Call Her Daddy and Top Podcasts Manipulate Their Follower Count: Report

Being Top 10 Podcasts It's always been a tough game, but some podcasters are literally gaming the system. Nine of the top 50 podcasts in America, including Call her fathergiving mobile game users points for interacting with their content, according to A Bloomberg report Friday.

The marketing company promises MowPod, used by many of the top podcasts, is “significantly higher on the Apple Podcasts charts” with a tool it doesn't publicly disclose. The tool advertises to mobile game users, asking them to “continue.” Call her father on Apple Podcasts” to earn tokens. If users click, they'll be directed to the show's landing page, where they can subscribe or listen to the latest episodes.

Users only have to get to the landing page to receive tokens, not actually follow through, MowPod CEO Mike Weston told Bloomberg. However, the tool has proven to be very effective in increasing the number of followers, downloads, and listening time. Wiston says clients pay $5 per new follower, with a minimum spend requirement of $5,000.

In podcasting, top charts are everything. Alex Cooper Call her father It just launched on Apple Podcasts in January and is now the second show on the platform as of Friday. Cooper was recently Glance In The New York Times about building a media company around her brand.

Cooper's podcast recently slipped at the top of Spotify's charts, falling from two to 23, the profile noted. Call her father She even left behind a show that Alex Cooper helped create with her new media company, Hot Mess with Alex Earle. In the profile, Cooper simply shrugged it off, explaining that “the charts fluctuate.”

Bloomberg identified nine podcasts in America's top 50 using the Secret Service's MowPod recently, including Call her fatherPlus podcasts from Netflix, iHeartMedia, Wondery, and Lemonada. The report indicated that there were 37 podcasts in total using the boosting service.

So, top podcasters buy players rewards for following and interacting with their shows, and that comes at a premium. However, Winston noted that 60-80% of people who become followers through in-game ads stick around after the campaign. At least 25% of them remain long-term listeners.

The Top Podcast charts are an incredibly exclusive group and very difficult to break into. A lot of the Top 10 shows on Apple Podcasts And Spotify have been there for 5 years. Rarely do new podcasts break the charts, and when they do, it's likely because they've received a lot of funding.

MowPod's tactics are not unique. There are plenty of marketing tools that allow rich podcasters to buy their way to followers. However, it's a particularly egregious example of why the podcasting industry is stagnant, where success is largely concentrated at the top.