One of the biggest draws is the brand recognition of the platform. How many times have you scrolled through Twitter to see a viral tweet that ends with, "Check out my SoundCloud"? How many times have you read about upcoming musicians who made a name for themselves through the platform? It's a big deal.
With tags dedicated to podcasts, SoundCloud makes it incredibly easy to reach a large userbase in just minutes. Once they find you they can follow, create playlists, and listen to your episodes like they do on Spotify or iTunes.
The second most pressing thing on a podcaster's mind is the price of hosting their podcast. As a podcaster myself, this expense is always front and center whenever my team and I make a financial decision. The good news is that hosting costs on SoundCloud are minimal.
For $12 dollars/month with a Pro Unlimited account, you'll gain access to SoundCloud's creator controls and maximum storage space. This allows you to upload as many episodes as you need.
The low price point is especially important if you're trying to tabulate your sunk costs. You probably won't be pulling in any profit yet, and it will likely be a couple of months before you can start monetizing.
Another reason to host your podcast on SoundCloud is that it has good metrics for tracking your audience engagement.
Apple's iTunes---while it is ubiquitous in the podcasting world---does not give you in-depth information on your audience stats, which can be frustrating when you're just starting out. Without those hard numbers to show you how you're doing, how can you be sure anyone is listening at all?
