Podcasting on WordPress.com
We’ve been updating support for podcasts. Are you ready to try hosting your own?
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of podcasts — their beautiful storytelling and engaging news delivery add a whole new dimension to the media landscape — and podcasters. We happily support podcast creators, from sponsoring events like Podcast Movement to supporting embeds from services like RadioPublic.
Did you know that WordPress.com allows you to host your own podcast, right from your WordPress.com website? And we’ve recently updated our podcasting tools, simplifying the process of starting or managing your podcast. Whether you’re about to hit “record” on your first podcast or have used WordPress.com for your podcast for years, we think you’ll love these updates.
Configuring Your Podcast Channel
We’ve redesigned the Podcasting Settings page to be faster and more intuitive. Visit Settings > Writing > Podcasting to set up and manage your podcast channel. Pick a podcast category, add details like your podcast’s title and cover image, and you’re ready to go.
Creating and Editing Podcast Episodes
The post editor also got some new indicators to make it more apparent when you’re creating or editing a podcasting episode. To publish an episode, create a new post, assign it the podcast category you designated on the Settings page, and upload or embed an audio file.
Added Support for Google Play, Spotify, and Alexa
Behind the scenes, we’ll do the heavy lifting to support services like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and even Alexa Daily Briefings. Submit your feed to each service once, and then publish episodes whenever inspiration strikes! We’ll make sure every episode gets listed.
Podcasts can add a new dimension to any site — and they encourage visitors to subscribe and return frequently.
If you have requests for other updates to our podcasting tools, let us know in the comments! We’ll continue to refine our podcasting support. In the meantime, you might want to check out some of these great podcasts that are already hosted on WordPress.com:
- Bundyville: “A never-before-heard chronicle of the rise, fall and resurgence of the Bundy family, the armed uprisings they inspired and the fight over the future of the American West.” – from Longreads, in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting.
- You Are Not So Smart: “A show about psychology that celebrates science and self delusion.” – hosted by David McRaney.
- You’re Wrong About…: A podcast “about historical events or famous people that the public has forgotten or misremembered” – hosted by Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall.
- Hilltown Family Variety Show: A community radio show from Western Massachusetts that’s been around since 2007!
- July 26, 2018
- Features
How exciting! I am still in the figuring-out-how-to-blog season of my blogging career so this is great information for me!
LikeLiked by 14 people
Hi. I am concretely interested in podcasting. Will this feature available also for hosted websites that use JetPack?
LikeLiked by 10 people
Hi there!
Currently, the feature isn’t available in Jetpack, although support might be added at a future point. In the meantime, there are a number of great podcasting plugins for self-hosted sites, such as Simple Podcasting.
LikeLiked by 9 people
This is great info. I’m not quite ready to launch a podcast yet, but I’m holding on to this for future use.
LikeLiked by 5 people
This is awesome!!!!!!! Thanks for the tips!!!
LikeLiked by 6 people
Agree with everyone else that this is timely and informative — thanks for the clear advice! I am also thinking of doing a podcast on a business theme which would link up with my professional website through Jetpack. I hope WordPress will consider adding it!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Hurrah!!
I m going to try it for sure…
Thanks Michael for sharing!! ✨✨✨💟
LikeLiked by 5 people
This is pretty cool! I love that WordPress has really grown to accommodate the needs of the internet people.
LikeLiked by 7 people
This is awesome! Thank you for the info. I can’t wait to try it out!
LikeLiked by 6 people
Great info….will definately work on it
LikeLiked by 8 people
Awesome! I did not know this. I was actually talking to someone about creating a podcast yesterday. Thanks for the info!
LikeLiked by 9 people
I like this (two thumbs up!) I had no idea. Thanks Michael…
LikeLiked by 7 people
Hi, I use free WordPress. Is the podcast just for premium WordPress?
LikeLiked by 4 people
Hi there!
Podcasting is free for all WordPress.com accounts, however to upload audio or video files to your account, you would need any of our paid plans. If your site is on the Free plan, you will need to host your audio files elsewhere and embed them into your podcast episodes.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is an amazing job!! Thanks a lot
LikeLiked by 3 people
Great info. I just tried to embed a Libsyn audio player – the Post does not recognize the audio player
LikeLiked by 5 people
Hi there!
Unfortunately, the `iframe` embeds required by Libsyn are blocked on WordPress.com for security reasons. If you have a direct link to your audio file, you can use the `[audio]` shortcode detailed on this page.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good idea! I’d rather pay WP to host a podcast than some other site.
Uploading these files is only available as part of the WordPress.com Personal, Premium, or Business plan. If your site is on the Free plan, you will need to host your audio files elsewhere and embed them into your podcast episodes.
What is the monthly bandwidth one gets with each of the plans?
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi there!
There isn’t necessarily a monthly bandwidth limit on any of our paid plans – only a maximum amount of storage space. You can see the differences between plans here: https://wordpress.com/pricing/
I hope this helps!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks for the link 🙂
So basically as long as you’re within your storage limit, all is fine? But if storage isn’t unlimited, will it not build up to a point where you can’t add anymore?
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s correct! Just like on your computer or phone, the space will eventually fill up with audio and video files, at which point you could take a look at a higher plan or possibly look at deleting older files.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I see, thank you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is amazing. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Where is the podcast stored? It was my understanding that storing them inside wordpress will slow down your website.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi there!
If you have any of our paid plans, the audio and video files are stored on our own content delivery network (CDN) that’s been optimized to automatically serve media files as quickly as possible all around the world.
While pages with lots of media (such as images) might load a little more slowly, podcast episodes will only load when the user clicks the “Play” button on the audio player.
I hope that helps!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Sounds like a very good idea, still getting to grips with blogging but could add this to it 👍
LikeLiked by 3 people
So cool, inspiring, and accessible! Thank you!
LikeLiked by 4 people
This is awesome! I’ve been considering a podcast and it’s nice to know that this platform is available right here! Thanks
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks for sharing this info!
LikeLiked by 3 people
This is amazing by WordPress . They have made it so easy to create podcasts.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is awesome thank you!
LikeLiked by 3 people
This is really helpful information. I have only made one episode of my podcast and I uploaded onto a local podcast hosting platform but was very disappointed when I found that they didn’t support WordPress.com sites so I couldn’t really use by blog to share my work. Now that I know there are these built-in options I feel much more inclined to get cracking. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Could you not first explain what is podcasting? We might be interested if we knew what it is.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Hi there!
Podcasting is a method to distribute episodic audio or video messages through a feed to which listeners can subscribe. You can check out examples of podcasts at the bottom of the post, and read more about it in our support documentation:
https://wordpress.com/support/audio/podcasting/
Hope that helps!
LikeLiked by 4 people
That’s awesome, but is this limited to a specific plan?
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi there!
Podcasting is free for all WordPress.com accounts, however to upload audio or video files directly to your account, you would need any of our paid plans. If your site is on the Free plan, you will need to host your audio files elsewhere and embed them into your podcast episodes.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is great news! What service will be need for people to listen to the podcast episodes on our WordPress sites?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi there!
You can submit your podcast to any number of Podcast services (e.g. Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, etc.) to let people search for and listen to it. You can also give your podcast feed URL directly to users so that they can add it to whichever Podcast app they prefer. There’s more information about your Feed URL and how to submit to some services on the Podcasting documentation page:
https://wordpress.com/support/audio/podcasting/
Let us know if you have any issues!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Excellent news for us bloggers. Thank you so much for all the information. Looking forward to add podcast to my blog, and so glad you have come up with it. Thank you again 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you! Exactly what I planned next for my site. I was wondering how I would accomplish this. Perfect resource. I’ll be using Anchor in iOS to create and edit before posting to my blog. I’ll let you know how it goes.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Sorry, I have found that my face is perfect for Radio.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Very super cool!
LikeLiked by 5 people
This is outstanding! I’ve been thinking of creating a podcast to go along with my new blog. I’m just getting into this blog/podcast stuff, but it’s been an interest of mine for a while!
LikeLiked by 3 people
This is cool. Currently will not try it but holding it for future use
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yeah I’m ready.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is incredibly timely as I’ve been talking with a few friends about starting a monthly poetry podcast. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 5 people
Nice! Let us know what you think if you do!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m new to WordPress, and i had no idea it allowed podcasting! I actually had plans to start a podcast with friends next week and we were thinking of using Skype, but might try it on here now. Thanks for this post! 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Will do, thanks!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you for the information!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I will try this now. Thanks Great post!
LikeLiked by 4 people
While reading this post, I came across the suggestion for the podcasts of the site “Hilltown Families” and began to analyze the site itself. What a great discovery! A network of families that help each other and use the site as a communication platform! I think I will try to reproduce this initiative in my socio-cultural context. Thanks, WordPress!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Just starting #SSSC23Things Digital #OpenBadges – thanks for info may need to use it over next few years!
LikeLiked by 6 people