How we score - and why we ignore downloads.

The B2B Podcast Index is built and maintained by Fame, a specialist B2B podcast agency that produces and grows shows for B2B brands. We spend our days inside B2B podcasts - which is exactly why we built a way to measure them on substance rather than vanity metrics. The Index is editorially independent of the shows it ranks: there is no pay-to-play, no sponsored placements, and being a Fame client gives a show no ranking advantage whatsoever.

For each show we sample recent episodes, transcribe them, and have a large language model score the transcript against a fixed five-dimension rubric. Each dimension is scored 0-20 and the five sum to a 0-100 episode score. A show's substance score is the average of its five most recently scored episodes. We keep a history of every period so ranks can rise and fall over time.

The model must return a score and cited evidence - verbatim quotes from the transcript - for every dimension. We never accept a score without its evidence.

1. 01

   Insight Density

   0-20

   Novel, non-obvious claims per minute vs. filler.

   Rewards: Ideas a smart operator hadn't already heard, packed tightly.

   Penalises: Padding, throat-clearing, and obvious advice.

2. 02

   Originality

   0-20

   Fresh thinking vs. recycled takes.

   Rewards: Contrarian, first-principles, or counterintuitive arguments.

   Penalises: The same frameworks and quotes that circulate everywhere.

3. 03

   Guest Caliber

   0-20

   Operators and practitioners over career guests.

   Rewards: People who have actually done the thing at scale.

   Penalises: Career podcast guests and thinly-relevant names.

4. 04

   Specificity & Evidence

   0-20

   Named examples and real numbers vs. vagueness.

   Rewards: Specific companies, metrics, timelines, and dollar figures.

   Penalises: Hand-waving and abstraction.

5. 05

   Conversational Craft

   0-20

   Sharp questions and real follow-ups vs. softball chats.

   Rewards: Genuine follow-ups and productive disagreement.

   Penalises: Softball PR chats and unchallenged claims.

• We pull a show's recent episodes from its public RSS feed and use the most recent five scored episodes for the substance score, so the ranking reflects a show's current form, not its back catalogue.
• Transcripts come from the publisher's own transcript when one is published in the feed, otherwise from machine transcription of the audio. We never republish full transcripts - quotes are used only as short cited evidence.
• Trailers, ads-only entries, and sub-five-minute clips are excluded.

• We don't use downloads, so buying ads, swapping promos, or inflating subscriber counts does nothing to your rank.
• Scores are evidence-bound: the model must quote the transcript, so a keyword-stuffed description or a slick intro can't move the number - only the substance of the conversation can.
• We average multiple episodes, so a single unusually good (or sponsored) episode can't carry a show.
• The rubric and model version are recorded with every score, and we calibrate the model against a set of human-rated episodes. On that calibration set the model's scores track the human ratings at a correlation of roughly 0.99 - so the ranking reflects human judgement of substance, applied consistently at scale.

Curious what the scores reveal in aggregate? See the data study on where B2B podcasts shine and fall short. The Index is refreshed monthly.

We only ever publish a positive, ranked list - we never publish a "worst" list, and scores are framed as relative quality, never as attacks. If you host or produce a show and believe a score is wrong, want a fresh episode sampled, or would like your show removed from the Index, email team@fame.so and we'll respond.