Novacast Podcast Search

What can Novacast Podcast Search do?

Novacast Podcast Search finds and extracts data on 4M+ podcasts in a single tool. Search in plain language by topic, keyword, show name, or host name, and get back one clean row per podcast: audience size estimates, a 0–100 quality score, genres, language, listener ratings, website links, and the latest episodes. The podcast database is refreshed every 24 hours. Use it to build podcast lists for guest booking, PR outreach, sponsorship research, and podcast lead generation.

Built on the Novacast podcast data API, the same engine behind Novacast's own podcast search.

📦 What you can extract	⚙️ Features & integrations
🎙️ Podcasts matching any topic, show name, or host	🔎 Hybrid (name + topic) or semantic (topic only) search
👤 Host names and claimed hosts	🌍 Filter by language
📊 Estimated audience per episode (low–high range)	↕️ Sort by relevance, quality score, rating, latest episode, or recently added
⭐ Podcast quality score (0–100) and listener ratings	⬇️ Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML
🏷️ Readable genres and language	🦾 API access, webhooks, Node.js & Python SDKs
🔗 Website, artwork, Apple Podcasts (iTunes) ID	📅 Schedule runs to catch new shows
🎧 Latest episodes with dates, durations, and audio URLs	🤖 LLM-ready data for MCP, Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT
📧 Host contact emails (additional credit)	🔄 Database refreshed every 24 hours

If you're booking podcast guest appearances, running a podcast PR agency, looking for podcasts to sponsor, or building a podcast lead list, you can do it all from one tool.

What podcast data can I get?

Novacast Podcast Search is a podcast database API you can run without writing code. There's no directory to click through, no copy-pasting show by show, and no API key needed to start. For every matching podcast you get:

• Show details: what the podcast is. Name, author, and description.
• Hosts: who runs it. The first host's name, plus every host who has claimed the show (hostName, username).
• Audience: how big it is. An estimated audience range per episode (listenersLow, listenersHigh), so you can focus on shows worth pitching.
• Quality: how good it is. A 0–100 podcast quality score (pciScore) plus listener rating and rating count.
• Context: where it fits. Language and readable genre names (for example True Crime).
• Links: where to find it. Website, artwork, Apple Podcasts (iTunes) ID, and the show's Novacast page.
• Episodes (optional): what they've published lately. Up to 20 latest episodes per podcast with title, description, date, duration, and audio URL.
• Host emails (additional credit): who to pitch. Host contact emails are available for an additional credit, for when you're ready to reach out.

The database behind it is refreshed every 24 hours, so new shows and new episodes show up fast.

How much does it cost to search podcasts?

Novacast Podcast Search uses a pay-per-event pricing model. You pay $5.00 per 1,000 podcasts returned ($0.005 per podcast), and you pay per podcast, not per search. There's also a tiny fixed fee to start each run.

Bring your own key: if you add your own API key from novacast.ai/data-api, requests are billed to your Novacast account (one credit per request) and this Actor charges nothing per result. Sandbox keys are free for testing.

How do I use Novacast Podcast Search?

You don't need any scraping experience to start. Here's how to find podcasts:

1. Create a free Apify account using your email.
2. Open Novacast Podcast Search in Apify Console.
3. Type a search query in plain language: a topic (podcasts for B2B SaaS founders), a show name (My First Million), or a host's name.
4. Set Maximum results (up to 1,000 per query) and, optionally, a Language.
5. Pick how to Sort by: relevance, quality score, listener rating, latest episode, or recently added.
6. Optionally set Latest episodes per podcast (0–20) to include recent episodes.
7. Click Save & Start and wait for the run to finish.
8. Download your podcast list in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML, or pull it programmatically via the Apify API.

⬇️ Input

Field	What it does
query	Topic, show name, or host name in plain language. Example: podcasts for B2B SaaS founders
maxResults	How many podcasts to return, 1 to 1,000. Default 50
language	Only shows in this language, by name (english, spanish, german, …). Empty = all languages
sort	relevance (default), pci (quality score), rating (listener rating), recent-publication (latest episode), or new (recently added)
mode	hybrid (default) finds shows by name and topic; semantic ranks by topic meaning only. Applies to relevance sorting
includeEpisodes	Latest episodes to fetch per podcast, 0 to 20. Default 0
apiKey	Optional. Your own Novacast API key, so requests bill to your Novacast account instead of per result here

{
  "query": "true crime",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "language": "english",
  "sort": "pci"
}

⬆️ Output

One row per podcast:

{
  "uuid": "…",
  "name": "Crime Junkie",
  "authorName": "audiochuck",
  "hostName": null,
  "hosts": [],
  "language": "ENGLISH",
  "genres": ["True Crime"],
  "listenersLow": 1200000,
  "listenersHigh": 1800000,
  "pciScore": 92.4,
  "websiteUrl": "https://crimejunkiepodcast.com",
  "novacastUrl": "https://novacast.ai/podcast/…"
}

The numbers in the example are illustrative; run the Actor for live values.

What can you do with podcast data?

🎤 Podcast guest booking

Getting booked on the right shows starts with a list of podcasts that match your expertise and have a real audience. Here's how to build a guest booking list with Novacast Podcast Search:

1. Find shows in your niche. Search a topic like podcasts for real estate investors to get every matching podcast.
2. Keep the good ones. Sort by pci (quality score) and look at the audience range to focus on the shows worth pitching first.
3. Check they're active. Set includeEpisodes to 3 and skip shows whose latest episode is months old.
4. Research the host. Use the host name, website, and recent episode titles to personalize your pitch.
5. Get the host's email. Unlock host contact emails for your shortlist (additional credit) and start your outreach.

Schedule weekly runs sorted by new to catch new shows in your niche. Send results to Google Sheets, your CRM, or your outreach tool.

📣 Podcast PR and booking agencies

Build a targeted podcast list for every client in minutes instead of hours. Run one search per client topic, filter by language, sort by quality score, and export a ready-to-pitch spreadsheet.

💰 Podcast sponsorship and advertising

Find podcasts that reach your target customers. Search by topic, compare audience estimates and quality scores across shows, and build a shortlist of podcasts to sponsor.

🔍 Market and competitor research

See which podcasts cover your industry, how crowded a topic is, and which shows lead it, before you launch your own podcast or plan a content strategy.

🎧 Episode monitoring and content research

Pull the latest episodes for a list of shows to sample content, track what topics are trending in a niche, or feed episode audio URLs into a transcription pipeline.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How many podcasts can I get per search?

Up to 1,000 per query. The API serves at most 20 pages of 50 results per query. To get more, run several narrower queries.

Can I search by host name or show name?

Yes. Type a host's name or a show name as the query. Keep the relevance engine on hybrid, which matches names as well as topics.

What's the difference between hybrid and semantic search?

hybrid finds shows by name and by topic, so it's best when you know the show or host. semantic ranks only by meaning, so it's best for broad topic searches like podcasts about burnout for doctors.

What does the quality score mean?

pciScore is Novacast's podcast quality score, from 0 to 100. Sort by pci to put the strongest shows first.

How accurate are the audience estimates?

listenersLow and listenersHigh are an estimated audience range per episode, not exact download numbers. Use them to compare and prioritize shows.

Can I get host emails?

Yes. Host contact emails are available for an additional credit. Standard results include host names, the show's website, and its Novacast page.

How fresh is the podcast data?

The podcast database is refreshed every 24 hours, so new shows, new episodes, and updated audience estimates appear within a day.

What happens if I hit a rate limit?

Per-minute limits are handled automatically by waiting. If a daily quota or your credit balance runs out, the run ends with a clear message.

Can I integrate podcast data with other services?

Yes. Podcast data can be integrated with almost any cloud service or web app. Apify supports Zapier, n8n, Make, Slack, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Airbyte, and more. You can also use webhooks to trigger actions whenever a run finishes, like adding new podcasts to your CRM.

Can I use Novacast Podcast Search with the Apify API?

Yes. The Apify API gives you programmatic access to run the Actor, fetch datasets, and schedule runs, which makes it a full podcast search API. For Node.js, use the apify-client NPM package. For Python, use the apify-client PyPI package.

Can I get podcast data through an MCP server?

Yes. Connect through the Apify MCP server from clients like Claude Desktop, then ask in plain language, for example "find 50 English podcasts for B2B SaaS founders, sorted by quality score."

Is it legal to use this podcast data?

This Actor only returns publicly available podcast information. Some of it, such as host names, may count as personal data under regulations like the GDPR. Only use the data if you have a legitimate reason, such as pitching a show.