Captivate.fm Review: Guide To Unlimited Podcast Hosting and Analytics
Creating, editing, and uploading your podcast through the form of RSS feeds can sometimes be a little bit of a daunting task, especially if you are new to podcasting. That is why it is important when choosing a podcast host that the hosting platform can help walk you through and help you to facilitate those tasks.
That is where Captivate.fm comes in. Captivate.fm is an affordable podcast hosting platform that prides itself on ease of use and flexibility. They also coin themselves as one of the only companies that are truly growth-oriented for independent podcast creators.
Today, we are going to take a close look at the Captive.fm platform and inspect and scrutinize its essential features, customer service, ease of use, pros and cons, and pricing.
If you want to compare Captivate.fm to other podcast hosting companies, you can follow the link below.
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What is Captivate.fm?
Captivate.fm was launched in January 2019 with the intention of being the only growth-oriented podcast host. The goal was (and is) to help indie podcasters nurture and build their podcast for future growth.
One of the things that we really like about their growth movement is that they will take feedback from their podcasters and they will actually address them.
They realize that the market is still new, virtually untapped, and will that it will be changing and evolving for quite some time to come.
We love this mentality because no one wants to be trapped into a hosting platform that does not evolve with the times.
Captivate.fm comes already with a great variety of excellent tools but that the company promises to focus on creating even more tools in the future while nurturing the expansion of its audio influence so that it will continue to build audience growth.
They have an amazing team; from editors to publishers that will help you to focus on the perfect workflow of your show.
Features of Captivate.fm
With all of the features that Captivate.fm hosting offers, you can unlock the unlimited potential of creating your podcast, nurturing it along, growing it, and ultimately monetizing it.
With these features below, you are set up to reach your listeners and grow your podcast to its fullest.
Remember too that they are constantly adding new analytics and improvements. That is another thing that we love about this company.
2. Stunning Podcast Player
The Captivate.fm podcast player comes with a bunch of tools that you can customize your player with. You can control your player branding with a logo, you can allow sharing, downloads, subscribing, donations and even calls to action. These features will help your podcast, brand, and your platform look amazing on any device and platform. You can also customize your own podcast player with some really cool cover art.
3. Unlimited Team Members
You can create your podcast with an unlimited amount of team members. You can showcase your podcast team and make your workflow simpler. You can highlight your amazing team from your editor to publisher to focus on the perfect workflow of your show.
4. Unlimited Podcasts
If you have the content and your creativity is flowing, it is great to know that you can create unlimited podcasts as well as RSS feeds at one single and affordable price offered by Captivate.fm. Having an unlimited hosting option will help you to grow your podcast without paying extra fees. It will also help you to build more shows, focus on your audience, and drive more traffic.
5. Built-In Calls to Action
Their built-in call-to-action feature makes it easier for podcasters to promote their podcast. You can generate more leads or build your email list by having a built-in podcast player with customizable calls to action.
6. Analytics, Everywhere
Their interactive podcasting dashboard will help you to access and manage your show anywhere and anytime without any hassle. Also, you don’t have to worry about your access as this dashboard will make your work even simpler.
7. Import your Show for Free
The software comes with a quick import tool where can import your show from other host companies such as Buzzsprout, Blubrry, Libsyn, Whooshkaa, and others easily for free.
8. Podcast Website Options with Syncing
With Captivate.fm’s CaptivaeSync™ you can publish your podcast on your own website. Or you can use managed WordPress platform. That diversity allows you to manage your show from your website or from your Captivate platform while remaining in sync. You can auto-publish new episodes to your WordPress instantly to give your fans a consistent listening experience.
9. Thoughtful Podcast Marketing
Through their thoughtful podcast marketing, you can create auto-generated links to Overcast, Pocket Casts, and others to make your listener subscribe to your podcast easily. Their news and podcast blog gives great information on topics like doing keyword research to come up with high-performing podcast content ideas. They also make it super easy to hook up your Email marketing integration.
10. Industry Leading Personal Support
Captivate has 24/7 personal support during the week and dedicated weekend hours. They are known for their personal and timely support that they provide to their users and always be there for you. They also offer dedicated international support.
11. Simple and easy to use
The Captivate.fm platform is is very simple and easy. Their thinking was very intuitive where they wanted to make sure that the podcasts are that are using the platform are concentrating on their business and not getting frustrated with big learning curves.
Captivate.fm Pricing
The Pricing packages of this platform are very affordable for all levels. You don’t have to scratch your head looking at too many options. The pricing plans are straightforward and very simple. Captivate has 3 pricing plan options.
- Personal – $49 (per month) or $44 (yearly)
- Professional – $19 (per month) or $17 (yearly)
- Business – $99 (per month) and $90 (yearly)
The great thing here is that all plans come with unlimited podcasts that you can host with unlimited uploads and storage. Unless you are a large network or agency, almost everybody can get involved and start with the personal package and grow to the professional later.
The main thing that changes the pricing on the 3 packages is the number of downloads included.
- Personal offers 12,000 downloads per month
- Professional offers 60,000 downloads per month
- The business plan offers 150,000 downloads per month
All 3 plans will also give you access to:
- A visually appealing and easy-to-use podcast player on all devices
- Built-in CTAs on your podcast player
- Unlimited podcasts and RSS feeds
- Free imports for shows
- Advanced and in-depth analytics for your podcast
- Thoughtful podcast marketing
- Unlimited team members
Any of the above-given plans are great as it is offered by Captivate.fm.
But I think 90% of podcasters (especially newbies), can start with the personal package.
All packages include a 7-day free trial.
Once you have signed up you can take your time and access all of the features one by one.
During the 7-day free trial, you can chat with their personalized customer support with any questions or concerns.
PRO’S and CON’s of using Captivate.fm
PROS
1. Unique Looking Player:
With their superb-looking player, you can choose whether you want to view just one episode only or your collection of shows. It also comes with a built-in call-to-action built-in feature, an embeddable website player, an embeddable social player, and an embeddable playlist player.
2. Completely in sync
Your changes are synchronized instantly to your website with their WordPress plug-in and their proprietary Captivate Sync modeling.
3. Easy and Simple to Use
Captivate has a simple, intuitive, and easily understandable interface which makes the business of building your podcast much easier.
4. Gives you Maximum Exposure
includes links to all the major podcast directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, automatically so that all of your listeners can listen to your podcast and subscribe to it.
5. WordPress Plugin
This WordPress plugin by Captivate.fm lets you publish all your episodes just like you would publish traditional blog posts in the WordPress Dashboard.
6. Private Podcast on Entry Level Plan
This is a great way to monetize all your premium content, sell a membership or just release bonus episodes to listeners. You get 150 invites on Podcaster, 500 on Audio Influencer, and 1000 on Podcast Brand.
7. They Listen to Their Users
If you need anything at all and you contact them they will take care of it. If you want to request features you can request any kind of future at any time.
7. Migrating from Another Host is Super Simple
They make it very easy for you to move your podcast from another hosting company to theirs. Their founder Mark has produced over 1,100 podcast episodes and he couldn’t find the perfect podcasting solution so he created one. He also developed a quick and super reliable way to move from your existing podcast host with no loss of episodes or listeners.
Cons
1. A Little Bit Pricier than other Competitors
The pricing of this platform is affordable but yet could be a challenging situation for newbies who want to start. The entry-level $17 plan is not too bad at all but paying $44 a month might be a little taxing.
However, it’s definitely not the most expensive software out there and they are one of the only companies that make real live updates to their software, upgrade releases, and other improvements every Thursday.
Captivate.fm Privacy Policy
Captivate is fully committed to protecting the user’s policy. It has a feature called “Full Transparency Mode”.
When you enable this feature it will inform the listener of any third-party tools that are being used in your show.
Captivate Referal (Affiliate) Program
Refer Friends and Family and make a Residual Commission
Captivate offers a growth-oriented podcast solution, hosting analytics, and various other tools to people who need to host a podcast.
That makes it very easy to refer to them.
Their affiliate program Program is perfect for all podcasters. For every referral to this podcast hosting platform. Podcast.fm will give you a monthly recurring payout.
This is a great way to build up a little residual income that will help you to pay for your monthly podcast hosting!
It is so easy and simple.
Just refer your friends and get paid.
You sign up for the referral program and they give you a unique referral link. You can publish it on your Facebook and then all you have to do is have your friends sign up for a hosting package.
If they like the software and they end up subscribing, you will get a monthly recurring payout from Captivate.fm.
This is an excellent way to bring in some extra revenue and it can help you to meet the goals that you’ve put in place for your growth-oriented podcast.
FAQ
1. Which is plan ideal for which users?
There are 3 different plans and all plan comes with the best solutions for your level of podcasting.
- Personal – This plan is suitable for all new podcasters that are just starting out. We recommend this for everyone that the next plan .wants to dip their toes into the podcasting world. If your podcast takes off and get big and grows you can
- Business – This plan is ideal for podcasters who have a larger audience and are getting a lot of downloads every month.
- Professional – This plan is perfect for agencies or professionals who manage podcasts on behalf of their clients. With this plan, you are able to host your client’s podcasts for them. You also get a network website with network-level analytics as well as analytics API access.
2.Why do they offer a 7-day trial?
Well, that’s marketing 101. They want you to feel and taste their product. They also want to make it simple as possible for you to start (or continue) an existing podcast. That’s why they offer a 7-day free trial period through their dashboard.
3. From which platforms do the analytics come from?
They pull out the analytics from all of the main platforms that provide analytic reporting. These include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict, and others.
You can also log in to your Podcast dashboard for Apple Podcasts and Spotify for Podcasters dashboard to access extra analytics like audience gather and demographic
4. What information do I need for my account to get started?
You will have to provide your name and email address as well as a strong account password. You do also have to give a credit card to start your free trial. But please note that you will not be charged until after the 7 day trial period is over.
5. How can I monetize your podcast?
Well, you can monetize your podcast in several ways, including:
- You can ask for donations. Many fans will be happy to throw a few dollars toward your efforts if they like your content
- Create paid memberships
- Write an in-depth guide. Create content that’s relevant to your niche and what you are podcasting about that will help your listener solve a problem. They will just be dying to buy that information from you!
- You can sell sponsorships or ads on your website or platform
- Provide premium paid content
- You can sell products related to your niche or vertical
- Creating an e-course on podcasting and sell it
- Sell consulting services
- Sell affiliate products
- Start getting a bunch of downloads and start selling ads on your podcast
- Have guests pay to come on your show. This may seem a little out there but think about it. If you had a podcast about horror movies and a new author just came out with a horror book and wanted to pitch it, you can ask them to pay you a few dollars while you promote them. It’s a win-win. You get an author to come on your show where you can create some interesting content and he gets advertising!
Captivate.fm Review Summary
Captivate is still a relatively new podcasting platform in the market but they have already grabbed so much attention from their users that is helping them to become one of the fastest-growing best podcast hosting provider options in the market.
Even if you are new to podcasting, this platform is well-designed and makes everything much simpler and easier for you. One of the coolest features that I like about this platform is that it has two-way integration with your existing WordPress website via the simple proprietary Captivate Sync plugin.
There is a great option for building teams and options to create multiple podcasts which is another attractive feature of this platform.
Why we really love Captivate and why we feel it is the #1 podcast hosting solution
This last point is really big for us. Captivate truly understands the ever-changing digital marketing world not only just with podcasting but with everything related to technology and growth.
Their mission is to constantly evolve with the times and constantly make their product better.
You just don’t see that in this day and age with every software.
A lot of companies build software and then they just let it sit and they do not evolve it to get better and grow and be competitive in the landscaping beat out their competitors at all times.
You’re going to get that with captivate.
So whether you are looking to start a new podcast or want a more user-friendly interface for your podcast or you have a growing podcasting business, Captivate is truly a great choice.
This Rebel Based Media podcast hosting platform is amazing for both novice and seasoned podcasters alike.
We thank you for visiting, reading and we thank you for your trust in PodcastEnthusiast.com.
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