Podcast Transcripts: The Swiss Army knife for your content needs

Have you ever wanted to incorporate an exciting take from a podcast host into your website? Have you ever wanted to borrow some ideas from the podcast you've been listening to when creating a Twitter thread? The painful reality is that podcast episodes can be lengthy and hard to navigate, and pausing and rewinding to access content is not optimal. You probably need a podcast transcript to improve your experience.

Podcast transcripts present a digestible form of information from a long podcast episode. They also make audio shows more suitable for other formats like social media, SEO, summaries, and highlights. In addition, it extends the accessibility of the original audio format and allows more audiences to appreciate the content delivered in an episode.

Podcast transcripts as a content-generating machine

Among the formats mentioned above, the most widely-adopted one is probably repurposing podcast content into blog posts. With the abundance of podcast-covered life hacks, psychological resources, celebrity stories, and even professional advice, it is no surprise that podcasts are any content creator's favorite form of content. When equipped with accurate and reliable transcripts, you can produce blogs and articles at a much more efficient rate and better grasp the central idea of podcast content at first glance.

Podcast transcripts as social media aids

Another usage of podcast transcripts lies in social media posting: writing on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Your final goal is probably to produce high-quality, in-demand content so your work can capture more views and readership. Since social media users are generally more comfortable with shorter pieces of writing, using podcast transcripts now comes with an extra benefit: you can swiftly spot and pick out notable quotes and interesting takes from episodes. When appropriately picked and displayed, these selected words can win you many followers and likes.

Podcast transcripts for accessibility

A final less familiar but equally beneficial usage of podcast transcriptions is to act as closed captions or subtitles when you distribute podcasts in video format. For example, if you want to incorporate a section of the audio in your YouTube channel, or if you are a creator deciding to publish your podcast on YouTube, closed captions will come in handy in these scenarios. Using a podcast transcript as subtitles will increase its accessibility and potentially increase your viewership since a broader population can now understand your content. 

Where to find transcripts for popular podcasts

There are multiple ways of finding podcast transcripts online. Search engine queries are the most common, followed by many other viable choices through transcript tools and podcast hosting platforms.

Listen Notes

Listen Notes is a powerful search engine dedicated to podcasts. The website is suitable whether you are looking for a specific episode or a list of recommendations regarding a particular topic you want to hear about. Although this search engine won't lead you directly to podcast transcripts, it provides a comprehensive source of information on the podcast, including the RSS feeds, the official website, and host bios. These leads will help you find transcripts faster than simply typing into Google. In addition, some official websites of podcasts accompany episodes with transcripts. Listen Notes could be a good starting point when you are looking for the transcript but do not have a clue.

AI-generated transcripts

Occasionally, you may encounter situations where you are looking for the transcript of a relative niche podcast or a transcript for the latest podcast episode. If this is the case, you could try requesting podcast transcripts online. Podscribe.ai solves this problem with AI-generated transcripts for a wide range of podcasts. Although it may not always provide the most up-to-date transcripts, you can always choose to pay a small amount to request it from the website owner. Another category of tools you can opt for is generic audio information processing software like Otter.ai. These are affordable add-ons not targeted toward transcribing podcasts but can work decently with these use cases.

Podcast hosting platforms

Lastly, let us also look at the podcast hosting platforms. The most subscribed platforms, like Spreaker, Libsyn, and Buzzsprout, host many podcasts that upload either full transcripts or podcast episode highlights. Some platforms also provide timestamps at the beginning of each paragraph or a summary of each episode. Of course, this is also true for many established podcasts with their websites, such as the MIT News Podcast.

Podcast transcripts to upgrade your learning experience

The demand for transcripts stems from the fact that podcasts are usually lengthy, with some like the Joe Rogan Experience that often stretches beyond the 3-hour mark. What if there is an app that takes you straight to the most exciting knowledge nuggets in a podcast episode?

broadn is an app designed to do just that by letting you access a comprehensive list of podcasts segmented into specific topics. Once you choose the area of interest, it presents you with curated clips from podcasts that are best in the category. With this handy app, you can listen to the best parts of the episode to answer the most popular questions and use them in your research or social media posts.