Podcast Sponsor-Ready Host Lead Extractor

Turn Apple Podcast URLs, iTunes IDs, direct RSS feed URLs, or niche keyword searches into sponsor-ready host leads: the host/owner contact email (pulled from the public RSS <itunes:owner> tag), MX/DNS-verified emails + phones + socials + tech stack from the podcast's own website, an A–D lead score, and a sponsor-readiness signal (publishing recency + frequency + catalog size + reachability → A–D grade with a plain-English pitch-readiness line).

No third-party API keys and no residential proxy required — Apple's iTunes Search/Lookup API is a public keyless endpoint and RSS is public XML, so this Actor sidesteps the proxy limits and cost that constrain search/map scrapers. The enrichment layer is shared with our Website Contact & Company Extractor, ATS Hiring-Intent Lead Finder, and Shopify Store Lead Extractor.

Why this beats the incumbents: existing podcast scrapers (ryanclinton/podcast-directory-scraper, benthepythondev/podcast-intelligence-aggregator, automation-lab/podcast-scraper) just dump raw RSS fields — none bundle a verified host email + website enrichment + a sponsor-readiness score into a ready-to-pitch sales lead, and none bill per verified contact (the #1 complaint about flat-rate RSS dumpers that charge for null/stale emails).

Input

{
  "podcasts": ["https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startalk-radio/id325404506"],
  "searchQueries": ["marketing", "technology"],
  "maxPerQuery": 10,
  "verifyEmails": true,
  "enrichWebsite": true,
  "concurrency": 5
}

Provide podcasts (Apple URLs / bare iTunes IDs / direct feed URLs) and/or searchQueries (keywords resolved via Apple's iTunes Search API). At least one of the two is required.

Field	Type	Default	Description
podcasts	array	—	Apple Podcast URLs, bare iTunes numeric IDs, or direct RSS feed URLs. One record per resolved podcast.
searchQueries	array	—	Keywords to discover podcasts via Apple's keyless iTunes Search API. Each returns up to maxPerQuery podcasts.
maxPerQuery	integer	10	Cap on podcasts returned per search query (1–50).
verifyEmails	boolean	true	Validate the best contact email's domain against live MX/DNS records.
enrichWebsite	boolean	true	Fetch the podcast's own website (RSS channel <link>) for emails/phones/socials/tech stack. Disable for faster runs when only the RSS owner email is needed.
concurrency	integer	5	Podcasts processed in parallel (1–10).
proxyConfiguration	object	none	Optional — only needed if you hit rate limits; the Actor works without a proxy.

Output

One record per resolved podcast, pushed to the dataset:

{
  "inputRef": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startalk-radio/id325404506",
  "matchType": "id",
  "podcastId": "325404506",
  "title": "StarTalk Radio",
  "author": "Neil deGrasse Tyson",
  "appleUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startalk-radio/id325404506",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/4T39_jAj",
  "website": "siriusxm.com",
  "ownerEmail": "feed@startalkradio.net",
  "ownerName": "StarTalk Radio",
  "summary": "Science, pop culture, and comedy collide on StarTalk Radio! ...",
  "category": "Science",
  "language": "en-us",
  "country": "USA",
  "episodeCount": 1117,
  "lastEpisodeDate": "2026-07-10T05:00:00+00:00",
  "episodesLast30Days": 9,
  "emails": ["feed@startalkradio.net"],
  "emailVerified": true,
  "phones": ["1-866-635-2349"],
  "socials": {
    "facebook": "https://www.facebook.com/siriusxm",
    "twitter": "https://www.twitter.com/siriusxm",
    "youtube": "https://www.youtube.com/siriusxm",
    "tiktok": "https://www.tiktok.com/@siriusxm"
  },
  "techStack": ["Nginx", "React"],
  "sponsorReadiness": "A",
  "sponsorLabel": "Prime sponsor target — actively publishing, established catalog, reachable contact.",
  "leadScore": "A",
  "hasContact": true
}

• ownerEmail comes from the RSS <itunes:owner>/<itunes:email> tag — the canonical host/owner contact. It is always ranked first in emails.
• emails are de-duplicated and filtered against a placeholder/asset/support-widget blocklist; the best email's domain is MX/DNS-verified (emailVerified).
• website is the RSS channel <link> (the podcast's own site). When a feed publishes a scheme-less or parent-network link (e.g. StarTalk → siriusxm.com), website-derived fields (phones/socials/tech) reflect that domain — the ownerEmail is still the show's own contact.
• sponsorReadiness (A–D) grades publishing recency (≤7d/≤30d/≤90d), frequency (episodes in the last 30 days), catalog size (≥50/≥10), reachability (has a contact), and has-own-website. sponsorLabel is a plain-English line you can paste into a pitch.
• leadScore (A–D) grades contact-signal richness (verified email + phone + socials + tech).
• hasContact is true when at least one of emails, phones, or socials is non-empty — this drives billing (see Pricing).

Real example (live run, 2026-07-11)

Input: podcasts: ["https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startalk-radio/id325404506"], searchQueries: ["marketing", "technology"], maxPerQuery: 1, verifyEmails: true, enrichWebsite: true.

Result: 3/3 podcasts returned a verified owner email + sponsor-readiness signal. All graded A.

Podcast	Match	Owner / verified email	Website-derived	Eps	Last ep	Sponsor	Lead
StarTalk Radio	id	feed@startalkradio.net ✓	phone, 4 socials, Nginx/React	1117	2026-07-10	A	A
Marketing Happy Hour	search:marketing	cassie@cammmedia.com ✓, hello@marketinghappyhr.com	4 socials, HubSpot/Squarespace	275	2026-07-02	A	A
The Future of Everything (Stanford)	search:technology	podcasts@podiumpodcastco.com ✓	4 socials, Cloudflare/GA/GTM/Mailchimp/React	385	2026-07-10	A	A

Note: StarTalk's RSS channel <link> points to its parent network siriusxm.com, so its website-derived phone/socials/tech reflect SiriusXM — the ownerEmail (feed@startalkradio.net) remains the show's own verified sponsor contact, ranked first.

Pricing (pay-per-event — you pay only for successful results)

Event	Price	Charged when
podcast_lead (primary)	$0.008	Podcast returns at least one real contact signal (owner email, website email, phone, or social) plus publishing metadata
verified_email	$0.003	Podcast yields at least one MX/DNS-validated contact email
sponsor_signal	$0.001	The A–D sponsor-readiness grade is computed for a podcast
Actor start	$0.0001	One-time, per run

No charge for podcasts with no contact signal at all (dead feeds, no owner email, no website contacts). Zero upstream compose cost (Apple's keyless iTunes API + public RSS + the podcast's own public website) — margin-positive at these prices.

Troubleshooting

• (no result) for an Apple URL / ID: the iTunes lookup returned no match — the ID may be wrong or the podcast delisted. Use the bare numeric ID or a keyword search instead.
• ownerEmail: null: the feed has no <itunes:owner>/<itunes:email> tag. The Actor still enriches the podcast's website (emails may be populated from there); if neither yields contact, hasContact is false and the run is not billed.
• Website-derived socials/phone don't match the show: the RSS channel <link> sometimes points to a parent network or host platform rather than the show's own site. The ownerEmail is always the show's own RSS contact and is ranked first.
• emailVerified: false on a real-looking email: the email's domain had no MX record at check time (transient DNS or a dead domain). The email is still returned; retry the run to re-check.
• Slow runs on many search queries: lower maxPerQuery or raise concurrency (max 10). Each podcast takes ~2–5s (iTunes lookup + RSS fetch + optional website fetch).

Use cases

Podcast sponsorship / ad-sales prospecting, host outreach for guest appearances, agency lead lists for podcast networks, audience-research bundling, and MCP agent tools like "find sponsorable podcasts for niche X with a verified contact."