Your show is claimed. Here's what happens next.
How PodSignal scores your episodes, when to expect scores, what's in an in-depth analysis, and how to use Pre-Publish to check an episode before it goes live.
How PodSignal scores an episode
Every scored episode is measured on six dimensions, in two groups. Your PodSignal is the weighted combination of the six.
Content is scored from a transcript. If your feed publishes one, we use it. When you claim your show, and for episodes on the Creator plan, we transcribe episodes whose feed doesn't include a transcript.
A dimension we can't measure is left out rather than guessed at, and the score is built from the dimensions that were measured. Audio quality appears only when we've measured it from the audio itself — it combines loudness (40%) and background noise (60%) — and consistency needs at least five published episodes to measure.
What PodSignal Verified means
An episode is PodSignal Verified when all three content dimensions — topic relevance, content structure, and clip-ability — have been measured, and its audio has been measured or is still being measured. On HiddenPod's public pages, only verified episodes show a score; anything else reads “Not yet scored.” An episode with no usable audio link, or whose audio we couldn't measure after two tries, isn't verified.
While the audio is still being measured, the score shows Measuring audio… and is built from the dimensions measured so far, with audio left out rather than estimated — so it may move up or down once the audio is in. For claimed shows that usually takes a few minutes, up to an hour, and your dashboard updates on its own when it lands.
What to expect, and when
- Right after you claim: once your ownership is verified, we score your latest episode, usually within a few minutes, and start measuring its audio at the same time (usually a few minutes, up to an hour). If your show already has a verified episode, you'll see that score straight away instead.
- New episodes, on the Creator plan: we check your feed for new episodes about every 30 minutes, and each new episode goes straight into full scoring. Early evidence: in our first measured run, new episodes were scored about 36 minutes after publishing. We'll update this figure as we measure more.
- Without the Creator plan: claiming scores one episode. Scoring new episodes as you publish them is part of the Creator plan, which also scores your five most recent episodes when you subscribe.
<podcast:txt> tag). RSS changes can take up to an hour to reach us, and the token expires after 24 hours.In-depth analysis and recommendations
On the Creator plan, every scored episode of your claimed show has an in-depth analysis: specific recommendations on what to change first, alongside the full analysis of every dimension.
How to open it
- Select My Dashboard at the top right, then Claimed Shows.
- Under Recent Episodes, select an episode to expand it.
- Select In-depth analysis →. The analysis opens in the Pre-Publish tab.
What's in it
- What to do about it. Concrete changes to make, each tied to the dimension it would improve. For episodes scored before we started saving recommendations, this section is titled “Where to focus” and is drawn from that episode's own scores and reasoning.
- Every dimension, with its reasoning. All six dimensions and why each one scored as it did. A dimension we couldn't measure says so instead of showing a zero.
- Discovery topics, when the episode has them: the subjects listeners can find it under.
Select Copy result to paste the whole analysis into your notes or share it with your team.
Pre-Publish: score an episode before it goes live
Pre-Publish scores an episode you haven't released yet, so you can see how a draft reads and compare versions before you publish.
How to use it
- Select My Dashboard, then Pre-Publish.
- Add the episode title and show notes. Topic relevance is measured against them, so include both.
- Choose your audio file: MP3, M4A, AAC, or WAV, up to 500 MB. Long episodes are accepted — the analysis reads from the start of the file and tells you how much it read.
- Select Analyze episode. Results usually arrive in 2–5 minutes.
Your audio is processed and deleted as soon as it's scored — it's never kept.
What the estimate means
The estimate is built from the three content dimensions — topic relevance, content structure, and clip-ability — and, when there's enough data, compared with shows in your category. Pre-Publish doesn't need a claimed show: without one, the estimate is compared with all shows.
Audio quality, consistency, and vitality can't be measured on an unpublished file, so they aren't part of the estimate. Once the episode is published and scored, its PodSignal uses every dimension we can measure — up to all six — and will usually differ from the estimate. Use it to compare drafts, not as a promise of the final score.
Limits
Pre-Publish is part of the Creator plan and includes 5 uploads per calendar month; the count resets on the 1st (UTC). Only uploads that reach analysis count: one that fails to upload or fails during analysis doesn't use up your allowance. Your dashboard shows how many you have left under Claimed Shows → What your plan includes — or, if you haven't claimed a show yet, in the plan panel at the top of My Dashboard.
Your plan and your claim
- Price. The Creator plan is $5/month or $50/year.
- Cancelling. Anytime, from My Dashboard → Billing → Manage billing. You keep full access until the end of the period you've paid for, and you won't be charged again.
- Releasing your show. Under Claimed Shows → Ownership, select Release this show. You'd have to verify ownership again to get it back. Scores and explanations already published stay as they are.