Podcast topic landscape

Access and scope

Set CRAWLORA_API_KEY to your Crawlora key. Prefer the listed Crawlora MCP tools when connected; otherwise use the bundled scripts/crawlora.sh, which sends x-api-key to https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1. Read reference/endpoints.md for exact methods and parameters. Check application code as well as HTTP status; payloads are inside data. Stop on authentication errors, back off on 429, and retry a transient upstream failure once. Bound calls/pages by the requested scope and credit budget. Retain source IDs, URLs, source dates, and observation/crawl times separately.

Compare editorial coverage of a topic across a specified or discovered show set. Establish topic/synonyms, language/market, date window, show scope, and balanced per-show episode budget. Search results and recommendations are discovery samples rather than an exhaustive podcast universe.

Resolve shows and sample episodes consistently

1. Discover shows through stored Apple Podcasts facets/search or live Apple/ Spotify discovery. Resolve Apple show/episode IDs separately from Spotify show/episode URIs. A show URL, publisher, title, and feed URL when supplied can corroborate a cross-platform match; similarly named shows are insufficient.
2. Use episode search for leads, then retrieve a bounded archive from each selected show. Apple show episodes use its show ID; Spotify show routes use a returned URI, even where the schema marks it individually optional. Preserve each route's page/offset/limit and stopping rule; do not invent pagination fields.
3. Select comparable dates and episode types rather than only the most popular hits. Preserve release date, episode identity, description/title, duration, language, and original show/source link. A trailer, bonus, rerun, excerpt, and full episode should not silently count as equivalent editorial outputs.
4. Cross-platform duplicate episodes need a returned GUID/feed identity or corroborating title/date/duration evidence. Preserve uncertain matches and syndicated versions; do not double-count the same episode merely because Apple and Spotify both return it. Convert duration milliseconds deliberately.

scripts/crawlora.sh /apple-podcasts/episodes/search term="climate adaptation" country=us limit=10
scripts/crawlora.sh /spotify-podcasts/search q="climate adaptation" limit=10
# Resolve discovered show IDs/URIs before sampling their episode archives.

Code topics without inventing the spoken content

Build a shared topic/frame rubric with multi-label and uncertain states. Mark whether each label comes from title, publisher description, or separately verified content. These tools do not guarantee full transcripts: do not invent quotations, spoken arguments, guest affiliations, or sponsor endorsements from metadata. Duration is a supplied episode measurement, not listening time or audience reach.

Return a show-by-topic matrix, episode evidence ledger with dates/URLs and coding basis, notable positioning differences, and a listening shortlist. Topic shares need explicit unique-episode denominators and unavailable-description counts; multi-label counts can exceed total episodes. A missing topic is a sample gap, not proof the show never covers it or that a new podcast has market demand. Ratings, chart ranks, recommendations, and archive counts do not supply downloads, listeners, revenue, or demographic composition. Do not message hosts, download restricted audio, subscribe, or create a recurring monitor unless requested.