Being atop 10 podcasthas always been a tough game , but some podcasters are quite literally game the system . Nine of America ’s top 50 podcasts , include Call Her Daddy , pass roving game users points for interact with their depicted object , accord to aBloomberg reportFriday .

MowPod CEO Mike Wiston told Bloomberg that users just have to turn over the landing place page to receive souvenir , not actually follow . However , the tool is proving very effective at boosting follower counts , downloads , and listening fourth dimension . Wiston says customers pay $ 5 per new follower , with a necessitate minimum spend of $ 5,000 .

In podcasting , top charts are everything . Alex Cooper ’s Call Her dada just set up on Apple Podcasts in January and is now the number two show on the chopine as of Friday . Cooper was recentlyprofiledin The New York Times about building a media company around her brand .

Alex Cooper, the host of Call Her Daddy speaking at a Spotify conference.

Alex Cooper, the host of Call Her Daddy speaking at a Spotify conference.Photo: Antony Jones (Getty Images)

The profile noted that Cooper ’s podcast latterly slip in Spotify ’s top chart , fall from two to 23 . Call Her dada had even fallen behind a show Alex Cooper helped create with her new mass medium company , Hot Mess With Alix Earle . In the visibility , Cooper simply brush it off , explaining that “ charts fluctuate . ”

Bloomberg identified nine podcasts on America ’s Top 50 list using MowPod ’s secret service recently , let in Call Her pappa , as well as podcasts from Netflix , iHeartMedia , Wondery , and Lemonada . The report take down 37 podcasts in total using the boost military service .

So top podcasters are essentially buying gamer rewards for following and engaging with their appearance , and it come at a premium price . However , Winston noted that 60 - 80 % of people who become followers through its in - plot ads stay on after a campaign . At least 25 % of them puzzle around as a long - full term hearer .

The island of Simushir, with four volcanoes dotted across it.

The Top Podcast charts are an fantastically sole radical that ’s very hard to break into . Many of thetop 10 display on Apple Podcastsand Spotify have been there for the last 5 years . There are rarely new podcasts breaking the list , and when they do , it ’s likely because they have a lot of financial support .

MowPod ’s tactic are not unique . There are plenty of marketing putz that allow rich podcasters to buy their way to following . However , it ’s a especially egregious deterrent example of why podcasting is such a stagnant manufacture , with success highly concentrated at the top .

Digital audioNetflixSPOTIFYWinston

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