A podcast media kit is a one- or two-page sales sheet that tells a sponsor what the show is, who listens, how many people it reaches by a named measure, which ad slots you sell and what they cost. The numbers are where a kit is easiest to get wrong: each figure should say which dashboard produced it, how that dashboard defines it and the dates it covers, because your host, Spotify, Apple and YouTube all count listening differently.
The fill-in template
Keep the order below, because it follows the questions a buyer asks in sequence: what is it, who hears it, how many, what can I buy, and what will I get back. The general layout advice for creator kits is in our influencer media kit guide; this version is built around podcast measurement.
| Section | What it must answer | Fill-in wording |
|---|---|---|
| Show summary | The topic and the listener, in one sentence | “[Show] is a [weekly] show for [listener] about [topic].” |
| Format | Length, schedule, audio or video, solo or guests | “[Length] episodes every [day], published as audio and [video on YouTube or Spotify].” |
| Hosts | Why listeners trust the voice reading the ad | “Hosted by [name], who [relevant work or experience].” |
| Who listens | The audience problem a sponsor solves | “Listeners are [role or situation] looking for [need].” |
| Reach | One headline delivery figure with its source and window | “[Downloads] per episode within [days] of release, [host] stats, [date range].” |
| Engagement | Evidence people stay for the episode | “[Completion or engaged-listener figure], [dashboard], [date range].” |
| Where they listen | Platform split, so the sponsor knows which copies carry the read | “Listening split across [apps], from [host] stats, [month].” |
| Ad formats | Positions and read types you sell | “Host-read pre-, mid- and post-roll; [baked-in or inserted].” |
| Rates | Starting prices or your CPM basis | “Mid-roll from [price], or [CPM] on downloads within [days].” |
| Fit and exclusions | Categories you will not advertise | “We do not run ads for [categories].” |
| Reporting promise | What the sponsor receives after the flight | “Downloads per sponsored episode at day [n], plus published links.” |
| Contact | One route for sponsorship inquiries | “[Name], [business email].” |
Use a business email rather than a personal one, and leave home addresses off the kit; it will be forwarded to people you never contacted.
Why one show has several different numbers
Hosts that follow the IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines v2.2 count a download only when enough of the file to play one minute has been delivered, remove duplicates within a 24-hour window, and identify listeners by IP address plus user agent within a stated time frame. Spotify works from playback instead: its analytics glossary counts a play from 30 seconds, an audience as distinct people who played an episode, and a completion as reaching 95% of an episode within seven days of release. Apple's listener analytics count a listener from any playback above zero seconds and an engaged listener at 20 minutes or 40% of an episode.
None of these is wrong; they answer different questions. Apple's followers article even explains why its follower count will not match your host's downloads: people play without following, followers download on several devices, and automatic downloads pause for disengaged followers. The kit's job is to keep the measures apart, label each one, and never add them together.
Metric-source checklist
Run every number in the kit through this table before you export the PDF. If a figure cannot fill every column, leave it out.
| Metric in your kit | Dashboard it comes from | How that dashboard defines it | Date range to state | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads per episode | Your host's stats (ask whether they follow the IAB guidelines) | Request with at least one minute of audio delivered, deduplicated within 24 hours | First [n] days after release, across recent episodes | IAB Tech Lab v2.2 |
| Monthly listeners | Host stats | Unique IP address and user agent pairs in the period | A named calendar month | IAB listener definition |
| Spotify audience | Spotify for Creators | Distinct people who played any episode on Spotify | The period selected in the dashboard | Spotify glossary |
| Spotify consumption hours | Spotify for Creators | Total time spent watching or listening on Spotify | The selected period; Spotify's Partner Program bar uses the last 30 days | Spotify glossary entry |
| Spotify completion rate | Spotify for Creators | Share of the audience reaching 95% of an episode in its first seven days | Per episode, once it has seven days of data | Spotify completion definition |
| Apple listeners and engaged listeners | Apple Podcasts Connect | Any playback above zero seconds; engaged at 20 minutes or 40% | Apple defaults to the last 60 days | Apple analytics help |
| Apple followers | Apple Podcasts Connect | People following the show, updated daily | All time, or net new over a stated period | Apple followers help |
| Video views and watch time | YouTube Studio podcast analytics | YouTube's own view and watch-time counts | Per video over a stated period | YouTube Studio itself |
| Age and gender | Spotify for Creators | Drawn from Spotify listeners only | The selected period, labeled Spotify only | Spotify audience help |
| Sponsorship delivery | Spotify sponsorship analytics | Impressions, audience reached and completion rate for the segment | Campaign dates, video episodes only | Spotify sponsorship analytics |
Two notes on the Apple and Spotify rows. Apple shows no analytics for a show until at least five unique listeners have played it in the period, so small new shows may see blanks. Spotify's audience analytics draw gender and age from Spotify only, while location and app data can cover all platforms for shows hosted on Spotify for Creators, so say which applies.
Measurement mistakes that make a kit look padded
Media buyers compare many kits, and the same few habits make a show look bigger on paper than in a campaign report. Each one invites a question you will have to answer later:
- Lifetime totals as the headline. All-time downloads include years of back catalog that a new read will never touch.
- Summed measures. Adding Spotify plays to host downloads, or Apple listeners to YouTube views, counts different events as if they were one.
- The best episode presented as typical. Quote the median or average across recent episodes in the same window, and mention outliers separately.
- A figure with no window. Downloads within a stated number of days of release are comparable; an undated number is not.
- Followers or chart positions as reach. Apple says chart position reflects followers and engagement, and its follower count is not a download count, so present both as signals of loyalty rather than delivery.
A one-page layout
The template fits on a single page if you give each block a fixed place. Put the show name, artwork, one-line summary and format in a top band. Use the left column for who listens and the reach and engagement figures, each with its source line in smaller type underneath. Use the right column for ad formats, starting rates and the categories you decline. Close with a footer holding the reporting promise, the contact route and the “figures as of” date. If the page overflows, cut adjectives before you cut source lines; a sponsor can forgive plain design, but not a number nobody can trace.
Audience data without overclaiming
- Describe platform demographics as belonging to that platform's listeners, never to your whole audience.
- If you run a listener survey, state how many responded, when, and how you asked, and keep responses anonymous and voluntary.
- Quote only aggregate figures; never share anything that identifies an individual listener, including from comments or messages.
- Expect small distortions in Apple's downloadable Listening Reports, which, according to its privacy methods note, add a little random noise and drop values below five.
- Leave out figures you cannot reproduce on request, such as a one-off spike from a viral clip.
Ad formats, rates and what you will report
The formats section should match what your host can actually deliver: baked-in reads, dynamically inserted reads, or both, and whether the read also appears in a video edition. Price each format with the podcast CPM worksheet, and describe the read itself, including where the disclosure sits, using the host-read script template.
The reporting promise is where a kit earns trust. Promise only what you can export: downloads per sponsored episode from your host at a fixed day, and, for Spotify video episodes run through its Sponsorships tool, the impressions, audience reached and completion figures that Spotify's sponsorship analytics export as CSV files. Under the IAB guidelines, an ad inside a download only counts as delivered if that download is itself valid, so if your host follows them, say so: it tells the sponsor that partial and duplicate downloads are already filtered out of your figures.
Keep the kit current
- Put a “figures as of [date]” line under the reach section and refresh it monthly.
- Export the underlying data each time: Spotify for Creators lets you download chart data as CSV from the web dashboard, and Apple's reports guide says its subscription and listening reports cover the past 12 months.
- Save screenshots of each dashboard with the date range visible, so you can answer a sponsor's question later.
- Recalculate the headline figure with the same window every time, so month-to-month changes are real.
- Update formats and rates when your host, video plans or exclusivity commitments change.
- Keep a web version as well as the PDF, so forwarded copies can point to the current figures.
When the kit is ready, finding and pitching podcast sponsors explains who should receive it, and how to monetize a podcast shows where sponsorship fits among your other routes.
Limitations of this template
The definitions above come from the IAB Tech Lab guidelines and from Spotify and Apple help pages as published on 1 October 2026; dashboards are redesigned often and definitions change with them, so recheck before each refresh. Not every host follows the IAB guidelines, and a host that does not can still be honest, so ask rather than assume. A media kit shows reach and fit; it cannot show that a sponsor's product will sell to your listeners, and no template replaces a clear contract once a sponsor says yes.