Omny is here to make enterprise podcasting easy. Aimed at radio broadcasters and network podcasters, the platform is designed to bridge the gap between radio and podcasting, and help creators scale their podcasting business. With unlimited podcasting storage, and the ability to directly record and publish radio broadcasts as podcasts, the platform seems too good to be true. This Omny Studio Review and Walkthrough aims to give you a deep insight into what the platform is all about, and whether it really is the podcast host you’ve been looking for.
TL;DR
- Omny Studio is built for radio broadcasters and enterprise podcasters.
- Their broadcast to podcast tool allows creators to capture their live shows and get them podcast-ready instantly.
- You can monetize through Omny Studio with dynamic ad insertion.
- Omny Studio’s pricing is unclear and you need to get in touch for a quote.
How we’re reviewing Omny Studio
In order to thoroughly review Omny, and compare it to similar platforms, we’ve come up with a framework of 7 key factors that we think are essential things to think about when looking at podcast hosts:
Pricing
There’s no doubt that budget is a key consideration when it comes to choosing a podcast host. All beginner podcasters and professional creators look to get a good return on their investment, which is why we not only look at how a platform prices their podcast hosting services but also what features they bundle together for each subscription tier.
Analytics
We look at what kinds of data and podcast analytics a platform offers its users, how in-depth they are, how usable the stats are, and whether they’re accessible to podcasters who don’t really know what they’re looking at.
Media Player
An embeddable media player is an essential tool to allow podcasters to share their content on their own website or beyond. We always give bonus points to platforms that let their users customize their player, toggle how many episodes play, and that also include sharing features.
File Hosting
We also look behind the scenes at what kinds of files a service supports. In an ideal world, the platform will be compatible with lossless file formats that preserve the original quality of the audio. In addition, we look for the ability to publish video podcasts alongside traditional audio formats.
Distribution
A podcast hosting service should make it easy to distribute to major podcast directories without too much hassle.
Monetization
The ability to monetize your podcast is essential. This means we look at which monetization avenues are open to users including advertising, sponsorship, and subscriptions.
Useability and Additional Features
Finally, we assess whether a platform is fundamentally usable or not. We look at the overall design of the interface as well as any additional or unique features that help enhance the user experience.
Omny Studio: Quick Takeaways
Omny Studio is aimed at enterprise accounts. Specifically, radio broadcasters looking to cross over into podcasting and big-branded shows and networks. Pricing is only available on inquiry.
What is Omny Studio?
Omny is a podcast hosting service designed for enterprise podcasting. Their target audience is serious podcasters and radio stations. They call themselves the ‘most advanced on-demand audio management and publishing platform’.
How much does Omny Studio cost?
In order to get an idea of Omny’s pricing, you need to get in touch with the platform directly. However, their features include:
- Simple upload
- Flexible publishing
- Social sharing
- Unlimited uploads, episodes, and users
- Podcast analytics
- Embeddable media player
- Built-in editor
- Managed migration
- Campaign manager and monetization
Advantages of Omny Studio
Flexible bundle
Omny asks prospective users to get in touch in order to get a quote and build out a hosting package that is bespoke to their needs.
Unlimited uploads, episodes and users
Omny promises its users a limitless package. This is great news if you’re a prolific creator or have a big production team on board.
Easy distribution
Omny users can upload their audio and trust that their audio will be published to everywhere they need it to be instantly.
Built-in editor
Omny’s in-built editor means that you can edit your recordings straight from your browser, get your audio podcast worthy, and then publish right away.
Managed migration
Omny helps you to migrate your podcast to their platform so that you don’t need to put in excessive effort.
Monetization
You can monetize your podcast using Omny’s dynamic ad insertion technology or offer paying subscribers ad-free access.
Embeddable media player
Omny’s embeddable podcast player is fully customizable (as long as you choose between their four preset themes). You can also change up the buttons and the text to match your look. Omny also offers players that are in 12 different languages to accommodate international listeners.
In addition to the traditional media player, Omny also offers its users a Twitter card and Facebook Open Graph.
Transcription
Omny has an in-built transcription tool that allows you to choose between machine and human generated transcripts.
Multiple Shows & Users
Omny users can switch between their various shows and have their team members all working collaboratively on their account. The manager can also toggle permission levels to ensure that everybody has the appropriate amount of access.
Supports Lossless File Formats
Omny supports MP3, AAC, WAV and uncompressed AIFF files. Although they do put a size limit of 1,200 MB per file.
Analytics
Get detailed analytics about how your podcast is performing, who is listening to it, when and where.
Disadvantages
No clear pricing
Though Omny’s features may seem perfect to you, the lack of transparent pricing may put you off. In order to begin using the service, you need to sign up for a demo and quote. On the flip-side, as we said above, this means that Omny is flexible enough to let you build out a custom hosting package that is tailored to your needs.
Doesn’t support video
Unfortunately, although Omny has a full range of features, it doesn’t currently support video podcasting.
No automatic podcast website
Omny doesn’t appear to offer its users a ready-built podcast website. Though this may not be a problem for all podcasters, if you don’t yet have a website, a site that’s linked to your podcast host can be very useful.
Omny’s version of a podcast website is your playlist and show page which are very basic.
Key features of Omny Studio
Radio Broadcast Capture
If you’re a podcaster and a radio broadcaster, then this unique Omny feature will definitely get your attention. Omny allows you to automatically capture and store each ‘talk-break’ to create a searchable archive of all your content.
They have two types of recording tool: on-premise and live stream. The intelligent tool also has the ability to add titles and annotations as its recording, and this also strengthens your search ability later down the line. Your recording is automatically stitched together to get it podcast-ready, and if you’re happy with it, you can choose to publish it immediately. The best bit? All users get an unlimited archive capacity that is securely backed up to the cloud.
In-built editor
Omny has an in-built editor that allows you to get your audio recordings ready for publication right from your browser. The intuitive ‘drag and drop’ audio editor is totally approachable whether you’re a beginner or industry professional.
You don’t need to install any additional editing software - simply log on from your browser and start editing. Play with the intelligent mastering tool, auto insert intros, and outros, or dynamically replace audio as you need.
And once you’re happy with the final cut, you can publish it straight away. The in-built editor is also how you add chapters (for searchability and navigability) and mark where you want dynamic ads to play.
Headliner integration
Omny integrates with Headliner to allow users to create social ready videos that can be used to promote your latest upload.
Twitter Card & Facebook Open Graph
Omny has a few social sharing features that help you to promote your content on your social platforms easily. Omny’s Twitter Card allows listeners to play your content in-line when they access Twitter from their desktop. The same goes for Facebook Open Graph through which users can listen to your podcast on their timeline and share and interact with your content.
Ad-free access & Members Only Podcasts
You can create restricted RSS feeds and lock your embeddable players to ensure that only paying subscribers have access to your premium content. Although you can’t directly manage subscriptions and payments through Omny Studio, you can choose to add a URL where you can process subscriptions, and this will appear to listeners as a link where supported.
Omny is best for radio broadcasters who want to podcast
Though admittedly, Omny’s range of features are impressive for any kind of podcaster, they are specifically designed to support radio broadcasters who also want to bridge into podcasting. The broadcast recording tool, in particular, helps to smooth over the transition and make it as seamless as possible. Plus, given that Omny Studio’s pricing is tailored to each specific client use case, radio broadcasters are able to build out a package that is specific to their needs.
First look at Omny Studio
To get a feel for Omny Studio’s interface, check out their introductory video:
How to get started with Omny Studio
Omny Studio organizes your content into ‘programs’. These represent your various shows, and you can manage your live recordings, create podcast feeds, and edit your audio within each program.
To add a new podcast to Omny Studio follow these steps:
Step 1: Click ‘New Program’ from your dashboard
Step 2: Fill in all the necessary details including the show’s name, category, and a contact name, and email.
Step 3: Click ‘Save Changes’ when you’ve done that.
How to add a new episode to Omny Studio
Once you’ve created your show, here’s how to add a new episode.
Step 1: Head to the playlist that you want to add an episode to.
Step 2: Click ‘upload to playlist’ and then select the audio file from your computer.
Step 3: Fill out the podcast’s title, description, and upload the cover art.
Step 4: When you’re finished, either select public or unlisted under the publishing options and then click save. You can also choose to schedule publication for a later date.
How to migrate your podcast to Omny Studio
Omny studio has put together a migration guide and video to try and make the process as seamless possible.
Step 1: Click 'Import Podcast' from your dashboard.
Step 2: Paste your RSS feed into the input field.
Step 3: Click 'Import Podcast' below the input box.
How to distribute your podcast with Omny Studio
In order to distribute your podcast, follow these steps:
Step 1: Click on the ‘playlist details section’ of your podcast. Then click ‘submit your podcast to podcast directories’.
Here you’ll find buttons to submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and more.
Step 2: Select the directory you want to submit to and follow the instructions that pop up. Omny Studio offers one-click submission to iHeartRadio.
For any directories that aren’t listed, you’ll have to follow their specific instructions for manual submission.
How to monetize with Omny
Omny Campaign Manager (OCM)
The OCM is how users can manage their podcast advertising. Integrated directly into the Omny dashboard, users can use Omny’s ‘powerful ad tech’ to dynamically insert geographically targeted campaigns.
The OCM allows for granular level targeting which means you’re able to focus on the most receptive audiences around the world. It’s also an efficient way to monetize your back catalog.
Omny also gives users options between what kind of ads they want to go for. You can choose between dynamic and targeted ad insertion, or go more ‘old-school’ with native host-read commercials that disrupt the flow a little less. Omny also connects to popular video ad servers to deliver video advertisements to your audience too.
Omny Podcast Analytics
Omny offers its users in-depth podcast analytics that help you to understand, on a granular level, how your show is performing in real-time. You can produce comparative reports to understand your show’s results over time, and produce CSV documents that you can share around.
The analytics you can see from your dashboard include:
- Downloads
- Player source
- Location
- Device type
- Apps
- Devices
- Listeners
- Drop off rates & audience retention
Alternatives to Omny Studio
Omny Studio vs Whooshkaa
If you’ve found yourself weighing up between Whooshkaa and Omny Studio, you’re not alone. Since both platforms target radio broadcasters and bigger podcasters, it can be difficult to choose between them.
From what each platform says about their services online, it would appear that they offer a very comparable service that would cater well to their target audiences.
Perhaps the biggest difference is the fact that Omny Studio’s monetization features are far more comprehensive. As we’ve seen, you can choose to include dynamically inserted ads in your content or opt for host-read promotions. Plus, the fact that Omny Studio is also compatible with video advertisements gives your content an extra edge. Whooshka’s campaign manager is definitely a great feature, but looks comparably old-school because users need to manually upload their ads and insert them into their content.
Omny Studio vs Soundcloud
Soundcloud and Omny Studio don’t really compete with each other. Since Soundcloud is designed to cater to all kinds of audio creatives, whether they’re musicians or podcasters, their range of features aren’t so hyper-focussed on the podcasting journey. By contrast, Omny Studio is very emphatically designed for podcasters and broadcasters.
Omny Studio vs Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is a very respected name in the sphere of podcast hosting, and it’s a very well established platform. But again, it doesn’t really compete with Omny Studio directly because of the differences in their target audiences. Whilst Buzzsprout aims to cater to a far more beginner or mid-size audience, Omny Studio targets enterprise accounts and established radio broadcasters.
Final Thoughts on Omny Studio
Omny Studio appears to be committed to helping their users get the best out of their platform. Since you need to get in touch to discuss your needs and get a quote, we’d guess that they cater directly to every user personally. Omny Studio promises unlimited storage, episodes and users, making it clear that they’re aiming for prolific podcasters with a serious team and big ambitions. On the surface, Omny Studio does truly seem to be a great option if you’re on the market for a podcast host that’ll support your show as you scale.
FAQs on OmnyStudio
What is Omny Studio?
Omny Studio is a podcast hosting service that is specifically designed to accommodate the needs of radio broadcasters and enterprise podcasters.
Is Omny Studio worth it?
Omny Studio is worth it if you’re a radio broadcaster or a big branded podcast or network. Since pricing is only available on inquiry, we can’t vouch for what Omny Studio charges for their services, but going off the features they advertise on their website, it would appear they do a good job of catering to everything you might need.
How do you use Omny Studio?
First off, you need to get in touch directly with Omny Studio to find out about their pricing and so they can come up with a flexible bundle that is catered directly to what you’re looking for. Then you can get started using their podcast hosting features.
Want to read more on podcast hosting platforms? Check out our other reviews:
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