How to Inventory a Podcast on YouTube: The Definitive SOP

We inventory YouTube podcast channels for every client we work with — Dennis Yu, Ethan Van De Hey, Josh at America First Dumpsters, Ryan D. Lee, and dozens more. This is the step-by-step process any agent (human or AI) can follow to catalog every episode, identify every guest, and set the stage for repurposing.

This SOP focuses specifically on inventorying podcast-format content on YouTube — interview episodes, conversation videos, and guest appearances. It builds on our existing guides for general YouTube channel inventory, inventorying your own podcast appearances, and our tool-specific walkthroughs for Listen Notes and Podchaser. It follows the 8-part document architecture we use for all BlitzMetrics training.

Who This Guide Is For

Business owners and personal brands: You have a YouTube channel with podcast or interview content. You want to know exactly what you have, who your guests were, and which episodes are worth repurposing. You might hand this SOP to a team member or an AI agent and say “do this for my channel.” This guide tells you what the finished product looks like so you can review the output and know whether it was done right.

Young adults and VAs executing for a client: A client or manager has assigned you a YouTube podcast channel to inventory. This guide walks you through every click, every column, and every tool — the same way our YouTube channel inventory guide does, with the Home Service Expert channel as a running example. Follow the steps in order, use the screenshots as visual references, and check your work against the verification checklist at the bottom before you submit.

AI agents: You are processing a YouTube channel programmatically or semi-manually through a browser. This SOP gives you the exact data fields to extract, the search queries to run, and the sheet structure to populate. For an example of how we used Claude in Chrome to process 500+ Podchaser credits for Dennis Yu, see our Podchaser article. The same approach applies here — cross-reference each data point, flag ambiguous items for human review, and never guess at guest identification.

Task Checklist

Information that you will need:

1. The YouTube channel URL (@handle or channel ID).
2. The host’s full name (for cross-platform search).
3. Any known podcast series names (e.g., “The Coach Yu Show,” “The Marketing Mechanic”).
4. Additional instructions from the client, if any. Don’t be afraid to ask.

Tools that you will need:

1. Google Sheets — use the BlitzMetrics YouTube Inventory template (same template referenced in the general YouTube channel inventory guide).
2. YouTube (browser access to the channel).
3. Listen Notes (listennotes.com) — free podcast search engine. See our full Listen Notes walkthrough for setup details.
4. Podchaser (podchaser.com) — podcast credits database. See our full Podchaser walkthrough for profile verification and credit claiming.
5. ChatGPT or Claude with web search — for gap-filling.
6. Descript or YouTube transcript viewer — for transcript extraction.
7. Timestamp removal tool (anatolt.ru) — for cleaning transcripts.
8. Word counter (wordcounter.net) or MS Word.

Steps (summary):

1. Map the channel’s playlists and flag interview/podcast content.
2. Extract every video from interview playlists into your Google Sheet.
3. Search the channel for unlisted conversation content.
4. Check the Live tab for streamed podcast episodes.
5. Identify the guest in every episode.
6. Research each guest (LinkedIn, Twitter, company, website).
7. Search Listen Notes and cross-reference against YouTube inventory.
8. Search Podchaser and cross-reference.
9. Search YouTube globally for the host as a guest on other channels.
10. Use AI tools to fill gaps.
11. Check the host’s website and blog.
12. Extract transcripts for top episodes.
13. Check Google rankings for each episode.
14. Calculate engagement metrics (views per day).
15. Organize the master inventory with all 5 tabs.
16. Run the quality check.
17. Flag repurposing candidates and create guest outreach list.

Time estimate: 1 minute 45 seconds per video for data entry. A 100-episode channel takes about 3 hours. If you are taking longer than that per video, identify which step is consuming more time than necessary and work on being more efficient — the same guidance from our YouTube channel inventory guide applies here.

Why This Matters

Most YouTube channels with podcast content have episodes scattered across multiple playlists, unlisted videos, and inconsistent naming. Guests go untagged. Cross-platform links are missing. That means the highest-ROI content — long-form conversations that build authority — sits buried where nobody can find it.

When you inventory a podcast channel, you unlock the ability to repurpose every episode into articles, clips, quote graphics, and social posts. You also build the data you need to pitch new guests, demonstrate reach, and identify which episodes deserve ad spend through the dollar-a-day strategy. This is a core part of the Content Factory process — you cannot repurpose what you have not inventoried.

[Screenshot needed: A completed podcast inventory Google Sheet showing the Summary tab with total episodes, total duration, total views, and top performers — so the reader sees what “done” looks like before they begin.]

Phase 1: YouTube Channel Extraction (The Foundation)

This is where most of the data comes from. YouTube is the source of truth for video-format podcast content.

Step 1.1: Map the Channel’s Playlists

Go to the channel’s Playlists tab (e.g., youtube.com/@ChannelName/playlists). This is the single most important step — podcast hosts almost always organize episodes into playlists, even when individual videos have inconsistent titles.

[Screenshot needed: The Playlists tab of a real YouTube channel (e.g., @BlitzMetrics or Home Service Expert) showing multiple playlists with video counts visible. Highlight the playlist names that indicate interview/podcast content.]

For each playlist, record the playlist name, video count, and whether it contains conversation content. Flag these playlist types as interview/podcast content: any playlist with “show,” “podcast,” “interview,” “with,” or guest names in the title; any playlist with episodes longer than 15 minutes featuring multiple speakers.

Create a Playlists tab in your Google Sheet with columns for Playlist Name, Video Count, Playlist URL, and Content Type (Interview / Solo / Training / Mixed).

[Screenshot needed: The Google Sheet Playlists tab with several rows filled in, showing Playlist Name, Video Count, URL, and Content Type columns populated with real data from the example channel.]

Step 1.2: Extract Every Video from Interview Playlists

Open each flagged playlist and record every video. For each episode, capture the title, duration, view count, upload date, and YouTube URL.

Pro tip: YouTube shows relative dates (“3 months ago”) on playlist pages. If you need exact dates, click into the individual video page, or use the YouTube Data API. For most inventory purposes, relative dates are sufficient in the first pass — you can backfill exact dates later.

Work playlist by playlist. This catches videos that might not appear when scrolling the main Videos tab (which often fails to load all content due to infinite scroll issues). This is the same approach described in our general YouTube channel inventory guide.

[Screenshot needed: A playlist open in YouTube showing the list of episodes with titles, durations, and view counts visible. Highlight where to find the view count and duration on the playlist view.]

Step 1.3: Search the Channel for Unlisted Conversation Content

Many interview videos are not in any playlist. Use the channel’s search function (the magnifying glass icon on the channel page) to find them.

Search for these terms one at a time: “interview,” “with,” “podcast,” “episode,” “show,” “guest,” “Dr,” “CEO,” and any known guest names.

[Screenshot needed: The channel search bar with “interview” typed in, showing results that include videos not found in the playlist scan. Highlight the magnifying glass icon so a beginner can locate it.]

Record any new videos not already captured from playlists.

Step 1.4: Check the Live Tab

Navigate to the channel’s Live tab. Many podcast-format shows are originally streamed live, and these recordings often don’t get added to playlists.

Record any live recordings that are conversation format.

Step 1.5: Identify the Guest in Every Episode

This is the step that separates a useful inventory from a useless one. For every conversation video, identify the guest by name. Sources for guest identification include the video title (most reliable — look for patterns like “Name: Topic” or “with Name”), the video description (usually names the guest), the video thumbnail (often shows two people), and the first 30 seconds of the video (host usually introduces the guest).

[Screenshot needed: A YouTube video page showing the video title with the guest’s name highlighted, and the description box expanded showing the guest’s name and bio information. Use the same approach shown in the YouTube channel inventory guide Step 6, where Tommy Mello’s description includes Trey McWilliams’ name and company.]

Add a “Featured Guest” column to your sheet. If the video is solo content (no guest), mark it “Solo — [Host Name].” If there are multiple guests, list all of them separated by commas.

Step 1.6: Research Each Guest

For every unique guest, find their LinkedIn profile URL, their X/Twitter handle, their company name and title, and their personal website or brand site URL.

Use a Google search with the format: “Guest Name” “Company Name” LinkedIn. Enclosing the words in quotes tells Google to look for the exact terms — the same technique described in Step 8 of our YouTube channel inventory guide. This guest data is critical for tagging, outreach, and repurposing. It takes about 30 seconds per guest.

[Screenshot needed: A Google search for a guest name in quotes with their company name, showing LinkedIn as the top result. Then the LinkedIn profile confirming the correct person. Same pattern as the YouTube channel inventory guide’s Step 8 screenshots.]

Before leaving a guest’s LinkedIn page, check if they included a link to their X/Twitter account in their Contact Info — this saves you a separate search. Some people also link their personal website. If there is no Twitter account, put “n/a” or “No account found” in the sheet.

Phase 2: Cross-Platform Discovery (Filling the Gaps)

YouTube only shows you what’s on YouTube. Many podcast episodes exist on audio-only platforms and were never uploaded as video. This phase catches those gaps. Our podcast appearances inventory guide walks through the full multi-source consolidation process — this section applies that same framework to a specific client’s channel.

Step 2.1: Search Listen Notes

Go to listennotes.com and search the host’s name in quotes (e.g., “Dennis Yu”) under the Episodes tab. Listen Notes indexes over 3 million podcasts and searches across titles, descriptions, and transcripts. Export the results to CSV.

[Screenshot needed: The Listen Notes search results page showing the Episodes tab selected, with “Dennis Yu” searched. Highlight the episode count (477 results), the Episodes tab, and the “Export results to CSV” button on the right sidebar. See our Listen Notes deep dive for a full walkthrough of every feature.]

Compare this list against your YouTube inventory. Flag any episodes that appear on Listen Notes but NOT on YouTube — these are candidates for video creation or at minimum should be documented in your master inventory.

Step 2.2: Search Podchaser

Go to podchaser.com and search for the host’s name. Podchaser tracks credited guest appearances differently than Listen Notes — it relies on guest credits rather than transcript mentions. This surfaces different episodes.

[Screenshot needed: The Podchaser creator profile page showing credited episodes, total episode count, and the “Manage” button. For Dennis Yu, this shows 608 credits across 353 podcasts. See our Podchaser deep dive for the full profile setup and credit-claiming process.]

If the host doesn’t have a verified Podchaser profile yet, note this as an action item. A verified profile with claimed credits is a powerful authority signal. Our Podchaser article walks through the exact verification process, including why an X/Twitter account is required and how we used Claude in Chrome to process 500+ suggested credits at scale.

Step 2.3: Search YouTube Globally

Search YouTube (not just the channel) for the host’s name plus “podcast,” “interview,” and “episode.”

This finds episodes where the host was a GUEST on someone else’s show, uploaded to the other host’s channel. These are valuable inventory items — the host’s authority content lives on channels they don’t control.

Step 2.4: Use ChatGPT or Claude with Web Search

Ask the AI: “What podcasts has [Host Name] appeared on? Search for podcast episodes featuring [Host Name] as a guest or host.”

AI tools sometimes surface appearances from smaller shows, personal blogs, or platforms that Listen Notes and Podchaser miss. This is the same approach described in Step 3 of our podcast appearances inventory guide.

Step 2.5: Check the Host’s Website and Blog

Many podcast hosts embed episodes on their blog or have a dedicated podcast page. Cross-reference any blog-listed episodes against your YouTube inventory.

Phase 3: Data Enrichment

Step 3.1: Extract Transcripts

For high-priority episodes (highest views, most important guests, best topics), extract the transcript from YouTube. Click “Show transcript” below the video, copy the text, and clean it using the timestamp removal tool at anatolt.ru. Paste cleaned text into wordcounter.net to get word count. This is the exact same process shown in Steps 11 of our YouTube channel inventory guide, which includes screenshots of the transcript panel, the timestamp removal tool, and the word counter.

[Screenshot needed: The YouTube transcript panel open on a video, with the “Show transcript” button highlighted. Then the anatolt.ru timestamp removal tool with text pasted and cleaned. Then wordcounter.net showing the word count. These can be the same screenshots from the YouTube channel inventory guide or new ones specific to a podcast episode.]

Add a “Word Count” column to your sheet. A 30-minute episode typically yields 4,000-6,000 words — enough for 2-3 blog articles.

Step 3.2: Check Google Rankings

For each episode, Google the video title in quotes. Record whether the video appears on page 1 of Google. Also search the guest’s name plus a topic keyword to see if the episode ranks for relevant queries.

Add columns for “Ranks on Google Page 1” (yes/no) and “Ranking Keywords” to your sheet. This is the same First Page and Video Ranking check from Step 7 of our YouTube channel inventory guide.

Step 3.3: Calculate Engagement Metrics

For each episode, calculate views per day (views divided by days since upload). This normalizes across old and new episodes and reveals which content actually performs well versus which just had more time to accumulate views.

Sort by views-per-day to identify the true top performers.

Phase 4: Organize the Master Inventory

Step 4.1: Structure Your Google Sheet

Your final spreadsheet should have these tabs:

Tab 1 — Playlists: Playlist Name, Video Count, URL, Content Type

Tab 2 — All Episodes: Episode Number, Title, Duration, Views, Upload Date, YouTube URL, Featured Guest, Guest LinkedIn, Guest Twitter, Guest Company, Podcast Series Name, Word Count, Google Page 1 (Y/N), Views Per Day, Notes

Tab 3 — Cross-Platform: Episode Title, YouTube (Y/N), Spotify (Y/N), Apple Podcasts (Y/N), Listen Notes URL, Podchaser URL, Notes

Tab 4 — Guests: Guest Name, Number of Appearances, LinkedIn, Twitter, Company, Website, Episodes Featured In

Tab 5 — Summary: Total episodes, total duration, total views, average views per episode, top 10 episodes by views, top 10 episodes by views-per-day, total unique guests, date range of content

[Screenshot needed: The completed Google Sheet showing each of the 5 tabs at the bottom, with the All Episodes tab active and populated with real data. Then a second screenshot showing the Summary tab with totals calculated. This is the “successful outcome” — what the finished product looks like. Use the same approach as Step 13 of our YouTube channel inventory guide, which shows the completed Summary tab.]

Step 4.2: Quality Check

Verify the following before marking the inventory complete: every interview video has a guest name populated; every guest has at least a LinkedIn URL; the episode count in Summary matches the actual row count; no duplicate entries exist (search for duplicate YouTube URLs); all playlist videos are accounted for in the All Episodes tab.

Phase 5: Repurposing Setup

The inventory is not the end — it’s the launchpad for the Content Factory.

Step 5.1: Flag Repurposing Candidates

Mark the top 20% of episodes (by views-per-day) as “Priority Repurpose.” These are the episodes that deserve clips, articles, quote graphics, and dollar-a-day ad spend.

Step 5.2: Identify Missing Content

Use your Cross-Platform tab to find episodes that exist on audio platforms but not YouTube. These need video versions created (even simple audiogram-style videos).

Step 5.3: Create a Guest Outreach List

Your Guests tab is now a relationship database. Guests who appeared once are warm contacts for follow-up episodes, cross-promotion, or content collaboration.

Step 5.4: Document the Gaps

Note any series that stopped publishing, naming inconsistencies that hurt discoverability, episodes with zero or near-zero views that may need better titles/thumbnails, and popular episodes that should be boosted with dollar-a-day.

Real-World Examples

We’ve run this exact process for multiple clients. Here’s what it looks like in practice — and these are not hypothetical. These are real inventories we have completed.

BlitzMetrics (@BlitzMetrics, 772 videos): We identified 100+ interview/conversation videos across 7 playlists including The Coach Yu Show (15 episodes), Dennis Yu With (13 episodes), Live Website Audits (13 episodes), plus standalone interviews found only through channel search. The top performer — David Carroll’s episode — had 343K views. On the cross-platform side, Listen Notes returned 477 results for “Dennis Yu” and Podchaser showed 608 credited episodes across 353 podcasts — revealing hundreds of episodes that exist on audio platforms but hadn’t been connected back to YouTube. See our Listen Notes article and Podchaser article for the full details of Dennis Yu’s cross-platform inventory.

[Screenshot needed: The BlitzMetrics YouTube channel Playlists tab showing The Coach Yu Show, Dennis Yu With, and other interview playlists. Then a screenshot of the completed inventory sheet for BlitzMetrics.]

Ethan Van De Hey: Inventoried his podcast appearances to build out his personal brand entity, connecting YouTube episodes to Listen Notes and Podchaser credits. The inventory revealed episodes on audio-only platforms that had never been repurposed into video or articles.

Josh at America First Dumpsters: Cataloged every episode of his dumpster rental business podcast, identifying guests from the home services vertical and flagging episodes for repurposing into local SEO content. This is a perfect example of how a niche business podcast — not just big marketing brands — benefits from a complete inventory.

Ryan D. Lee: Inventoried his show appearances and guest episodes to build a comprehensive authority map across platforms.

Dan Leibrandt: When we set up Dan’s Podchaser profile, we found his episodes were already indexed but no creators or guests had been associated. We created Dan as a host, added his social networks and personal brand site, and began associating credits — 22 episodes for 2026 alone and 35 for 2025. This is documented step-by-step in our Podchaser walkthrough with real screenshots of the process.

In every case, the inventory revealed episodes that the client had forgotten existed — content that was already working but hadn’t been amplified.

Video Demonstration

[Video needed: Record a screen share demonstrating the full process on a real channel — walking through playlist mapping, video extraction, guest identification, Listen Notes search, Podchaser search, and Google Sheet population. Use our task documentation standards — live explanation with mouse clicks for clarity. Embed the video here once recorded. Our How to Document Your Task video shows the standard for what these demos should look like.]

Checklist: Inventory Complete When…

• All playlists mapped with video counts and content types
• Every video from interview playlists captured with title, duration, views, date, URL
• Channel search completed for 10+ keyword variations
• Every conversation video has a guest name identified
• Every unique guest has LinkedIn URL documented
• Listen Notes search completed and cross-referenced
• Podchaser search completed and cross-referenced
• YouTube global search completed for host as guest on other channels
• Blog/website episodes cross-referenced
• Transcripts extracted for top 20% of episodes
• Google rankings checked for all episodes
• Views-per-day calculated and sorted
• Summary tab complete with totals and top performers
• Quality check passed (no duplicates, no missing guest names)
• Top 20% flagged for priority repurposing
• Cross-platform gaps documented
• Guest outreach list created

Verification Checklist

The completed podcast inventory must meet the following criteria. Use this to check your work before submitting — or to review someone else’s work. This follows the same verification format used across all BlitzMetrics task documentation.

#1. The Google Sheet is a new sheet, saved under the client’s name — a separate file, not a tab in someone else’s spreadsheet.

#2. The sheet includes all 5 required tabs: Playlists, All Episodes, Cross-Platform, Guests, and Summary.

#3. Every interview/conversation video on the channel has been captured — verified by cross-referencing against playlist video counts and channel search results.

#4. Every conversation video has a Featured Guest name populated. Solo videos are marked “Solo — [Host Name].”

#5. Every unique guest has at least a LinkedIn URL. Twitter/X, company, and website are populated when available.

#6. The Cross-Platform tab includes results from Listen Notes, Podchaser, and YouTube global search — with episodes flagged that exist on other platforms but not on the client’s YouTube channel.

#7. Transcripts have been extracted for the top 20% of episodes (by views-per-day) with word counts recorded.

#8. Google Page 1 rankings have been checked for all episodes.

#9. Views-per-day has been calculated for all episodes and the sheet is sorted to identify top performers.

#10. The Summary tab is complete with accurate totals: total episodes, total duration, total views, average views per episode, top 10 by views, top 10 by views-per-day, total unique guests, and date range.

#11. No duplicate entries exist (verified by searching for duplicate YouTube URLs).

#12. The top 20% of episodes are flagged as “Priority Repurpose” in the Notes column.

#13. Cross-platform gaps are documented — episodes that exist on audio platforms but not YouTube are identified.

#14. A guest outreach list has been created from the Guests tab.

#15. Time to completion, time per entry, and cost per entry have been calculated (same as the YouTube channel inventory guide Summary tab requirements).

#16. The inventory sheet URL has been included in the work report.

Related Resources

• How to Inventory a YouTube Channel — the general YouTube inventory process for all video types, with step-by-step screenshots. Start here if you haven’t done a YouTube inventory before.
• You’ve Probably Been on 100+ Podcasts and Don’t Know It — Here’s Why That’s a Gold Mine — why your scattered podcast appearances are a gold mine of untapped authority content, and where to start.
• How We Use Listen Notes to Find, Track, and Repurpose Every Podcast Appearance — deep dive on the Listen Notes tool, including search techniques, Listen Score ratings, CSV export, and the Clip feature.
• How We Use Podchaser to Amplify Authority and Repurpose Podcast Content — deep dive on Podchaser, including profile verification, credit claiming, and using AI agents to process suggested credits at scale.
• How to Document a Task — the BlitzMetrics standard for creating task documentation. This podcast inventory guide follows that standard.
• Creating Winning Documents that Drive Conversions — the 8-part document architecture (Design Guide, Templates, Checklists, Master Document, Asset Tracker, One-Pagers, Task Library, Social Amplification) that governs how we create and maintain all training.
• Document Your Expertise and Teach Others — the incentive program for documenting tasks, with $500 bonuses available when 3 external customers give 5 stars on the task being done by agents or workers.
• The Task Library — browse over 1,000 documented tasks across the Content Factory.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, be sure to explore our Task Library for a plethora of additional tasks waiting to be mastered!