# Podcast Finder & Host Email Extractor (`piposlab/podcast-leads-extractor`) Actor

Find podcasts by keyword and extract host contact email, website, cadence and metadata from Apple Podcasts + RSS. For sponsorships, guest booking and lead gen.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/piposlab/podcast-leads-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Alejandro Bufarini](https://apify.com/piposlab) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Social media
- **Stats:** 8 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Podcast Finder & Host Email Extractor

Find podcasts by topic and get the **host's published contact email** plus website, category, episode count and whether the show is still active. Built for podcast sponsorship outreach, guest booking, and lead generation.

### What it does

- **Search** Apple Podcasts by keyword/topic and return the matching shows.
- For each show, read its RSS feed and pull the **host contact email** (`itunes:owner` email, which podcasters publish for contact), host name, website, episode count and last publish date.
- Flags each podcast as **active** (published in the last 120 days) so you skip dead shows.
- Or run in **feeds** mode to enrich a list of RSS URLs you already have.

### Output (one row per podcast)

```json
{
  "name": "StartUp Podcast",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.example.com/startup",
  "website": "https://startup.example.com/",
  "hostName": "Alex Blumberg",
  "hostEmail": "hello@startup.example.com",
  "category": "Business",
  "episodeCount": 142,
  "lastPublish": "2026-05-20T10:00:00Z",
  "active": true,
  "appleUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/...",
  "artworkUrl": "https://.../"
}
```

### Notes (honest)

- The host email comes from the `itunes:owner` tag the podcaster publishes in their own feed for contact. It is not guessed. Some feeds omit it; that field is then null.
- Uses the public iTunes Search API and public RSS feeds. No API key. Respects Apple's rate limits.
- Pair it with our Email Verifier & Finder actor to validate the host emails before outreach.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Search Apple Podcasts by keyword, or enrich a list of feed URLs you already have.

## `term` (type: `string`):

Keyword/topic to search (search mode).

## `country` (type: `string`):

2-letter Apple storefront country code.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

How many podcasts to pull from the search (max 200).

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

Podcast RSS feed URLs to enrich directly.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on number of podcasts processed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "term": "startup",
  "country": "US",
  "limit": 50,
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "term": "startup"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("piposlab/podcast-leads-extractor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "term": "startup" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("piposlab/podcast-leads-extractor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "term": "startup"
}' |
apify call piposlab/podcast-leads-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,piposlab/podcast-leads-extractor"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/4bjVQ9irQLL2Y6DlG/builds/GFrLxWS1Vyw5h6Rph/openapi.json