Overview

How CastFox works: the shortest path from podcast to outcome.

CastFox is a podcast research, analytics and outreach platform. Pick any of five million podcasts and in about sixty seconds you can know what it actually talks about, who listens, where it charts, whether it books guests, and what its audience says in the comments. Then shortlist it and pitch the host without leaving the page. This guide walks through each step in depth, with screenshots from the live product.

Updated · Written by the CastFox team from the live product

The four steps of podcast research and outreach in CastFox

Each step is its own page in this guide. Start anywhere, but this is the order most people actually work in: find candidate shows, understand them, save the good ones, reach the hosts.

Step 01

Discover

Search 5M+ podcasts by what episodes actually say, filter by audience size, or ask PodcastGPT in plain English.

Step 02

Analyze

Open a profile: topics, brands, reach with confidence, audience demographics, Pitch Fit, charts, episodes, YouTube.

Step 03

Organize

Build campaign lists with analytics, export a CSV with host contacts, track shows for new-episode alerts.

Step 04

Pitch

Find shows that actually book guests with Guest Finder, then draft and send pitches to a whole list.

Watch CastFox work on real podcasts

Four walkthroughs on real shows and real searches, one per job: topic search for research, decoding a single podcast, building a PR campaign for a client, and getting booked as a guest. No signup needed to follow along.

Topic search & podcast intelligence
3:40 · From a question to a list you can defend
Decode any podcast
4:45 · Metabolic Mind, taken apart tab by tab
Find PR opportunities for clients
3:20 · Search, campaign, CSV with contacts, seven pitches in one click
Guest Finder: get booked on podcasts
3:05 · From "SaaS and AI" to a ranked list that takes guests

What the CastFox podcast database covers

5M+
Podcasts indexed
114M+
Episodes transcribed and searchable
2M+
Verified host and producer contacts
100+
Countries with daily Apple charts

Per podcast, the profile combines transcript-derived topics and brand mentions, a modelled reach estimate, audience demographics, Apple chart history by country and category, the full episode archive with per-episode topics, guests and sponsors, the YouTube channel with comment sentiment, listener reviews, a web presence report, and host and producer contacts. The Analyze page goes through each of these on a real show.

Data sources include Apple Podcasts charts in 100+ countries, Spotify, YouTube, Castbox, TuneIn and other platforms, the RSS feed and episode audio itself, and public web signals for reviews, mentions and social profiles.

Who uses CastFox, and for what

PR & marketing agencies

Build a client's podcast media list in minutes, keep a guest profile per client, pitch the whole list at once, hand over a CSV with contacts.

Advertisers & sponsors

Find shows where your audience listens, see which brands already come up on air, check audience geography, and size the reach before you spend.

Authors, founders, speakers

Find shows that discuss your topic and actually book guests, then pitch with the show's own numbers in the email.

Podcast creators

Benchmark against your category, find cross-promotion partners, watch competitors' chart moves.

Market researchers

Search what thousands of hosts are actually saying, export the data, track it over time.

Brand and reputation teams

Get alerts when tracked shows publish, and see where a brand is mentioned across episodes.

What is free and what is paid

Everything in this guide is available on the free plan in some amount. Search, browsing, listening, PodcastGPT, lists, tracking and a monthly allowance of full podcast profiles all work at $0 with no card. Pro, Agency and Enterprise raise the limits and unlock contacts, exports, the full data tabs and the AI tools. Enterprise adds team seats, database access and done-for-you outreach. Numbers change, so this guide links to the pricing page rather than repeating them.

Start with Discover Compare plans

Key terms used in this guide

Topic search
A search that matches your words against what is said inside episode transcripts, not against show titles or descriptions.
Reach estimate
A modelled range of monthly listeners for a podcast, built from its chart positions across markets and platform follower and play counts, shown with a confidence rating.
Pitch Fit
A 0–100 score on a podcast profile for how open a show is to outside guests, based on guest rate, guest slots per month, share of first-time guests and how recently a guest appeared.
Guest Finder
An AI tool that takes an expertise or a client profile and returns shows ranked by fit, restricted to podcasts that demonstrably book guests.
Campaign list
A saved list of podcasts, usually one per client or campaign, with aggregate analytics, CSV export and one-click list-wide pitching.
Active only
A search filter that keeps podcasts which published an episode in the last 180 days.
Audience size tiers
Filter bands for per-episode audience: Niche (under 10K), Small (10K–50K), Medium, Large and Massive (250K+).
Verified contact
A host or producer email address, plus social profiles and website, checked before it is included in the CastFox database.

Frequently asked questions about CastFox

What is CastFox?
CastFox is a podcast intelligence platform for marketers, PR teams, advertisers, authors and researchers. It indexes over 5 million podcasts and transcribes over 114 million episodes so you can search what is actually said, analyze any show, build lists with verified host contacts, and pitch hosts with AI-drafted emails.
Is CastFox free to use?
Yes. Search, browsing, listening, PodcastGPT, lists and tracking all work on the free plan with no card, plus a monthly allowance of podcast profiles with full data. Paid plans raise the limits and unlock contacts, exports, the full data tabs and the AI tools. Current limits are on the pricing page.
How is CastFox different from a podcast directory like Apple Podcasts or Podchaser?
Directories search titles and descriptions. CastFox searches inside episode transcripts, returns the specific episodes where a topic came up, adds audience estimates, demographics, chart history, YouTube analytics and guest data to every show, and connects the research to host contacts and an outreach workflow.
How does CastFox estimate a podcast's audience?
Reach is modelled from chart positions across 100+ country charts, platform follower counts and play data. Each estimate is shown as a range with the chart positions it was built from and a confidence rating, so you can judge how much weight to put on it.
How do I find podcasts that accept guests?
Use Guest Finder under AI Tools. Enter your expertise or a client profile and it returns shows ranked by fit, filtered to podcasts that have booked outside guests, with a fit score and a suggested angle for each. Every podcast profile also has a Pitch Fit tab with the same guest data for a single show.
Can I export podcast contacts to a CSV or CRM?
Yes. Any list exports to CSV with podcast data and, on paid plans, contact columns: email, website, Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok. Agency plans also get API access.
Does CastFox write and send the pitch emails?
The pitch wizard drafts a personalized email from the show's data and your proposal. You edit it, then one button submits it to every show in a list, and each pitch is tracked under My Pitches. On Enterprise, the CastFox team processes and sends pitches for you.
What is PodcastGPT?
PodcastGPT is an AI research assistant that answers plain-English questions from the CastFox database rather than general web knowledge. Every show it names comes with real listener estimates and chart positions and links to its profile.
How often is the data updated?
Apple chart positions are captured daily across 100+ countries. New episodes are indexed continuously, and tracked podcasts trigger email alerts when a new episode is published.

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