Podcast Intelligence Aggregator

Extract comprehensive podcast data from iTunes/Apple Podcasts and RSS feeds for market research, business intelligence, advertising, and content analysis.

Features

• iTunes/Apple Podcasts Search - Search by keywords, genres, language, country
• RSS Feed Parsing - Extract complete episode data, metadata, and show notes
• Multiple Modes - Search, direct RSS URLs, or lookup by iTunes IDs
• Comprehensive Data - Episodes, ratings, descriptions, enclosures, durations
• Market Intelligence - Track competitors, analyze trends, discover opportunities
• No Rate Limits - iTunes API is free and RSS feeds are open
• Fast & Reliable - API-based extraction, no browser automation

Use Cases

Podcast Networks & Studios

• Track competitor shows and performance
• Discover acquisition targets
• Market analysis and positioning
• Content gap identification

Advertisers & Agencies

• Find shows for ad placement
• Audience analysis and demographics
• Track ad-supported podcasts
• ROI tracking and attribution

Market Researchers

• Industry trend analysis
• Category performance metrics
• Growth tracking over time
• Competitive intelligence

Content Creators

• Research successful formats
• Discover content opportunities
• Analyze episode frequency
• Study title and description patterns

Investors & Analysts

• Due diligence on podcast companies
• Market size estimation
• Growth metrics and KPIs
• Category analysis

Business Intelligence

• Monitor brand mentions
• Competitor tracking
• Market positioning
• Strategic planning

Input Parameters

Mode Selection

Search Mode (search)

• Search iTunes/Apple Podcasts by keywords
• Filter by country, language, genre
• Get top results with comprehensive data

Direct RSS URLs (direct_urls)

• Parse specific podcast RSS feeds
• Ideal for monitoring known podcasts
• Extract all episodes and metadata

Lookup by IDs (lookup_ids)

• Fetch podcasts by iTunes ID
• Perfect for tracking specific shows
• Get updated data on demand

Search Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
searchQuery	string	Search term (e.g., "technology podcasts")	-
country	string	Country code (US, GB, CA, AU, FR, DE, ES, IT, JP)	US
language	string	Language code (en, es, fr, de, it, ja, pt)	-
genreId	integer	iTunes genre ID for filtering	-
maxResults	integer	Max podcasts to return (1-200)	50

Common Genre IDs:

• Comedy: 1303
• News: 1311
• Business: 1321
• Technology: 1318
• True Crime: 1488
• Sports: 1545
• Health & Fitness: 1512
• Education: 1304

Episode Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
includeEpisodes	boolean	Extract full episode data from RSS feeds	true
maxEpisodesPerPodcast	integer	Limit episodes per podcast (empty = all)	-

Direct URLs / Lookup IDs

Parameter	Type	Description
feedUrls	array	List of podcast RSS feed URLs
podcastIds	array	List of iTunes podcast IDs (integers)

Advanced

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
debugMode	boolean	Enable detailed logging	false

Output Examples

Podcast with Episodes (Full Data)

{
  "itunes_id": 1535809341,
  "title": "The Daily",
  "artist": "The New York Times",
  "description": "This is what the news should sound like...",
  "artwork_url": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts126/v4/...",
  "feed_url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl",
  "country": "USA",
  "primary_genre": "News",
  "genres": ["News", "Daily News"],
  "track_count": 1420,
  "release_date": "2024-11-12T05:00:00Z",
  "itunes_url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1535809341",
  "content_advisory": "clean",
  "rss_data": {
    "title": "The Daily",
    "description": "This is what the news should sound like...",
    "link": "https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily",
    "language": "en-us",
    "author": "The New York Times",
    "image_url": "https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/...",
    "categories": ["News", "Daily News", "Politics"],
    "copyright": "Copyright 2024 The New York Times Company",
    "last_updated": "Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:00:00 GMT",
    "episode_count": 1420
  },
  "total_episodes": 1420,
  "episodes": [
    {
      "title": "What Trump's Win Means for the Economy",
      "description": "Economists are trying to guess at how Trump policies will affect...",
      "link": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/podcasts/the-daily/trump-economy.html",
      "published": "Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:00:00 GMT",
      "published_parsed": "2024-11-12T05:00:00",
      "guid": "12345-abcd-xyz",
      "duration": "28:45",
      "enclosure": {
        "url": "https://audio.simplecast.com/episodes/...",
        "type": "audio/mpeg",
        "length": "27654321"
      },
      "season": 4,
      "episode_number": 142,
      "episode_type": "full",
      "explicit": "no"
    }
  ]
}

iTunes Data Only (Without Episodes)

{
  "itunes_id": 1291409993,
  "title": "SmartLess",
  "artist": "Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett",
  "description": "New episodes come out every Monday for free...",
  "artwork_url": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts116/v4/...",
  "feed_url": "https://rss.art19.com/smartless",
  "country": "USA",
  "primary_genre": "Comedy",
  "genres": ["Comedy", "Comedy Interviews"],
  "track_count": 245,
  "release_date": "2024-11-11T08:00:00Z",
  "itunes_url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smartless/id1291409993",
  "content_advisory": "explicit"
}

Data Fields Reference

iTunes/Apple Podcasts Data

Field	Type	Description
itunes_id	integer	Unique iTunes podcast ID
title	string	Podcast title
artist	string	Podcast author/creator
description	string	Podcast description
artwork_url	string	Cover art image URL (600x600)
feed_url	string	RSS feed URL
country	string	Country code
primary_genre	string	Main genre/category
genres	array	All genres/categories
track_count	integer	Number of episodes on iTunes
release_date	string	Latest episode date
itunes_url	string	iTunes/Apple Podcasts page URL
content_advisory	string	Rating (clean/explicit)

RSS Feed Data

Field	Type	Description
title	string	Podcast title from RSS
description	string	Podcast description
link	string	Podcast website URL
language	string	Language code
author	string	Author/creator name
image_url	string	Podcast image URL
categories	array	Podcast categories
copyright	string	Copyright notice
last_updated	string	Last update timestamp
episode_count	integer	Total episodes in feed

Episode Data

Field	Type	Description
title	string	Episode title
description	string	Episode description/show notes
link	string	Episode webpage URL
published	string	Publication date (raw)
published_parsed	string	Publication date (ISO 8601)
guid	string	Unique episode identifier
duration	string	Episode duration (HH:MM:SS)
enclosure	object	Audio file details (URL, type, size)
season	integer	Season number (if available)
episode_number	integer	Episode number (if available)
episode_type	string	Type (full/trailer/bonus)
explicit	string	Content rating (yes/no/clean)

Example Use Cases with Input

1. Search for Business Podcasts in Multiple Countries

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "business entrepreneurship",
  "genreId": 1321,
  "country": "US",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxEpisodesPerPodcast": 10
}

Use: Analyze top business podcasts, their episode frequency, and content strategies

2. Monitor Specific Podcasts by RSS URLs

{
  "mode": "direct_urls",
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl",
    "https://rss.art19.com/smartless",
    "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/hubermanlab"
  ],
  "includeEpisodes": true
}

Use: Daily monitoring of key competitor podcasts for new episodes and content analysis

3. Lookup Podcasts by iTunes IDs

{
  "mode": "lookup_ids",
  "podcastIds": [1535809341, 1291409993, 1545953110],
  "country": "US",
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxEpisodesPerPodcast": 20
}

Use: Track specific podcasts for investment due diligence or partnership evaluation

4. Discover True Crime Podcasts for Ad Placement

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "true crime",
  "genreId": 1488,
  "country": "US",
  "maxResults": 50,
  "includeEpisodes": false
}

Use: Find true crime podcasts for advertising campaigns without downloading all episodes

5. Analyze Spanish Language Podcasts

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "noticias",
  "language": "es",
  "country": "ES",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxEpisodesPerPodcast": 5
}

Use: Market research on Spanish-language podcast landscape

Pricing

Pay-Per-Result (PPR) - Recommended pricing model

• $0.03 per podcast
• Each result includes:
  • Full iTunes/Apple Podcasts metadata
  • Complete RSS feed data
  • All episodes (or limited by maxEpisodesPerPodcast)
  • Analytics and metrics

Examples:

• 100 podcasts = $3.00
• 1,000 podcasts = $30.00
• 10,000 podcasts = $300.00

Cost-Effective:

• iTunes API is free (no rate limits)
• RSS feed parsing is lightweight
• No browser automation overhead
• Fast execution times

Technical Details

Data Sources

iTunes Search API

• Free, public API from Apple
• No authentication required
• Rate limits: 20 requests per minute (generous)
• Returns podcast metadata and RSS feed URLs

RSS Feeds

• Open standard for podcast distribution
• Direct parsing from podcast servers
• No rate limits or authentication
• Complete episode data and metadata

Architecture

• API-Based - No browser automation, fast and reliable
• Asynchronous - Concurrent requests for optimal performance
• RSS Parsing - Uses feedparser for robust feed parsing
• Error Handling - Graceful degradation if RSS feeds fail

Performance

• Fast - Typical runtime: 30-60 seconds for 50 podcasts with episodes
• Scalable - Can process hundreds of podcasts per run
• Reliable - No browser dependencies or JavaScript rendering
• Cost-Effective - Minimal compute resources required

Limitations

1. iTunes API Limits - Max 200 podcasts per search query
2. RSS Feed Availability - Some podcasts may not provide RSS feeds
3. Episode Data - Depends on RSS feed completeness (some may have limited history)
4. Real-Time Data - iTunes search results may be cached (usually updated daily)
5. Country Restrictions - Some podcasts may not be available in all countries

Tips for Best Results

Search Optimization

• Use specific, descriptive search terms
• Filter by genre for targeted results
• Try different country codes for regional variations
• Combine keywords with genre IDs for precision

Episode Management

• Use maxEpisodesPerPodcast to limit data volume for large podcasts
• Set includeEpisodes: false for quick metadata-only searches
• Process direct RSS URLs for fastest execution

Market Research

• Search multiple related queries to cover market segments
• Compare podcasts across different countries
• Track changes over time with scheduled runs
• Analyze episode frequency and consistency

Troubleshooting

• Enable debugMode for detailed logging
• Check that RSS feed URLs are valid and accessible
• Verify iTunes podcast IDs are correct
• Some podcasts may have geo-restrictions

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, please contact the developer or submit an issue on the actor's GitHub repository.

Legal & Compliance

• Uses official iTunes Search API (public, free, legal)
• RSS feeds are open standards intended for public consumption
• Respects robots.txt and feed guidelines
• For commercial use, ensure compliance with Apple's terms of service
• Do not use scraped data in violation of podcast creators' rights

Changelog

Version 1.0 (2024-11-12)

• Initial release
• iTunes Search API integration
• RSS feed parsing with feedparser
• Multiple scraping modes (search, direct URLs, lookup IDs)
• Comprehensive episode data extraction
• Market intelligence and analytics features