Can’t get per-episode images to show up

Episode-level artwork usually only shows up within the Apple Podcasts directory in search results. Apple caches that artwork and it probably takes some time for those caches to clear.

I subscribed to your show using iTunes on my Mac and could see the episode-level artwork for each episode, so it looks like you have it set up correctly. For the places you’re not currently seeing episode-level art, it’s likely those platforms either don’t support episode-level art or there are caches that need to clear before the episode-level art will show.

Thanks so much for the quick reply, Shawn. Yeah, I see it now too. It hadn’t updated in a couple days…then must have done so right after I submitted this post. Thanks for checking and for the details!

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Hi Shawn,

Not sure if something changed in the Apple Podcasts app, but my individual episode images are not there anymore. As you said, if you subscribe to my podcast from iTunes, you can see that the images per episode are fine. (Same as with Spotify and all the other platforms where it’s posted.)

But when you view the podcast in the Apple Podcasts app on iOS, all the images for the individual episodes are just defaulting to the main podcast image. I swear this *was* working at one point, but it doesn’t appear to be now.

Any ideas would be most appreciated!

Thanks,
Scott

when you view the podcast in the Apple Podcasts app on iOS, all the images for the individual episodes are just defaulting to the main podcast image

Is this happening after subscribing to your show, or is this what you’re seeing when you see your episodes in search results? Apple did just release an update to the Apple Podcasts app, so it’s possible this changed the behavior of how episode-level artwork is being displayed.

I’m subscribed to the show. And when I click the “details” link in the app, it goes to the data (which comes from the wordpress post) page about the episode and the image on that page of the app is just showing the generic main image of the podcast.

Also, I have the podcast set (in powerpress) to show the latest episode first. It’s displaying this order correctly on iTunes. But in the Apple Podcasts app, my podcasts are listed in ascending order.

Everyone else in the industry seems to be using apple’s podcast meta data perfectly … except Apple! ha! My podcast looks awesome on Spotify app, for example, and they’re utilizing all the latest apple meta tags. ??

Hello @thinkmediaco,

I believe Daniel Lewis covered this on his podcast last year, what is displayed in the iOS app is not fluid unfortunately.

When searching for a podcast, the episode iTunes:image tag is displayed within the episode search results. Please test by doing a search in the iOS podcast app to confirm.

Once you are subscribed, the program level view will use your program level itunes:image. When you click play to play a specific episode, your program level image continues to be displayed. I believe if you have different artwork in the ID3 tags (this is the image in the media file), it will display that in some podcast apps, but from my testing it still shows the program level image in the iOS podcast app (not the episdoe level image). Please test by doing a search in the iOS podcast app to confirm. When you click another episode the image does not re-load either, its static to the program, not the episode.

If you do not like this behavior, I would suggest contacting Apple through the podcasts connect portal and complain about it. I personally agree, if you set an itunes:image for an episode, it should display when you play that episode, but I also understand that at any point when you are playing an episode you can start playing another episode in the playlist, this action does not change the show information at the top, which I think was the design goal that Apple had in mind (program info at the top, episode at the bottom).

I personally have found that having separate artwork on a per episode basis is a double edged sword. When using search, it can sometimes appear as a bunch of episodes from different podcasts. if you see the same artwork for all of the episodes in the search result it is more compelling to the user that program and its episodes are more relevant. On the other hand, if you are putting content in the image that is specific to the episode and you reference it in you recordings, the listener is going to want to see it. This is all preference really.

I have yet to see an Audiobook series or mp3 music albums use separate artwork for all of the files, they all use the same artwork.

If you have ever dug into apps like NetFlix, Amazon Prime or TiVo, many shows use the same artwork for every episode while others use different artwork for every episode. Even the professionals haven’t made a decision what is better or optimal.

Do not let this dissuade you from doing what you are doing, I am just sharing what I’ve observed with apps and other types of content.

Thanks,
Angelo

Looking at your podcast feed, I see that you do have episode-level artwork in the feed. You should also be adding episode-level artwork to the ID3 tags of your media files before uploading. I’m pretty sure Apple Podcasts only displays episode-level artwork if the artwork is embedded in the ID3 tags. Different apps handle episode-level artwork in different ways.

Hi @shawnogordo – Yes, I have the images embedded in the ID3 tags too.

Hi @amandato – Thanks for the feedback and detailed reply. You’re correct that if you search for an episode in Apple Podcasts, it shows up in the search results with the right episode image. So it’s strange to me they wouldn’t present them on the details page for each episode, especially since they do so on iTunes. Oh well…

Anyway, yes, I realize it’s not always done. My podcast is not a traditional format at all. They have fully scripted fiction-meets-nonfiction stories, somewhat like twilight zone episodes that are fully produced with music, etc. So every episode is like a mini audiobook and each kind of needs its own branding (the same image is then used in social media posts with multiple quotes from the episode, etc). So it’s like sub-branding. So I agree with what you’re saying but I don’t think it works for my product.

If you wanted to take a look, seeing all the episodes in full-size (and organized by the “season”) might make more sense … https://evolvefaster.com

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback and ideas, guys. I think it makes sense now, Apple just isn’t using their own tag on the “details” page within the app, it seems.

Hello @thinkmediaco,

Apple came up with the order option back in 2012. In 2017 they came up with season and episode numbers to the episode type (serial or episodic) that superseded the order option.

If you are creating serial based content, you should enable the option to syndicate as a serial podcast. This will show your episodes similar to how you find TV shows on Netflix where you start at season 1 episode 1.

The episodic and season information does not work on iTunes desktop, it is primarily a feature of the iOS podcast app only.

Thanks,
Angelo