How to Create a Private Podcast: A Step-by-Step Guide for Enterprises

Jackie Logan | Podcasting

In today’s increasingly remote and hybrid work environment, companies are looking for more effective ways to engage and train their employees. One emerging solution is private podcasting—a modern, flexible way to deliver content that’s both secure and convenient.

Whether you’re aiming to streamline employee training, enable your field teams, or ensure your workforce stays up to date on the latest company updates, private streaming offers a dynamic, accessible way to connect with employees wherever they are. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to create and distribute private streaming content—from selecting the right platform to securely delivering your training materials—ensuring that your employees are engaged, informed, and empowered.

In this guide, we’ll explain:

What private podcast is
Benefits of private podcasting
Private podcast use cases
How to launch a private podcast
And how to use uStudio to easily and securely produce, host and manage your private podcast.

Want to learn the essentials of private podcasting? Watch this step-by-step guide.

What is a Private Podcast?

A private podcast is a podcast delivered only to specific subscribers or listeners, typically within the walls of a company or an organization, such as a government entity or a nonprofit organization. It’s not available on public podcast applications, such as Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcasts.

It is critical to choose a private podcasting provider that uses robust security protocols to protect the information delivered over the podcast network so no one outside of the intended audience can access the audio or video content.

6 Benefits of Creating a Private Podcast

Why should your particular company turn to internal streaming in order to communicate with employees and other stakeholders? An interesting phenomenon has been occurring in recent years: podcast usage has seen dramatic growth, whereas reading levels have been declining. Reports show podcast usage has soared to over 70 million people in 2023, and that number is forecasted to balloon to over 110 million listeners by 2029.

In addition to the benefits of taking advantage of a growing trend, here are six more reasons your organization should have a private podcast.

1. You can reach non-desk workers.

Private podcasting enables you to reach workers who are not tied to a desk, such as your sales force, mobile service workers, or executives who are always on the go. Many private podcasting platforms allow for offline listening, so workers in areas with limited or no internet connectivity can still access content at their convenience.

Unlike meetings or live webinars, which require real-time attendance, streaming is asynchronous. This means employees can consume content whenever it fits into their schedule. This is ideal for workers who may be in different time zones or have irregular hours.

2. Podcasts give you the ability to make transit time more productive.

Despite the growth in remote working arrangements, many people still commute to and from work every day. What better way to keep them up to date on company news and information than to enable them to turn their transit time into productive listening time?

3. Podcasting is easy and lowers the bar to production and frequent use.

Organizations always have more information they want to communicate than they have time to produce, especially if a newsletter is their go-to communication tool. But producing a podcast is super easy. Just put a microphone in front of somebody and let them talk away!

Private streaming also allows companies to tailor content specifically for mobile workers, sales teams, or executives, ensuring they get relevant updates or training that directly applies to their roles. Content can be distributed based on the listener’s role or team, allowing companies to create dedicated podcast channels for different departments or regions, delivering exactly what each group needs to hear.

4. It’s a better way to connect with your employees

Podcasting has that familiar feeling of a friend communicating with another friend. It allows the speaker or speakers to express their personalities to an audience through voice intonation that connects to listeners and creates a sense of community. Dell implemented private podcasting in its organization and experienced an 80% adoption rate within their first year, illustrating how effective this channel is in reaching all employees.

5. Streaming Audio is the preferred form of communication

Finally, employees prefer to listen to podcasts, with 73% saying they would prefer to listen to a private podcast than attend a meeting, according to a recent survey conducted on behalf of uStudio. That same study said, “...47% of respondents were apathetic or actively disliked reading emails and company newsletters to stay up to date with their company’s news.”

A primary reason streaming audio is preferred is that it allows employees to learn passively while performing other tasks, such as driving or completing routine jobs. This is particularly useful for mobile workers who may not have time to sit down and engage with traditional training materials. Why not deliver a podcast to employees instead of making them read emails or attend meetings?

6. It’s a Quick Way to Build a Culture of Continuous Learning

With dedicated podcasting channels that are updated regularly with topics such as company and product news, product launch information, and sales training, enterprises can quickly build a culture of continuous learning. LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report found young workers 34 years and younger, highly value resources for learning and skill building and say it makes them feel “more connected” to their companies.

Private podcasts provide an easy way to offer ongoing training and development, without requiring them to attend formal classes or webinars. Podcasts allow for short, digestible pieces of content that can be consumed on the go, making it easier for non-desk workers to keep up with learning without it feeling burdensome.

The ability to deliver and consume key messages and training on the go will turn commute and travel time into found productivity gains for you and your teams. Enter your current business metrics in our time-based ROI Calculator to view your potential results.

When Is Private Podcasting Most Relevant?

Enterprises considering introducing private podcasting into their organizations have many use cases. Private podcasts are ideal for delivering internal training, leadership updates, product launches, compliance updates, and other proprietary content while ensuring that only authorized individuals have access.

Private podcasts are particularly effective when a company wants to offer asynchronous communication, allowing employees to listen at their convenience without needing to attend live meetings or webinars. Additionally, private podcasts are beneficial when a company seeks to improve employee engagement and information retention through a more personal, engaging, and mobile-friendly format compared to traditional text-heavy methods.

Sales Enablement

Training your sales force is one of the most important tasks you can do since they’re the people closest to revenue. Private streaming is ideal for sharing product and customer news with sales reps while they're in the field.

Turn written sales talking points into an audio or video pitch practice.
Customer feedback can become live conversations, with customer spokespeople sharing their experience with your company.
Competitive battle cards can become podcast tutorials. Invite the sales reps who have the inside scoop on the competition to teach a couple of tutorials.

The topics are endless! Short, 5-minute daily or weekly audio updates can make a huge difference in keeping sales reps consistently informed.

Training and Learning

The breathtaking technological and market changes sweeping the business world today makes training and learning - or continuing professional development (CPD) as it’s often called - a must-have process for your employees.

It can help your workforce stay up to date with changing trends, become more effective in the workplace, enhance knowledge to provide better service and keep your employees more competitive.

Streaming audio also modernizes training in the business. Audio and video are 500% to 700% more effective than text for communicating information and enhancing knowledge retention. It’s just a better way to learn.

Private podcasting allows your workers to get training while on the go. They can pause, save an episode or lesson, and listen again later. They also enable you to track audio and video consumption so you can ensure employees are getting the knowledge they need.

Internal Communications

Internal communications are more critical than ever, given so many companies operate with a distributed workforce. Whether you'd like to livestream internal meetings, record timely executive communications or build excitement around product launches in your offices worldwide, private podcasting makes sure every member of your team has access to the most up-to-date, accurate, and highest-quality information no matter where they are.

Many enterprises now live stream town hall meetings via private podcasts. Executives can share updates in a conversational format without a lot of prep time.

Streaming audio is also a great way to deliver topics covering supplemental learning and sensitive items, such as employee emotional health topics, leadership advice for management, employee diversity, and more. The sky's the limit with private podcast topics!

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Internal Streaming Network

You’ve established why you should launch a private podcast, and you’ve determined three valuable use cases for it. The next step is to launch your internal streaming networks.

Here is our seven-step process for launching your private podcast.

1. Create a Team for Your Private Podcast

Your success with private podcasting will likely require a dedicated team with specialized roles. As you plan, it helps to know the types of team members who will need a seat at the table. Here are the most common categories of stakeholders that you should keep in mind as you create a private podcast.

Executive Sponsors: These are the people who underwrite your private podcast show and/or allow it to exist. Maybe they fund it directly, or maybe they simply give you permission to spend time on it.

Titles: C-Suite, SVPs, Executive Directors

Producer / Creative Team: These are the ideates and makers who are great at transitioning what needs to be said into the best way to say it. They brainstorm private podcast content ideas, come up with innovative ways to engage the audience, make the private podcast content, and release it according to a schedule or editorial calendar.

Title: Producer, Editor, Creative Director, Content Manager

Strategist: These are the messaging mavens who are looking for new or better ways to reach or engage their audience. They translate company goals into communications objects that are observable and measurable. Sometimes, they will take an active role in private podcast content creation; other times, they will brief a creative or content team.

Title: Communications, Enablement, Engagement or Strategy

Audience: Treat your audience as part of the team! Done right, your audience strategy shouldn’t merely be about acquiring listeners. It should be about creating feedback loops between you and your audience. How will you create participation and engagement within your private podcast?

Titles: Employees, partners, customers

2. Choose a Private Podcast Hosting Platform

To build internal streaming networks, you’ll need to find a platform to securely host and deliver your podcasts to your employees. Each offers different features and pricing, making it important to compare each platform for the features you’ll actually use now and as you scale.

With uStudio, you can skip the RSS feed and distribute content securely from a private app that you control. Our enterprise media cloud meets the most stringent IT requirements and includes secure, redundant infrastructure for podcast hosting. Your high-quality original files are always available and backed up. And, you have complete visibility and control over who can access those assets.

When you pick a hosting platform for your private podcast, it’s important to look for a platform that offers the toughest IT security, detailed podcast analytics, an intuitive interface, and features that mimic a consumer podcast experience.

3. Plan Your Content Strategy

When planning a content strategy for internal company podcasts, the first step is to identify key objectives and align them with the company's broader communication or training goals. Ask questions like: What do you want to achieve with this podcast? Are you aiming to train employees, enhance engagement, or provide leadership updates?

How you answer these questions will help guide content creation to ensure that each episode adds value and serves a specific purpose, such as educating sales teams on new product features, reinforcing company culture, or delivering motivational talks from leadership.

Additionally, segment your audience—different teams (sales, marketing, customer service) or roles (executives, field workers) may require tailored content that speaks directly to their needs. Establishing clear objectives and segmenting content will ensure that your streams are relevant, purposeful, and impactful.

Next, consider the format and frequency of the podcast to keep it engaging and consistent. Decide on a mix of formats, such as interviews with key executives, roundtable discussions, product training, or quick updates. Keep the episodes concise, ideally under 20-30 minutes, as employees are more likely to engage with shorter content during their busy schedules.

Define a regular schedule for podcast releases—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—to build consistency and set audience expectations. Lastly, ensure that you incorporate feedback loops, where listeners can provide suggestions or ask questions, helping to refine future content and improve employee engagement. By planning with the audience's needs and a clear structure in mind, companies can create a podcast strategy that is both engaging and effective in delivering key messages.

4. Record, Produce and Edit Your Streaming Audio

Every podcaster needs helpful equipment to create their private podcast. Our helpful shopping guide will outline the items to consider buying at different price points. Many podcasters find success recording from their phones. If you can talk, then you can start podcasting. Check out what gear you’ll need to podcast like a pro.

For producing an episode-driven podcast, it's helpful to plan out a few episodes to batch your podcast recording all at once. By planning ahead, you can maximize your editing time and keep to a strict release schedule without feeling the constant pressure to record, edit and publish.

Just like with popular consumer podcasts, there should be a regular cadence so employees develop listening habits and expectations.

5. Distribute Your Private Podcast Securely

For businesses concerned with privacy, it's important for your media app to tie into an approved user directory. You'll need to quickly authenticate users using SSO or other authentication protocols. A sophisticated user authentication function provides the peace of mind that your corporate podcast content will only be accessed by those it is intended for.

uStudio is the only media platform company with a multi-tier security model that offers security configuration optionality at each of the page, player, and stream levels. uStudio’s grouping and audience segmentation features allow private podcast admins to restrict access to podcast content by location, department, seniority and more.

With this capability, you can produce personalized learning material for different pillars within your organization and deliver the exact type of content certain groups are looking for. The private podcast end user will also feel more in control and more important, as they have podcast content that’s just for them. With a simple tap, you can upload your private podcasts securely from any device and make them available when and where they need to be in seconds.

The uStudio mobile application supports push notifications to audience members who have allowed push notifications on their app. A new push notification can be triggered to your audience if a new episode is added to the news section or a new episode is added to a podcast show to which the audience member subscribes.

When you combine this with the ability to distribute content to any device, it allows for successful content distribution for your employees.

6. Promote Your Content

Promoting your streaming program is one of the most important steps to audience engagement. And it’s much easier than you might think. From leveraging internal champions within your business to embedding share links, to forming a reliable release cadence to create listening habits, there are many ways to promote your private podcasts to your employees.

We’ve put together a few tips and tricks to successfully promote your business podcast to your employees in our blog here.

7. Analyze and Improve

As with any technology or communication medium you implement in your workforce, you’ll want to measure the success of how it is performing. It’s important to observe how your employees are consuming and reacting to your podcast so that you can realize if changes need to be made within your content. Similarly, it’s a best practice to survey your podcast users to determine how they feel about podcasting as a communication tool, the content in the podcasts, and podcast accessibility.

FAQ: Private Podcasting for Enterprises

Q: What platforms can I use to host a private podcast?
A: Several platforms are specifically designed for hosting private podcasts, offering secure distribution and access controls for businesses. Popular options include:

uStudio: A leading platform for secure podcast hosting, designed for enterprise use, offering detailed analytics, custom branding, and strong security features.
Storyboard: Tailored for private podcasting with mobile-first experiences, allowing companies to securely distribute audio content to specific employees or teams.
Casted: Provides a comprehensive podcasting platform for businesses with advanced audience analytics and engagement tools.
CircleHD: A platform offering private podcasting, video hosting, and secure internal communications for enterprises.
Podbean (Private Podcasting): Offers private podcast hosting features like restricted access, SSO (Single Sign-On), and listener analytics.

Each of these platforms provides enterprise-grade features such as content control, detailed analytics, secure distribution, and mobile-friendly access.

Q: How do I distribute a private podcast securely?
A: Securely distributing a private podcast typically involves a few key steps, depending on the platform you choose:

Controlled Access: Only authorized users (like employees) can access your private podcast. This is often done using:
- Single Sign-On (SSO): Employees log in using their corporate credentials.
- Invitations: Access can be granted through email invitations or unique access links.
- Apps with Password Protection: Employees can access the podcast via mobile or desktop apps that require login credentials.
Encryption: Content is often encrypted to protect it from unauthorized access, both during transmission (streaming) and when stored on devices (for offline listening).
Mobile and Desktop Apps: Employees access the podcasts through secure apps provided by the hosting platform, such as uStudio or Storyboard, ensuring that only approved users can download or stream the content.
Geofencing or IP Restrictions: Some platforms allow you to limit access based on geographic regions or IP addresses to further secure your content.
Expiration Dates and Revoked Access: You can set expiration dates for access or revoke user permissions when necessary, ensuring that only current employees can listen to the content.

Q: What are the benefits of private podcasts over public ones?
A: Private podcasts offer several advantages for enterprises compared to public platforms:

Security and Privacy:
- Restricted access ensures that only authorized users (employees, partners) can listen, protecting sensitive or confidential information. Public platforms don’t offer the same level of control or security.
- Enterprise-grade security features, such as encryption and user authentication, prevent leaks or unauthorized access to proprietary content.
Control over Content Distribution:
- Enterprises can control who has access to specific podcast episodes or series, tailoring content to different teams or departments. Public podcasts are open to anyone with the link.
- Content can be segmented or localized for specific groups, ensuring that only relevant employees receive certain training or updates.
Customization and Branding:
- Private platforms often allow for custom branding, so the podcast experience can align with the company's corporate identity. Public platforms don’t offer such customization.
Analytics and Insights:
- Detailed analytics track listener engagement, providing data on who is listening, for how long, and which episodes are most popular. This helps companies measure the effectiveness of their training or communications.
- Public platforms offer limited insights, often without the ability to track individual listener activity.
Ad-Free, Distraction-Free Environment:
- Unlike public platforms, which often contain ads or external content, private podcasting platforms offer a distraction-free experience without third-party ads, keeping employees focused on the intended message.
Content Flexibility:
- You can tailor private podcast content for specific purposes like training, leadership updates, or product launches. In a public podcast, you may need to generalize content for a broader audience.
Compliance:
- Many private podcasting platforms offer features to track compliance, such as ensuring employees have completed required training by listening to specific episodes. Public platforms don’t have such tracking or reporting tools for enterprises.

By using private podcasting platforms, enterprises can securely distribute content, enhance employee engagement, and ensure sensitive information stays within the company. These benefits make private podcasting a powerful tool for corporate communication and training.

Other Helpful Resources from uStudio:

Creating a private podcast for your business is a lot easier than it might seem. uStudio is helping companies leverage podcasting and video for their internal communications and training needs without sacrificing IT security or scalability. Contact us today if you have any questions.

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