Podcasting has far exceeded the home-based recording by a standalone producer. There are numerous examples of the podcasts produced today by teams, companies, and networks managing several shows, contributors, and publishing schedules. In these types of collaborations, a decision that is taken is the selection of the appropriate podcast hosting site. Although paid hosting options are more powerful, free podcast hosting services can still be a powerful starting point for a team or network, just to establish their presence or test their workflows. Learning the functionality of these free options and which services are the most effective leads to the teams making sound decisions without having to spend money initially.
Podcast Hosting to a Team and Network
The technical foundation of a podcast is a podcast hosting platform. It keeps audio files, creates RSS feeds, and distributes episodes to listening applications, like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. In the case of teams and networks, the hosting platforms are also used for collaboration, content consistency, and tracking performance.
In comparison to individual podcasters, teams tend to need a common access, a good organization of the content, and the possibility to control a number of episodes or a show. Although free hosting sites usually restrict more sophisticated collaboration capabilities, a few remain sufficiently flexible to allow small teams and those at the early stage of networking. These tools enable creators to grow their content and audience first and upgrade their tools at a later stage.
Anchor as a Free Team-Friendly Hosting
One of the most popular free podcast hosting platforms is Anchor, and it is the property of Spotify. It will provide infinite storage, unlimited bandwidth, and automatic distribution to large podcast directories without charge. This renders it very attractive, especially to teams and networks with limited budgetary constraints.
To collaborate, Anchor lets collaborating contributors occupy one podcast account. Even though it does not have explicit role-based permissions, shared access can help the team members to upload episodes, edit metadata, and coordinate publishing tasks. The tight connection between Anchor and Spotify is also an advantage to those teams that desire to reach listeners in the shortest time possible. Moreover, simpler monetization options, including listener support and the opportunity to see advertisements in specific areas, assist networks in investigating monetization opportunities at the beginning.
RedCircle and Its Networked Approach
RedCircle has made headlines because it has been able to provide hosting of free podcasts with unlimited uploads and downloads. This is the sole feature that makes it appealing to teams and podcast networks that produce content either regularly or run several shows. RedCircle brands itself as a platform that is geared towards growth, as opposed to being a mere storage solution.
The cross-promotion and monetization tools are one of its strengths and are offered even on free plans. Teams are able to work across shows, cross-promote episodes in a network, and access donation and advertising features, and never pay a fee upfront. Although collaboration tools do not work as sophisticated as enterprise platforms do, RedCircle provides the essential requirements of a podcast network aimed at growth and sharing audiences.
Buzzsprout Testing Team Workflow
Buzzsprout has been acclaimed as being well-designed and convenient to use. It has a free plan with restricted monthly uploads and a fixed time frame on which the episodes can be hosted, which is not a good choice in terms of hosting those long-term with free hosting. Nevertheless, Buzzsprout can provide a good environment for teams and networks to test the idea of podcasts or do pilot projects.
The platform has a friendly dashboard that assists the teams in knowing how they can publish, how the performance of the episode is, and how the distress process works. On the free level, collaboration abilities are restricted, but Buzzsprout can be used by a group that wants to familiarize themselves with podcast production skills and then consider a more major platform.
Selecting a Free Hosting Platform
It is important when it comes to assessing the use of free podcast hosting services by teams and networks. The frequency of content publication is limited by storage limits and bandwidth. The ease of use influences the way in which the team members can cooperate. Distribution reliability would make sure that the episodes are made available to the listeners regularly. Above all, consideration should be given by teams on whether the platform can easily be migrated in the future, since expanding networks can easily surpass the free plans.
Conclusion
Free podcast hosting services are significant in assisting groups and networks to venture into podcasting without any financial strain. Each platform (Anchor, RedCircle, and Buzzsprout) has its own advantages, including the ability to have unlimited hosting and monetization features, as well as a user-friendly interface to test the workflow. Although the free plans have restrictions, they offer good possibilities to develop content, to create audiences, and optimize the collaborative procedures.
