If you love listening to podcasts, you might be tempted to start using Alexa to tune into your favorite episodes. This might seem a bit complicated, but it’s really simple and straightforward.
Is it worth listening to podcasts on Alexa? Yes, because Alexa makes listening to your favorite podcasts so much more convenient. It lets you listen to podcasts from a variety of platforms, such as Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and Luminary.
Besides listening to your favorite podcasts, you can also send your personal podcast to Alexa, which is a great way to increase your audience. Here’s what you need to know about how to get podcasts on Alexa, whether yours or other people’s.
How To Get Your Podcast On Alexa
A cool feature of Amazon Alexa is that you can get it to play your very own podcast in your home, and your listeners can too! You just need to send your podcast to TuneIn Radio.
This is the default player of podcasts for Alexa, so you need to get your podcast listed in its directory. This will ensure that your podcast reaches many new listeners – we’re talking millions of them.
How to get started with TuneIn
- On the TuneIn website, you should sign up for a free account.
- Once you’ve done that, go to “Podcasters” and choose “Publish a podcast.”
- You’ll have to provide the site with some information about you and your podcast. This info includes the country in which you live, your email address, your podcast’s name, and your podcast RSS feed.
- Accept the Ts and Cs, then press “Send email.”
- Note that it can take a few days or weeks for you to receive a reply to find out if your podcast has been approved for listing on the TuneIn directory.
- Once you have been approved, your podcast will appear in the directory and you’ll be able to ask Amazon Alexa devices to play it (just say “Play” and your podcast title!).
What About Flash Briefing?
Okay, so there’s another way in which you can reach a larger audience for your podcast. If you want to get your podcast on Amazon Echo so you can find new listeners, there’s something known as Flash Briefings.
How it works is that it’s similar to subscription services offered by podcast distributors like Apple Podcasts. Once you set it, new episodes of the podcast will automatically get played.
Here’s how to make your podcast available on Amazon Echo
- You will first have to set up an Amazon Developer account.
- Then, you’ll be able to choose Alexa from the menu.
- Choose “Get started,” which can be found under Alexa Skills Kit.
- Select “Add A New Skill.” The type of skill you need to select is “Flash Briefing Skill API.”
- Make sure you input your podcast’s name for the “Name” field.
- You can now skip the “Interaction Model” page and go straight to the “Configuration” page.
- Here you’ll enter your podcast name followed by “is not available at this time” in the custom error message.
- Select “Add new feed” and punch in your podcast’s feed information on the “Configuration” page. The type of information includes your podcast name and genre, the type of content (which is audio) and the feed icon. This is the image that comes up in the Flash Briefing settings, in your Alexa app.
- Now you can go to “Publishing information.” As the name suggests, here you’ll have to choose the category to describe your podcast. You’ll also have to add the following information:
- In the “Testing Instructions” box, write “this is a podcast with an audio feed.”
- In the “Short Skill Description” box, write two or three words that summarize your podcast.
- In the “Full skill description” box, write a short summary of your podcast. Note that this is the description that will be seen by Amazon Alexa users in the Alexa app, so make it good!
- You can also upload images for the Amazon search and Alexa app.
- Fill out your privacy information, and make sure you test everything with the beta test option offered by Alexa. You don’t have to own an Amazon Echo for this as you can test it via the Alexa app.
- Choose “Submit for certification.” You should get your podcast approved within a few days.
How To Play Podcasts On Alexa
You can easily play podcasts on Alexa. Here’s how to get started if you’ve never done it before.
- Start by opening the Alexa app.
- Tap “More.”
- Select “Settings.”
- Scroll down until you see “Music & Podcasts.”
- Choose “Link new service.”
- Choose the service via which you want to listen to a podcast, such as Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio.
- Choose the option “Enable to use.”
- After linking the podcast service to Alexa, you’ll be able to start listening to it. Simply ask Alexa to play the podcast. For example, “Alexa, play The Nikki Glaser podcast on Apple Podcasts.”
Smart Tips For Playing Podcasts On Alexa
- When you want to listen to a specific podcast, make sure you give Alexa the correct information it needs, such as the title of the show or podcast and the specific date of the episode.
- The episode date is crucial to prevent Alexa from being confused if you want to listen to something other than the latest episode on offer.
- It might also help to use the podcaster’s name if the title of the podcast or episode is similar to other offerings that Alexa could pull up.
How Can You Stream Podcasts From Your Favorite App?
If you’re using Alexa via a Bluetooth smart speaker or your trusty headphones, you can sync the device with your smartphone or tablet and then play podcasts directly from the app you love to use. To do this, you just have to follow these steps:
- First, make sure that your device is within range of the Echo speaker.
- Disconnect existing Bluetooth connections by saying, “Alexa, disconnect”.
- Put your smartphone or tablet on Bluetooth pairing mode.
- Set your Echo device to pairing mode too. You can use the command, “Alexa, pair.”
- On your device, you want to select your Echo speaker (under the Bluetooth settings), then wait for Alexa to deem the connection successful.
Related Questions
Should you enable AnyPod to listen to podcasts on Alexa?
Choosing the AnyPod skill instead of a default one will enable you to subscribe to podcasts and have better control of your podcast experience.
What is AnyPod?
AnyPod is a service or skill that lets you play any podcast on Alexa. It also gives you various commands to learn so that you can navigate podcasts much easier.
Conclusion
Alexa has made doing a variety of daily tasks so much easier. Although you might be hesitant about listening to podcasts on Alexa, after reading this article you now know how easy it is to start streaming your favorite pods.
We’ve also provided you with the information you need to distribute your own podcast to Alexa so you can widen your audience.
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