Show notes are the written description that comes with a podcast episode — a summary, the guests, links and often timestamps — shown in podcast apps and on the episode's web page.
Show notes are what a listener reads before deciding to press play, and what podcast apps and search engines read to understand the episode. They are also where the links mentioned on air go.
Apple Podcasts' guidance says episode descriptions can run to 4,000 characters, and a YouTube description can hold 5,000, but only the first line or two show before "more", so the hook has to come first.
An interview episode's notes open with one sentence on why the guest is worth hearing, then three bullet points on what's covered, the guest's website and book, two links mentioned in the conversation and a list of timestamps.
The first sentence is the one Apple and Spotify show in the episode list, so it names the guest and the topic rather than "In this episode…".
Do this automatically from your episode audio
Spotlight's Episode mode turns an episode into posts for every platform, chapters and clips.
Episode mode is part of the Spotlight workspace on CAPTD's paid plans — see pricing.
Open Episode modeRelated terms