A podcast category is one of the required pieces of information you need to generate an RSS feed.
Podcast categories help directories like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and others serve up your content to the best listeners on their platform.
Each podcast on Apple can choose one primary category and multiple secondary categories. The primary category is most important.
Below is a screenshot from Apple of all the current primary categories. You can read the full list of podcast categories from Apple here.
When choosing what category your podcast fits in, Dan Misener of Pacific Content recommends choosing the least crowded category that best fits your podcast.
We highly recommend reading his article linked above to learn more about the most crowded channels.
In addition, here are a few things to consider when choosing a category for your podcast:
What topic is the number one priority of our show?
What podcasts would we like to show up alongside?
What podcasts are we most similar to in terms of interests and passions, target audience, and philosophy?
Podcasts by nature tend to talk hundreds of different topics as they grow and evolve. From side tangents in the conversation to hearing interesting stories from guests, podcasts tend to all overlap into different categories.
Even though you can choose up to 3 subcategories (which our friends at Podcast Insights recommend that you do) you have to commit to just one primary category.
The key to finding the best category for your show is to determine where you want your show to appear, what audience you are trying to provide value, and which channel is the least crowded.