Practice Makes Podcast: A Review of Common, Effective Practices Used to Foster Engagement Amongst Podcast Audiences

<p>  </p> <p>This paper provides a review of common practices employed by popular podcasters used to foster audience engagement across six defining genres associated with the podcast medium. By analyzing scholarly and non-scholarly literature on podcast audience engagement and peripheral fields, gathering publicly available podcast audience data, and consuming a wealth of podcast content firsthand through active listening, the findings of this paper outline genre-specific audience engagement practices and universal practices carried out by creators across the podcast medium both within and outside of podcast content. This paper also re-examines popular themes present throughout podcast literature within the context of a comprehensive review of podcast audience engagement practices. The author concludes that podcast genre categories should be identified and defined not only by a podcast’s topic, but also by the common engagement practices carried out between similar shows which determine audience expectations, cater to audience motivations, and shape public understandings of podcasting.</p>