Pitch as many podcasts as you can research properly, and no more. For most people pitching alone that lands around 5 to 8 shows a week, because a pitch worth sending takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes of listening, checking and writing.
Your calendar sets that number. Below is how to work out your own number, a weekly rhythm that keeps it steady, a tracker you can copy, and the signs that tell you to pitch more or less.
How many podcasts should I pitch per week?
Start with the time one good pitch takes. These are rough working times for a show you have never heard before:
| Step | What you do | Rough time |
|---|---|---|
| Listen | Part of one recent episode, enough to quote something real | 10 to 15 minutes |
| Check | Does it book guests, is it active, where is the contact route | 5 minutes |
| Write | Pick one idea the show has not covered and write a short pitch around it | 5 to 10 minutes |
That adds up to roughly 20 to 30 minutes per show. Now look at your week honestly:
- 1 hour a week: 2 to 3 pitches.
- 2 to 3 hours a week: about 5 to 8 pitches.
- 5 hours a week: about 10 to 12 pitches, with the rest of the time for follow-ups and replies.
Follow-ups and replies take time too, so keep some room for them. If your number drops because you are busy, send fewer pitches and keep the research. A smaller batch done well beats a big batch done fast.
Why quality beats volume in podcast pitching
Hosts read pitches looking for a guest who fits their listener. A pitch that names a recent episode and offers a specific idea shows you did the work. A pitch that could go to any show shows you did not.
Volume also hides problems. If you send 50 generic pitches and hear nothing back, you learn almost nothing. If you send 8 careful ones, you can tell whether the issue is fit, angle or the email itself, and fix it.
Before you hit send, ask whether this email could go to another show by changing only the name. If it could, it needs more research. For the structure of the email itself, use our podcast guest pitch template.
A weekly podcast pitching rhythm
Batching the work keeps it from eating your week. One rhythm that works for a few hours a week:
- Monday: build the list. Add 5 to 10 new shows to your tracker. Our guide on where to find podcasts that accept guests covers places to look.
- Tuesday and Wednesday: research and write. Listen, check, pick the angle, draft the pitch. Do a few each day rather than all at once.
- Thursday: send. Send the pitches you finished. Read each one once more first.
- Friday: follow up and update. Send one short follow-up for pitches that are about a week old, and update every row. Our guide on how to follow up after a podcast pitch has the wording.
If you only have one block a week, do all four steps in it, in that order, with fewer shows.
What counts as one pitch?
Count a pitch only when it is ready to send. It names the host, mentions a recent episode, offers one idea and gives one line of proof. Follow-ups do not count toward your number, and neither do shows you researched and dropped.
Dropping shows is part of the work. If a third of Monday's list fails the checks because a show stopped publishing or never books guests, the research did its job and saved you a wasted email.
Keeping these separate in your tracker makes the weekly review honest. You can see how many shows you looked at, how many passed, how many pitches went out and how many follow-ups you sent. When one of those numbers stalls, you know which step to fix.
What should a podcast pitch tracker include?
A spreadsheet is enough. You do not need a CRM to manage a few dozen shows. Use one row per show, with these columns:
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Show | The podcast name |
| Link | The show's own website or guest page |
| Host or booker | The name you are writing to |
| Contact route | Form, email or booking page, taken from the show's own site |
| Angle | The one episode idea you offered |
| Episode referenced | The recent episode your pitch mentions |
| Date pitched | When you sent it |
| Follow-up date | About a week after the pitch |
| Status | Researching, Pitched, Followed up, Replied, Booked, Recorded, Aired, Declined, Closed |
| Next step | The single action, with a date |
| Notes | Anything the host said, timing, what to try next time |
Podcast outreach spreadsheet tips
- Make Status a dropdown. Filtering by "Pitched" with a follow-up date in the past shows you what is due today.
- Keep the source link for every contact. If the contact came from the show's own page, you can check it again later.
- Do not delete declined shows. Mark them Declined with a note. That stops you from pitching the same angle again too soon.
- Add a week number column if you want to see how many pitches you actually sent each week, compared with your plan.
When should you pitch more, or less?
Give any number about four weeks before you judge it. Then look at the tracker, not at how you feel about it.
- No replies at all. Pitch fewer shows and spend the time on fit. Check that the shows book guests like you and that your angle is specific to each one.
- Replies, but few bookings. Your angle may be vague, or the host cannot see proof you will be a good guest. Add a link to a past talk or interview, and have a podcast guest one sheet ready to send.
- More bookings than you can prepare for. Slow down. A rushed interview does more harm than one fewer appearance.
- Gaps in your calendar. Add two or three shows a week and watch whether the quality holds.
- A launch coming up. Raise the number for a few weeks ahead of it, then drop back to your normal rhythm.
How many podcasts should you pitch if you are just starting?
Start smaller than you think, 3 to 5 a week, and aim at smaller, niche shows where the host cares more about the conversation than your follower count. Each episode you record becomes proof for the next pitch. Our guide to getting on podcasts with no audience goes deeper on this.
Start this week
Open a spreadsheet and add the columns above. If you have pitched before, go through your sent folder and add those shows first with the status they ended on, so you never pitch the same show twice by accident. Then block two hours on your calendar, research five shows, and send the pitches you can stand behind. Next Friday, follow up on those five and add five more.