Check an episode against -16 LUFS
Drop an episode and read its integrated loudness against the -16 LUFS figure the AES streaming recommendation sets for podcasts. The number beside the target is the gain change that lands the file exactly on it.
Mono runs 3 dB lower
The -16 LUFS figure is specified for stereo programme. A mono file measured by the same standard needs to sit around -19 LUFS to sound equally loud on playback, because summing to one channel changes how the measurement relates to perceived level.
Check which one you are delivering before deciding the file is on target.
Consistency matters more than for music
Music streaming platforms normalise everything, so a track slightly off target is corrected automatically. Podcast distribution is far less uniform: some apps normalise, some do not, and listeners move between them. An episode that is 4 dB quiet on a platform that does nothing about it simply plays 4 dB quiet.
That makes hitting the figure, and hitting it the same way every episode, more important here than in music delivery.
Loudness range and listening conditions
Podcasts are listened to in cars, on public transport, and while walking, all of which have a high noise floor. A wide loudness range means the quiet passages disappear into that noise.
The loudness range reading in LU measures exactly this spread. Speech programme is normally kept far tighter than music, which is why compression and levelling are standard in podcast production rather than optional.
True peak before encoding
Episodes are almost always distributed as MP3 or AAC. Lossy encoding decodes to slightly different sample values than the original, so a file sitting on the ceiling clips once it is decoded. Keep the true peak below -1 dBTP; the meter oversamples 4x to find peaks falling between samples.
Other targets
Music streaming aims at -14 LUFS, Apple Music at -16, and European broadcast at -23. To see all four at once, use the full Loudness Meter.