Is there room for more than one podcast with the same name?
So, you’ve been waiting for your brain to come up with the perfect name for your podcast. And now it has you realise there’s a show out there already with the same name. Booooo!
Can you pretend you didn’t see it and release your show anyway? Or do you need to come up with a different podcast name?
[button text=”Apple” url=”https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/podschool-learn-how-to-create-professional-podcast/id1239671724?mt=2″ class=””] [button text=”Google” url=”https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3Mud2hvb3Noa2FhLmNvbS9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC9pZC8xMzAz” class=””] [button text=”Spotify” url=”https://open.spotify.com/show/1Q2L51iY2sIL8BEkAKyxZj” class=””]
Why you don’t want your podcast to have the same name as another show
The simple reason is it’s confusing.
If you tell people about the show you want them to be able to find it if they’re googling or searching in their podcast app.
If there are multiple podcasts with the same name you’re not only competing with other podcasters for SEO but once a potential listener finds your show it can be hard to work out which one is yours.
Of course, if you’ve got your face on the logo that can make things easier but it assumes people know what you look like, which they often won’t.
That means you’ve set up a bunch of hoops for someone to jump through before they can get to your podcast.
When people lose interest so quickly online the more difficult you make it the more likely they’ll give up the search and you don’t want that.
Does that mean you can’t name your show the same as another podcast?
Podcast names don’t work the same as domain names so technically you can have multiple podcasts out there with the same name but it’s not a smart strategy if you want to grow your audience.
If there are multiple podcasts with identical names you’re not only making it confusing and competing on search you’re making it less likely you’ll be able to get the domain name and social media handles associated with your podcast.
Ideally, as you’re building your show brand you want to have ownership of those platforms so it might be worth changing your name slightly so you can own it online.
What about if a show exists with the same name but it’s no longer producing episodes?
Again, the best-case scenario is to have a show name no one else has but if you find another show with the same name that’s podfaded out this might be a situation where having the same name is ok.
It depends on a lot of factors like how long ago the podcast stopped producing episodes and how popular it was at the time.
It’s also worth contacting the creator to see if they’ve got plans to bring it back because if they do decide to reignite the show you’ll have competition on your hands.
If your competitor has gone to podsleep and they’ve got access to the domain name and social handles it’s worth asking if they’d be open to transferring them across to you.
Just be mindful that when someone finds out you’re interested in buying a domain name the price usually goes up significantly so that can sometimes motivate you to come up with something else.
What if you have to go back to the drawing board?
Sometimes these creative roadblocks can feel like a pain in the butt at the time but can actually lead to creative improvements.
If your brain has come up with one great creative idea I guarantee it’s capable of coming up with more and sometimes these moments are exactly what you need to think outside the box.
Start playing around with synonym websites to see if there’s a different way to say the same thing and you might find you end up with a show name that’s even better than the original.
Got a burning podcasting question you’d like answered? Send me an email.
Want to start your own podcast but need a little help? Download my “How To Start A Podcast” guide or sign up for my online podcasting course, PodSchool.
[spp-transcript]
