Top 10
- Podcast pitches sent through Podseeker between February and June 2026 led to a booking 3.3% of the time: 165 bookings from 5,012 pitches.
- Pitches to podcasts that Podseeker scored as a strong fit for the guest (85% or higher) booked at 6.2%, 55 bookings from 894 pitches, nearly double the overall rate.
- Response rates to podcast guest pitches reported by producers and booking agencies range from 1% to 90%, in Podchaser's 2026 survey.
- The average reply rate to cold emails is 3.43%, in Instantly's 2026 benchmark of cold email campaigns sent through its platform.
- 58% of cold email replies come in response to the first email in a sequence; follow-ups bring in the other 42%.
- 86% of journalists say they will immediately reject a pitch that is not aligned with their beat or audience, in Cision's 2025 survey of more than 3,000 journalists.
- Podcast booking agencies charge from about $499 to more than $5,000 a month, in Podseeker's 2026 review of published agency prices.
How often a podcast pitch gets booked
- 1
Podcast pitches sent through Podseeker between February and June 2026 led to a booking 3.3% of the time: 165 bookings from 5,012 pitches.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [1]
- 2
Pitches to podcasts that Podseeker scored as a strong fit for the guest (85% or higher) booked at 6.2%, 55 bookings from 894 pitches, nearly double the overall rate.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [1]
- 3
Across 8,757 pitches sent through Podseeker, the average pitch-to-booking ratio is 3.2%.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [2]
- 4
Podseeker customers sending 200 or more pitches a month booked a median of 8 podcast interviews a month, in four campaign months from April to June 2026.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 5
Response rates to podcast guest pitches reported by producers and booking agencies range from 1% to 90%, in Podchaser's 2026 survey.
Source: Podchaser, 2026 [4]
- 6
Podchaser catalogs more than 6 million podcasts.
Source: Podchaser, 2026 [4]
Cold email reply rates
- 7
The average reply rate to cold emails is 3.43%, in Instantly's 2026 benchmark of cold email campaigns sent through its platform.
Source: Instantly, 2026 [5]
- 8
The top quarter of cold email senders on Instantly reach a reply rate of 5.5% or more.
Source: Instantly, 2026 [5]
- 9
The top 10% of cold email senders on Instantly reach a reply rate of 10.7% or more.
Source: Instantly, 2026 [5]
- 10
58% of cold email replies come in response to the first email in a sequence; follow-ups bring in the other 42%.
Source: Instantly, 2026 [5]
- 11
Second emails written to read like a reply ('Quick follow-up on my note below') get about 30% more responses than formal follow-ups, according to Instantly.
Source: Instantly, 2026 [5]
- 12
Senders who keep domain health stable and send at a steady volume get 15% to 20% more replies, according to Instantly.
Source: Instantly, 2026 [5]
- 13
Belkins sent more than 7.5 million cold emails in 2025 and got replies to 0.45% of them, counting replies against every email sent.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [6]
- 14
Belkins' cold email reply rate fell from 0.50% in the first half of 2025 to 0.40% in the second half.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [6]
- 15
Founders and owners replied to 0.57% of Belkins' cold emails in 2025, against 0.42% for C-level executives and 0.32% for VPs.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [6]
- 16
Companies with 0 to 10 employees replied to 0.72% of Belkins' cold emails, more than three times the 0.22% rate at companies with 10,000 or more employees.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [6]
- 17
Companies with 11 to 50 employees replied to 0.49% of Belkins' cold emails in 2025.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [6]
- 18
Cold emails Belkins sent between 8 AM and 12 PM drew the highest reply rate in 2025, 0.54%.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [6]
Why journalists and editors reject pitches
- 19
86% of journalists say they will immediately reject a pitch that is not aligned with their beat or audience, in Cision's 2025 survey of more than 3,000 journalists.
Source: Cision, 2025 [7]
- 20
86% of journalists say PR pitches inspire stories, but 88% delete pitches that miss their beat, in Muck Rack's State of Journalism 2026 survey of nearly 900 journalists.
Source: Muck Rack, 2026 [8]
- 21
78% of journalists say a pitch is relevant when it affects their audience or community, not only their coverage area.
Source: Muck Rack, 2026 [8]
- 22
Journalists prefer one-to-one email pitches under 200 words, sent before noon, with one follow-up, according to Muck Rack's 2026 survey.
Source: Muck Rack, 2026 [8]
- 23
85% of journalists say the best way to build a relationship is to introduce yourself by email, even without a story to pitch.
Source: Cision, 2025 [7]
- 24
72% of journalists worry about factual errors in AI-generated PR content, while over half now use generative AI tools themselves.
Source: Cision, 2025 [7]
- 25
More than half of journalists now use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, in Cision's 2025 survey.
Source: Cision, 2025 [7]
- 26
72% of journalists name press releases as the most useful resource PR teams can offer.
Source: Cision, 2025 [7]
- 27
72% of PR professionals say they struggle with low journalist response rates, in Muck Rack's State of PR 2025.
Source: Muck Rack, 2025 [9]
- 28
62% of PR professionals say their lists of relevant journalists are shrinking.
Source: Muck Rack, 2025 [9]
- 29
Cision's 2025 State of the Media report surveyed more than 3,000 journalists across 19 markets.
Source: Cision, 2025 [7]
What podcast booking agencies charge
- 30
Podcast booking agencies charge from about $499 to more than $5,000 a month, in Podseeker's 2026 review of published agency prices.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 31
Established full-service podcast booking agencies describe engagements of about $1,200 to $5,000 a month.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 32
Entry-level podcast booking offers start at $499 to $700 a month.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 33
Convokast lists podcast booking at $499 a month with at least one guaranteed interview.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 34
Expert Bookers lists $700 to $900 a month for 2 to 4 guaranteed placements, plus a $150 setup fee in the first month.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 35
Podcast Guesting Pro (Pikkal) lists podcast booking at $950 a month, or $11,000 a year prepaid.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
- 36
Premium or executive podcast booking campaigns cost $5,000 or more a month.
Source: Podseeker, 2026 [3]
Frequently asked questions
What is the average podcast pitch acceptance rate?
Low single digits. Podseeker counted 165 bookings from 5,012 pitches sent through its software between February and June 2026, a 3.3% booking rate. Pitches to shows it scored as a strong fit booked at 6.2%.
What reply rate should a podcast pitch get?
Reported rates vary widely. Producers and agencies in Podchaser's 2026 survey reported response rates from 1% to 90%. For comparison, the average cold email reply rate on Instantly is 3.43%, and Belkins got replies to 0.45% of the 7.5 million cold emails it sent in 2025.
Do follow-ups help podcast pitches?
Some. Instantly finds that 58% of cold email replies come from the first email and 42% from follow-ups.
Why do pitches get rejected?
Mostly for being off-topic. 86% of journalists in Cision's 2025 survey say they reject a pitch that is not aligned with their beat or audience, and 88% of journalists in Muck Rack's 2026 survey delete pitches that miss their beat.
How much does a podcast booking agency cost?
Published prices run from about $499 to more than $5,000 a month, according to Podseeker's 2026 review. Entry-level offers start at $499 to $700 a month; established full-service agencies quote about $1,200 to $5,000.
Sources
- [1]Podseeker. “Podcast booking tools”. 2026.↑1 ↑2
- [2]Podseeker. “Podcast pitch”. 2026.↑3
- [3]Podseeker. “Podcast booking agency cost”. 2026.↑4 ↑30 ↑31 ↑32 ↑33 ↑34 ↑35 ↑36
- [4]Podchaser. 2026.↑5 ↑6
- [5]Instantly. 2026.↑7 ↑8 ↑9 ↑10 ↑11 ↑12
- [6]Belkins. 2026.↑13 ↑14 ↑15 ↑16 ↑17 ↑18
- [7]Cision. 2025.↑19 ↑23 ↑24 ↑25 ↑26 ↑29
- [8]Muck Rack. 2026.↑20 ↑21 ↑22
- [9]Muck Rack. “State of PR 2025”. 2025.↑27 ↑28
Method
We searched Google for podcast pitch statistics, podcast booking statistics and podcast pitch acceptance rate, read the pages that ranked, and traced each number to the organisation that produced it. Few organisations publish podcast pitch outcomes: Podseeker publishes booking rates from pitches sent through its software, and Podchaser surveyed producers and booking agencies in 2026. Podchaser's median acceptance and response rates appear on our podcast guest statistics page, so this page leaves them out. The cold email numbers come from Instantly (campaigns on its platform) and Belkins (emails its agency sent in 2025); Belkins divides replies by all emails sent, which gives lower rates than platforms that divide by opened emails. The journalist numbers come from Cision's 2025 survey and Muck Rack's surveys of journalists and PR staff; Muck Rack's report pages did not load for us, so those figures are quoted from The PR Net and MagicPitch. We searched OpenAlex for journal papers on podcast or media pitching and found none with pitch outcome data. The campaigns were still running on that date. All sources were checked on September 24, 2026.
All 36 statistics as a CSV: podcast-pitching-statistics.csv.
Cite this page
PodcastPlacer, “Podcast Pitching 2026 Statistics (Updated September)”, updated September 2026, https://podcastplacer.com/research/podcast-pitching-statistics
To cite one number, link its anchor: each statistic has one, for example https://podcastplacer.com/research/podcast-pitching-statistics#stat-1.