SEO-Driven Podcast Names
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A case study of Parcast, a podcast network that dominated true crime podcasts through strategic naming and volume-based content creation, ultimately selling to Spotify for $50M+ after just 3 years.
Company Overview
- Founded by Max Cutler at age 27
- Bootstrapped the business
- Sold to Spotify for $53-54M cash + $50M earnout potential
- Built to 16 shows with 100M downloads in just 2 years
- Scaled to 40 weekly shows by 2019
- Employs 150 staff (75 voice actors)
Content Strategy
- Focus on simple, searchable show names
- Example: "Serial Killers" - basic but highly searchable
- "Murder Couples" - clear topic targeting
- "Deathbed Confessions" - direct descriptive naming
Production Approach
- High volume over perfect quality
- One show released daily
- Uses voice actors reading scripted content
- Simplified production: book summaries turned into scripts
- Consistent format repeated across shows
- No improvisation or riffing - purely scripted content
Audience & Distribution
- 75% female audience
- Limited social media presence
- 20k Twitter followers
- 36k Facebook followers
- 50k Instagram followers
- Focused on podcast platform optimization over social
- Dominated search results for true crime categories
- Built audience through platform discovery vs. social promotion
Key Success Factors
- Volume-based approach vs. perfectionism
- SEO-optimized show naming
- Consistent, repeatable format
- Focus on platform optimization over social
- Clear target audience understanding
- Efficient production system
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.