Podcast episodes need to be hosted on an appropriate digital platform for access by listeners [12]. A myriad of hosting options are available (eg, custom-built websites or apps and paid and free platforms) [12], and choosing a platform will depend on budgets, compliance requirements, and timelines. An ideal hosting platform should be secure and easy to use, provide reliable and standardized metrics, and be adaptable for local and regional regulatory requirements regarding distribution of content to HCPs. In general, access to podcast episodes can be achieved via the webpage of the hosting platform or a dedicated mobile app. Such apps should be easy to download, have intuitive interfaces, be compatible with both Apple and Android operating systems, and allow download and storage of episodes for offline listening. Based on these considerations, we chose a specialist podcast hosting platform [16] for the in Podcast series that is free of charge to the end user, with an optional associated app to provide HCPs with the convenience of accessing content via their mobile device. The app is available in multiple languages (to mirror the podcasts). It is important to note that developing such an app requires significant investment, likely including partnering with companies or individuals with app development expertise.

A challenge encountered with industry-sponsored podcasts is ensuring that the discussions related to medications or clinical practice are in line with the approved indication for that region, fair, balanced, and consistent with local and regional guidelines governing communication with HCPs. For example, guests might describe treatments that are not approved in the country where the podcast is released, or they might discuss data from studies of unlicensed uses for approved agents; thus, content could be deemed promotional or noncompliant with local guidelines [17,18]. Medical writers, together with regulatory personnel of the sponsor company, play an important role in managing content development. In the in Podcast program, the medical writing team were involved in all aspects of episode development, including podcast recording sessions, to ensure that discussions between the podcast host and guests were accurate and reflected the approved indications for any treatment discussed (“on label”). The medical writing team were also responsible for postrecording activities such as transcribing the recording and ensuring that all scientific claims were supported by current evidence from peer-reviewed journal papers or government guidelines, with a reference list available for every podcast episode. We believe that medical writers play a crucial role, in partnership with the regulatory team, in ensuring that all podcast content is fair and balanced.

The in Podcast series has been launched across different regions; therefore, we had to ensure compliance with regulatory and privacy requirements for each of the relevant countries. The introduction of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 implied ensuring the protection of personal data, privacy, and consent of podcast users. To achieve this, we engaged medical, regulatory, business compliance, and legal stakeholders in the region and therapy area when planning each series. Some hosting platforms collect personal data (eg, email addresses) for metrics analysis, so it is important to utilize a GDPR-compliant hosting platform.

In some countries, discussion or promotion of prescription medicines is only permitted among HCPs. As such, industry-sponsored podcast topics may only be appropriate for an HCP audience (eg, content that could be perceived as promotion of a pharmaceutical product to a non-HCP audience). To ensure that only HCPs could access the content, we created a registration webpage that allowed us to verify a user’s HCP status via their medical/professional registration numbers, or enabled the HCP to self-verify their status, depending on local regulatory requirements. Once a user’s HCP status is verified, they are sent detailed instructions on how to download the podcasting app, create a personal podcast account, and access episodes via the app or a web browser. A summary of the user registration process we used is shown in Figure 2. Because HCPs register through a country-specific registration page, they are given access to content available in their region only. This system enables 1 platform and mobile app to be used across multiple regions.

The credibility of industry-sponsored podcasts can be enhanced through accreditation by a professional body (a medical society or college), thereby allowing HCPs to use the podcasts for CPD. Medical practitioners registered with the Medical Board of Australia, for example, need to complete a minimum number of CPD hours that are relevant to their practice [19]. Accreditation of podcasts may thus help to increase their uptake by the target audience. To gain accreditation, podcast transcripts and supporting references for each episode of HIV in Podcast Australia were reviewed by the Australasian Society of HIV Medicine [20]. Users were encouraged to self-report their listening activity to Australasian Society of HIV Medicine to claim CPD points and maintain their registration as prescribers of HIV treatment. It is important to note that the role of CPD points in continuing professional medical education and accreditation requirements varies across regions. The medical writing team plays an important role in ensuring that all podcast materials meet the accreditation standards of the relevant accrediting society.

Recruiting an appropriate and sizable audience can be challenging. Promoting general medical podcasts typically involves the use of social media platforms (eg, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter) [13] or joining a podcast network [21]. However, if applied to industry-sponsored podcasts, this approach may be considered an untargeted promotional activity and tends to be avoided by pharmaceutical sponsors. Instead, we employed several focused strategies to increase the awareness of the podcasts among HCPs, including the use of hard copy and electronic mailouts to HCPs on subscriber lists provided by industry partners, publishing printed advertisements in peer-reviewed journals or scientific magazines, and conducting promotional activities at scientific meetings (setting up booths, handing out flyers, and conducting in-person registrations). We found that electronic mailouts reach a wider, more targeted audience than the other methods but may require the use of external platforms (eg, Mailchimp) or third parties (eg, advertising or event management agencies who have access to lists of potential subscribers). We found that an advantage of promoting podcasts at scientific meetings was that it provided us with opportunities to gain valuable feedback on the podcasts. We recommend that multichannel promotional strategies be used, if possible, to maximize podcast uptake.

Regularly measuring the uptake of podcasts by HCPs is essential for evaluating the performance of a podcast and can be an indicator of the success of the strategies used to attract listeners. The number of downloads is one of the most frequently used digital performance metrics [3], although other metrics are available (eg, the number of podcast users) [22]. At the time of writing (May 31, 2021), HIV in Podcast Australia had achieved the largest number of total downloads and unique users (993 downloads; 115 unique users) followed by Hepatology in Podcast Australia (608 downloads; 88 unique users; Figure 1). In Europe and Russia, HIV in Podcast Russia achieved the largest number of total downloads (455 downloads), whereas HCV in Podcast Russia had the highest number of unique users (52 users). Relative to the small number of unique users, the large number of downloads suggests that users likely downloaded multiple podcast episodes, which indicates continued engagement with content over time. In our experience, the number of downloads can be influenced by various factors including therapy area, size of the target audience, geographical region, and how readily the target audience can access the podcast. This makes direct comparisons of podcast performance difficult. For example, average monthly downloads for the in Podcast series, housed on our app in which HCPs must register to gain access, were between 56 downloads per month for Hepatology in Podcast Australia and 11 downloads per month for Virology in Podcast Nordics (Figure 1). In contrast, publicly available medical podcasts have been reported to achieve between 217 and 10,000 downloads per month [10,23,24]. Comparisons with other industry-sponsored podcasts are challenging owing to a lack of published data.

Another important consideration is that download metrics provided by GDPR-compliant hosting platforms contain anonymized user identifications. This makes it difficult to profile podcast users by HCP type (eg, proportion of physicians vs nurses), which may be of specific interest to the sponsor. Additional qualitative measures of success may therefore add value. For example, short surveys can be included in electronic mailouts or conducted via face-to-face interviews with the target audience [10]. These qualitative data can be used to understand if, and the extent to which, listeners are enjoying the series and whether it may be changing their clinical practice. Additionally, podcast performance metrics should be codeveloped with industry partners and realistic goals set for measuring “success” (eg, a prespecified proportion of licensed prescribers within a therapy area in 1 country). We believe that combining both quantitative and qualitative metrics provides more holistic insights into the overall performance of the podcast.