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Podcast listenership is projected to reach 2 billion people, yet the average show receives 45 guest requests per day and most of them never get a reply. PR specialist Laurens Tijssen believes the gap between those two numbers comes down to one thing most guests get wrong from the start: their expectations.
Tijssen, founder of Breathpage and PressReleasePlug has published more than 500 articles, booked clients on over 120 podcasts and scheduled 70+ TV segments across a career serving 150+ clients in 14 industries. He is recognized by Thinkers360 as a Top 100 Thought Leader in Personal Branding. Recently he published a new guide, “How To Actually Get On Podcasts In 2027,” that breaks down what actually separates the guests who get booked from the ones who get ignored.
The guide draws on new industry data from the PodMatch Podcasting Industry Report released in October 2026. According to the report, there are 39,303 actively established podcasts, defined as non-celebrity shows with more than 100 episodes and a release cadence of ten days or less. Those shows account for 95% of total independent podcast listenership despite representing only 7% of all podcasts. Meanwhile, 108,910 podcasts are actively seeking guests while 4.9 million guests are seeking podcasts, and an estimated 93.5% of podcasters quit before reaching the 100-episode mark where results typically begin.
“The numbers work in the guest’s favor if they understand the game,” Tijssen explains. “Most people show up with the wrong expectations. They judge shows by view counts, they pitch themselves the same way everyone else does, and they don’t realize that a podcast listener is 100x more valuable than a social media engagement.”
One of the guide’s central arguments is that past podcast appearances function as a qualification signal that hosts actively check, regardless of how successful a guest is in business. Tijssen recommends entrepreneurs run through 10 to 30 smaller virtual shows first, treating them as reps that build the track record bigger shows look for. He also warns against the most common misjudgment in the space: dismissing a show because of low YouTube views, when plays are actually split across Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon and other platforms.
To ground the guide in the reality of the people making booking decisions, Tijssen collected direct input from established hosts on what they look for in guests.
Calvin Schwartz, host of Conversations with Calvin Schwartz: We the Species, now in its seventh year with more than 500 interviews completed, described his filter this way: “I try to determine from their information whether we can have a conversation between 2 Human SPECIES rather than someone performing and not being genuine.” His advice to guests is equally direct: “Try not to make a commercial and sell something. No rehearsed or read answers. Try not to monopolize. And it’s ok to say, ‘I don’t know.'”
Brian K Wright, host of Success Profiles Radio, pointed to the pitch itself as the deciding factor. “The first impression I get is the way you pitch my show. I love when potential guests provide me with everything I need to make a decision about bringing them on. That would include websites, socials, previous interviews, and one-sheet, if available.” On vague pitches, he is unambiguous: “What I do NOT love is when I get a pitch with a vague idea that ends with, ‘Do you want to know more?’ The answer will always be no.”
Sonia Marta, host of The SMARTA podcast, emphasized preparation and composure, noting that “a person that has practiced their answers prior to recording” stands out, and that her best episodes came from guests “that already had a lot of podcast appearances, where they share facts that are very niche or rare to find.”
The overlap across the three hosts is difficult to miss: be prepared but human, bring a story rather than a sales pitch, and treat the invitation as the opportunity it is.
Beyond getting booked, the guide covers what happens after the interview, which Tijssen argues is where a podcast appearance compounds. When an episode is published across Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon and YouTube with the guest’s name in the title, the guest’s name lands on high domain-authority pages that frequently rank on the first pages of Google for their name. Shows that publish full transcripts on their websites add a further layer, since AI models can pick up that text directly, improving the guest’s visibility in AI-generated answers. The guide also recommends guests clip their interviews into short-form content for their own channels, extending the reach of a single appearance for both guest and host.
The guide also addresses the commercial reality of the podcast industry. Some shows charge fees ranging from a few hundred dollars for production to $10,000 or more for top-tier placements. Tijssen’s position is that paying can work, but only selectively, and that providing genuine value to the host can sometimes unlock top-tier shows without a fee at all.
About Laurens Tijssen
Laurens Tijssen is a PR and media specialist and the founder of Breathpage and PressReleasePlug.com. He has served more than 150 clients across 14 industries and 20 countries, publishing 500+ articles, booking 120+ podcast appearances and scheduling 70+ TV segments. He is recognized by Thinkers360 as a Top 100 Thought Leader in Personal Branding.
