An IMDb walk-through created by Ben Currier from the Failure Guy podcast with
much support from Vinnie Potestivo from I Have a Podcast and LinkedIn Expert Judi Fox.
Check out this LinkedIn post that Vinnie put up over 11 months before I showed him THIS how-to guide, and then his podcast was up on IMDb within the DAY!?!?! Now, Vinnie is a pro when it comes to the IMDb backend, but I am not. However, since I made this how-to guide (basically so I didn’t forget), I thought I would share it with you. It started as a PDF that I directly sent the link to, but now I’ve put it for everyone to enjoy.
P.S. If you need tips & tricks on LinkedIn stuff, check out Judi Fox at the top of the page.
P.P.S. Listen to this whole video, Vinnie talks about podcasts in the last 1/3rd or so.
P.P.P.S. OK now I’m honestly just writing a bit more text because I can see that his LinkedIn embedded thing is a bit tall, but this is the last moment I will waste your time, everything below and to the right is unbelievable content! GIVE YOURSELF SOME CREDIT (and a pat on the back once you’re done, you can even message me your ‘IMDb contribution’ email after so you have someone to cheer you on). Also, share this with your fellow podcasters!!
– Thanks!
Ben Currier
In case you weren’t already aware, IMDb.com now allows podcasts (as well as many other forms of entertainment like video games, music videos, and commercials) to be included in what was previously only an internet movie database. If you frequently have guests appear on your podcast, including your podcast on IMDb is something I would highly recommend. Any time someone looks at the filmography listing of one of your guests, your podcast will show up!
As an example, I recently interviewed Carole Baskin from Tiger King on my show. If you look her up on IMDb.com, you’ll find that under the ‘Self’ category, my podcast is listed there.
If you’d prefer to follow along with the official documentation on IMDb.com, here’s how they recommend submitting your podcast. Both the submission process and updating new episodes aren’t always intuitive, so I will try to make it a bit easier to follow. I’ll warn you about some of the issues and complexities that I ran into so you know what to look out for. Sometimes your contributions can be rejected if you don’t follow along with the specific formatting and other rules that are in their custom submission system.
Click here to go to IMDb’s ‘New title submission form’.
TIP: You do NOT need IMDb Pro in order to submit your podcast but you do need to make an IMDb.com account using an email or signing in using one of your social media accounts
On the form, choose the ‘Podcast Series’ option under ‘Type’.
Select the ‘Status’ of your podcast, depending on where you’re at in the process.
Let IMDb know your role in relation to the podcast.
In my case, I selected ‘I am Producer/Director/Writer’.
Other options to choose from include ‘a member of the cast/crew’, ‘a publicist/agent/official source’, and ‘none of the above’.
Once you’ve filled out the title form, click ‘Check these updates’.
IMDb will inform you of any issues to correct.
You’ll now be able to choose the ‘Year’ the podcast is released, and click the ‘on-going’ checkbox if it’s still active.
After you submit, IMDb will email you contribution tracking info.
Go to your Podcast series IMDb page and click on the ‘Episodes’ section.
At the bottom of the ‘Episodes’ page, click ‘Add Episode’ under the ‘Contribute to this Page’ section.
IMDb will pre-populate the ‘Series’ name.
Enter the correct information for ‘Episode Title’, ‘Original Air Date’, ‘Country’, ‘Episode Number’ and then choose your role from the dropdown box.
IMDb will evaluate again for any issues.
You will now have the option to choose other items like ‘Writers’, ‘Directors’, ‘Producers’, ‘Cast’, ‘Plot Outlines’, and ‘Plot Summaries’, that are needing a change.
For example, if you have a guest on the episode you are adding, you’ll pick ‘Add 2 credits’ under ‘Cast’ (1 credit for your guest and 1 credit for you).
Click ‘Re-check these updates’.
Add the information for the credits you selected to add. As you add your credits, if they’re already on IMDb, make sure you select them from the dropdown list.
Click ‘Submit my new episode’. The IMDb team will review the submission and hopefully approve it!
Once it’s approved, you can add additional information like an image, or more information about the episode, but I’d recommend adding that later:
If you’d like to support what I’m doing, be sure to check out the Failure Guy podcast, where I interview guests about their experiences with failure and how those experiences helped shape them into who they are today!
Feel free to reach out if you need someone to help you with your IMDb submission, I can refer you to a paid service.
Also, if you know anyone who could benefit from leveling up their Microsoft Excel skills, I also created both free and premium online training at ExcelExposure.com. After working for 15 years in corporate finance, I learned countless tips and tricks to avoid common failures and to help make my job easier. I created the training so you can benefit from my mistakes and avoid having to learn the hard way while (hopefully) having fun in the process!
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