to the length of your episodes. It also ensures that your podcast is offering something unique, not duplicating what’s already available. 

So, how do you get a handle on all the other podcasts out there? 

At Pacific Content and Lower Street, we do it through what’s called a “competitive landscape analysis.” At its heart, a competitive landscape analysis, or CLA, is a review of your competition–their strengths and weaknesses, what makes them unique, and how you stack up against them. It’s a concept borrowed from entrepreneurship. 

Starting a business is expensive. You don’t have infinite opportunities to find the right formula. What’s more, there are a whole bunch of established companies with more resources than you, who customers already have a relationship with. To make sure it’s worth the investment, entrepreneurs have to understand their market. For example, if I wanted to start a pizza restaurant, it would be important to know that there are already three pizza joints in the area, right? It’d also be helpful to know what their prices are, how late they’re open, and whether they offer vegan options or provide delivery. In essence, you’re asking: Where are the gaps? Who’s filling them? And how might you do it better? 

But that only tells us what a CLA is, not why you need one. After all, starting a podcast is much cheaper than starting a business. But think for a second about how much you’re investing in your show: if you plan to post weekly for a year, that’s 52 episodes. Let’s say that it takes 3 hours to create an episode–one hour planning, one hour recording, one hour editing. That’s 156 hours–almost 4 full work weeks!–spent on your podcast. If you’re going to spend a month every year on your podcast, it’s worth it to set yourself up for success.

What’s more, podcasting’s low barrier to entry creates a much more competitive market. According to the Podcast Index, there are currently over 4,500,000 podcasts. That’s a lot for listeners to choose from! Why should they pick yours over one from, say, The New York Times? That’s where a competitive landscape comes in. A CLA can identify an untapped niche in a category that your podcast can fill or a new format that differentiates your podcast from others in the same vertical.

But how do you do this? There are a few steps. The first is discovery: you want a list of podcasts that’s indicative of the genre. Let’s say you’re making a podcast about climate change. Here’s what you could do. 

• Start in your podcast apps; search important keywords and note down the podcasts that come up most frequently
• Select some of the most prominent podcasts and look at the platform’s suggested shows–the “You Might Also Like” or “Similar Shows” 
• Check the top podcast charts for your category. (Some topics might not fit perfectly within Apple or Spotify’s categories, so check a few.) 
• Google “Climate Change podcasts”
• Look at recent awards like the Webby’s or Ambies in categories similar to yours 
• Use the Rephonic Podcast Audience Graph

What you’ll discover is that there are a lot of climate change podcasts. Start paring down that list to the podcasts that are the most popular and have the most overlap with your idea. 10-20 should give you a good sense of the competition.

Take down some details on the podcasts to help you compare apples to apples. Podcasts from the BBC have different reach than those from independent creators. Daily podcasts have different pros and cons than monthly podcasts. You may consider eliminating any shows that have been inactive for many years or only ever released a few episodes (caveat that you still may want to include some “limited run” or “seasonal” shows that may have long periods of inactivity.) Here are some of the details we look for.

• Average duration
• Release cadence
• Number of episodes
• Seasonal/Always On

At this point, we do quantitative research on the podcasts on our list. We want to get a general sense of audience size and location. This gives us context for our creative decisions; we might see that one format really overperforms with this audience. We use paid podcast tools like Podchaser and Rephonic to discern this data. If you don’t have the budget for that, don’t worry–here are some places I would look to get an approximation.

• Chart rankings
• Number of ratings/reviews
• Social media following

Finally, we do a qualitative analysis of the podcasts on our list–aka, we listen to them! This is the longest part of the process, but also the most rewarding. You’ll get inspired–there will be some ideas you want to adapt. Equally important will be finding what you hate. Make notes! Here are some things you can document to help compare podcasts:

• Format
• Production value
• Content Niche
• Tone

Doing this research will hone your idea. Instead of being a podcast about the nebulous topic of “climate change”, you might decide to create a podcast about investing in green businesses, or successful climate legislation, or the story of depolluting a local river. Depending on what you find, you can create a show for teachers, mayors, or farmers. 

It can also help you differentiate from other podcasts. Instead of a typical interview show, you might decide to create a game show or a tense, sci-fi audio drama that takes place in the future.  There are 4.5 million podcasts out there, but there’s none like yours.

To start a podcast, you just need an idea and an internet connection. But to start a great podcast? You need a competitive landscape analysis.