Every filter and tab in MillionPodcasts exists to narrow 3+ million podcasts into a shortlist of the right ones to pitch, customized for your needs. New users can get more out of the platform once they know which settings do that job, and what common mistakes they should avoid. If you are brand new, our guide to what MillionPodcasts is and who it is for is the place to start, then come back here.
Quick Answer
What mistakes do new MillionPodcasts users make with podcast search, and how to avoid them?
The 6 most common mistakes are: picking the wrong search field, staying on the Podcasts tab only and ignoring Episodes and AI Results, judging shows by Apple rating alone without seeing number of listeners, matching just the topic without checking audience fit, chasing the biggest shows over the best-fit ones, and unlocking contacts before filtering to a shortlist.
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What This Guide Covers:
1. Picking the Wrong 'Search In' Field
2. Staying on the Podcasts Tab Only
3. Judging a Show by Its Rating Instead of Its Reach
4. Matching the Topic but Not the Audience
5. Chasing the Biggest Shows Instead of the Best-Fit Ones
6. Unlocking Contacts Before Filtering1. Picking the Wrong ‘Search In’ Field
The Search In filter decides where your keyword is matched: the podcast title, the podcast description, or the host name. All three options can be selected together if needed.
● Search “fintech” against titles and you get shows with fintech in their name.
● Search the same word against descriptions and you also get shows that cover fintech every week without naming it in the title, which is where a lot of good targets hide.
● Set it to Host Name and a podcast search returns every show a specific person hosts.
Each one is built for a different kind of query, and the mistake is not choosing one over another, it’s leaving Search In on the same setting for every search without matching it to what you’re looking for.
● Title search is the precise option. Searching titles is the fastest way to find shows built specifically around a niche, and it’s the right call when you want a short, high-intent list rather than a broad one. However, it can be limiting.
● Description search is the wide-angle option. It catches shows that cover a topic regularly without necessarily naming it in the title.
The Match setting controls how multiple words combine. “All of these words” requires every term, so typing four words can cut a result set down significantly. “Any of these words” accepts any one of them. “This exact word or phrase” matches a quoted string exactly.
➤ Use Advanced Search for Synonyms and Exclusions
Advanced Search uses Boolean logic.
- Comma Separated Search: Use commas to search multiple terms together
- Exact Match: Put exact words in quotes
- OR Search: Use OR between words to match any of them
- Exclude Words: Add – before words you want to exclude
| Field | Use | Logic | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| All these words | commas (,) | AND | health, fitness |
| This exact word or phrase | quotes (” “) | Exact match | “mental health” |
| Any of these words | OR | OR | anxiety OR stress OR burnout |
| None of these words | – | NOT | -weight loss |
To learn more, check out the complete features guide.
2. Staying on the Podcasts Tab Only
A podcast search returns three tabs: Podcasts, Episodes and AI Results. New users often work on only the Podcasts tab, which is the right home base for list building but leaves two other angles unused.
| Tab | What a “tech” search returns | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Podcasts | About 56,900 shows with full contact profiles | Building an outreach shortlist |
| Episodes | 248,100 matches across 62.1 million episodes | Finding shows that covered your topic recently |
| AI Results | About 3,000 shows ranked by meaning | Briefs like “shows for early-stage B2B founders” |
The Episodes tab is the fastest way to time a pitch. A show that ran an episode on your topic last week has an active interest in it right now. Run the Episodes search, then click Create Alert to save it as a standing monitor, and new coverage of your category reaches you without running the search again. That alert is how PR teams catch a story the day it breaks instead of a week later.
3. Judging a Show by Its Rating Instead of Its Reach
Once shows are on screen, the most common podcast search mistake is looking at just the star rating.
Apple Rating and review count measure how much the current audience likes a show, not how many people it reaches. A 4.9-star meditation show might reach a few hundred listeners, while a 4.0-star business show reaches a hundred thousand. Sorting a podcast search by Apple Rating alone floats the small, well-loved shows to the top and buries the ones that have lesser ratings but more listeners.
Estimated Monthly Listeners is the field that reports reach, banded from Nano to Celebrity. Read it next to the rating: the rating tells you how the audience feels, the listener estimate tells you how many of them there are.
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Apple Rating | Audience satisfaction, 1 to 5 |
| Apple Review Count | Engagement |
| Estimated Monthly Listeners | Audience size, Nano (up to 1,000) to Celebrity (1M+) |
➤ Set the Reach Band Before You Sort
The Estimated Monthly Listeners filter lets a podcast search target a reach band directly, from Nano and Micro for niche credibility up to Mid-Tier, Macro, Mega, and Celebrity for mass awareness.
Set the band that fits the campaign first, then sort by rating or reviews. This keeps the rating and reviews as a tiebreaker between similar-sized shows instead of the deciding factor across shows of wildly different reach.
| Ready to build your first shortlist? |
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| Point Search In at the right field, set a reach band for monthly listeners, sort by Apple Reviews and save the matches to a list. Search 3M+ podcasts → |
4. Matching the Topic but Not the Audience
A show can cover your exact topic and still reach the wrong people. A marketing podcast whose listeners are mostly students is a poor target for a tool sold to chief marketing officers, however well the topic matches.
4 filters fix this: Listener Type, Listener Gender, Listener Income, and Listener Age. Geographic Distribution goes further and shows where a show’s listeners live, which can differ from where the host is based. A US launch fits a show with a mostly US audience, even if a same-topic show with a mostly overseas audience ranks higher on keywords.
➤ Worked Example: A B2B Tool for US Operations Managers
Say you are pitching a workflow tool for operations managers at US mid-market companies. A topic-only podcast search for “operations” returns thousands of shows, most of them wrong for this buyer. Stack the filters instead:
- Beats set to Business and Management for the editorial angle
- Location set to United States, or a US Regions metro for a regional push
- Listeners Type set to a buyer persona such as Entrepreneur and CEO
- Listener Income set to High Income
- Latest Episode Date set to Last 30 Days to get active podcasts
This podcast search results in a shortlist of active business shows whose listeners are the target consumers who would be interested in buying your tool, not every operations show.
5. Chasing the Biggest Shows Instead of the Best-Fit Ones
The reflex on a new podcast search is to sort by reach and pitch the top five. The biggest shows are also the hardest to book, the slowest to reply, and often broader than a focused campaign needs. A Mid-Tier show whose audience is your exact buyer can return more bookings than a Celebrity-tier show whose listeners only half overlap.
2 tools can point you toward shows on the way up. The Estimated Monthly Listeners filter sets a reach band, so a podcast search for niche authority can exclude the mega shows on purpose. Podcast Charts ranks shows on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube with green and red arrows that mark which shows are climbing, with category and country filters.
➤ Match the Reach Band to the Goal
The reach a campaign needs depends on what it is for, and the listener bands line up with common goals:
- Nano and Micro, up to 10,000 listeners: niche authority, easier booking, higher reply rates
- Mid-Tier and Macro, up to 250,000 listeners: a balance of reach and access that fits most campaigns
- Mega and Celebrity, 250,000 to 1M+: mass awareness, longer lead times, harder to book
Pro Tip
Watch the green arrows on Podcast Charts. A show climbing its category is growing and adding episodes, which may make it easier to book now than in six months. Pitching the risers gets you in before the inbox fills up.
6. Unlocking Contacts Before Filtering
Contact unlocks are metered across our pricing plans, from 1,500 a year on Starter to unlimited on Business Plus. Unlocking an email while you are still browsing spends that quota on shows that a filter might remove from your list a minute later.
The order that protects your quota on any podcast search is search, then filter, then review and save, then unlock. By the time you unlock a contact, the show has already passed every filter that counts: active, reachable, and audience-matched.
➤ Save Shortlists to Named Lists First
Click Add to list on any result to build a shortlist before unlocking. The Manage List screen shows each list’s size and last-updated date, and Preview opens a list to catch off-target shows before you spend a credit.
For turning a saved list into a full campaign, see how to build a podcast outreach list.
Wrapping up
Get the workflow right and the platform does what it is built for, which is handing you a short list of active, reachable, well-matched shows on the first try. Aim Search In at the right field, stack two or three filters, check reach and audience, and save the keepers to a named list before you unlock anything.
As podcast listening continues to grow, with 55% of Americans age 12+ now listening monthly, building a filtered, targeted outreach list becomes even more valuable than relying on broad searches alone.
The best way to lock in the correct search process is to put it in practice. Run one podcast search on MillionPodcasts. Open a free account and search your niche.
Once the shortlist is built, our podcast outreach guide and workflow automation guide cover the pitching and follow-up side of the workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I search podcasts by host name instead of show title?
Yes. Set Search In to Host Name and type the person’s name. The podcast search returns every show that person hosts.
What is the difference between the Podcasts and Episodes tabs?
The Podcasts tab returns whole shows with contact profiles, which is best for building a list. A podcast search on the Episodes tab looks across 62.1 million episodes for shows that covered your topic recently, which is best for timing a pitch.
How do I find only podcasts that are still active?
Use the Latest Episode Date filter and set it to Last 30 Days, or a custom window for niches that publish less often. Apply it first so every later filter runs only against shows that still publish.
Should I unlock a contact before or after filtering?
After. Unlocks count against your plan’s quota, so filter to a qualified shortlist first and unlock only the shows that pass. This keeps every credit on a show you plan to pitch.
References
Edison Research – The Infinite Dial 2026, March 12, 2026. edisonresearch.com/the-infinite-dial-2026