Format Profile

Two shows about the same topic can be completely different products: a daily two-minute news brief read by a single narrator, and a weekly 90-minute interview show with rotating guests and a heavy ad load. Particle API derives that distinction from what’s actually in the audio — speaker roles, durations, publish timestamps, and video discovery — and exposes it as a compact format object on every podcast, with every attribute doubling as a catalog filter.

The format object

Every podcast response (list and detail) embeds the compact form:

Response from GET /v1/podcasts/pivot (truncated)

{
  "id": "QpMz7GYKfSNuUa6zKXA4Q",
  "title": "Pivot",
  "slug": "pivot",
  "format": {
    "guest_frequency": "regular",
    "signals": ["interview"],
    "has_ads": true,
    "has_video": true,
    "avg_episode_minutes": 62,
    "episodes_per_week": 2.1,
    "publishing_status": "active"
  }
}

Field	Meaning
`guest_frequency`	How often episodes feature a guest: `never`, `rare`, `occasional`, `regular`, or `always`.
`signals`	Detected production formats: `interview`, `panel`, `call_in`, `solo_narrated`. A show can carry several — a panel show with call-in segments carries both.
`has_ads`	Whether episodes carry advertiser reads. The full sponsor breakdown lives at Advertising.
`has_video`	Whether any episode has a discovered video version (e.g. a YouTube release).
`avg_episode_minutes`	Average episode length in minutes.
`episodes_per_week`	Publishing cadence over the trailing 90 days — `5.0` for a weekday daily, `0.5` for a fortnightly show.
`publishing_status`	`active` (an episode within the last 90 days) or `dormant`.

Attributes are asserted, never presumed: guest_frequency, signals, and has_ads are derived from speaker analysis and are omitted until enough of the show’s episodes have been analyzed to judge. An omitted field means not yet known — it never means “no”. The format object itself is omitted for podcasts whose episodes haven’t been ingested yet.

Guest frequency buckets

Value	Share of analyzed episodes with a guest
`never`	0% — the show does not host guests
`rare`	up to 25%
`occasional`	25–50%
`regular`	50–90%
`always`	above 90% — interview-driven

Format signals

Signal	What it indicates
`interview`	Guests appear in at least half of episodes — conversation with outside voices is the show’s core format.
`panel`	A recurring panel of commentators (review roundtables, sports panels, actual-play shows).
`call_in`	Listener callers are part of the format (advice shows, talk radio).
`solo_narrated`	No meaningful guest, panel, or caller presence — narrated news briefs, audio essays, solo commentary.

Get the full profile

The dedicated endpoint returns the exact rates and distributions behind the compact attributes:

curl "https://api.particle.pro/v1/podcasts/pivot/format" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $PARTICLE_API_KEY"

const res = await fetch("https://api.particle.pro/v1/podcasts/pivot/format", {
  headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.PARTICLE_API_KEY },
});
const profile = await res.json();

res = httpx.get(
    "https://api.particle.pro/v1/podcasts/pivot/format",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["PARTICLE_API_KEY"]},
)
profile = res.json()

Response (truncated)

{
  "guest_frequency": "regular",
  "signals": ["interview"],
  "has_ads": true,
  "has_video": true,
  "avg_episode_minutes": 62,
  "episodes_per_week": 2.1,
  "publishing_status": "active",

  "analyzed_episodes": 164,
  "episode_count": 167,

  "guest_episode_rate": 0.57,
  "ad_episode_rate": 0.94,
  "call_in_episode_rate": 0.0,
  "panel_episode_rate": 0.02,

  "episode_minutes_p25": 54,
  "episode_minutes_median": 61,
  "episode_minutes_p75": 70,

  "publish_days": {
    "monday": 2, "tuesday": 81, "wednesday": 1,
    "thursday": 0, "friday": 80, "saturday": 2, "sunday": 1
  },

  "first_episode_published_at": "2024-06-04T09:00:00Z",
  "latest_episode_published_at": "2026-06-02T09:00:00Z",
  "computed_at": "2026-06-03T14:22:51Z"
}

analyzed_episodes is the sample size behind every role-derived attribute — surface it when you need to qualify a claim. The publish_days histogram reads the schedule directly: this show ships Tuesdays and Fridays.

Filter the catalog

Every compact attribute has a matching query parameter on GET /v1/podcasts, and they compose with the existing topic_id, language, suitability_tier, and popularity_threshold filters. Find ad-free interview shows:

curl --get "https://api.particle.pro/v1/podcasts" \
  --data-urlencode "guest_frequency=regular,always" \
  --data-urlencode "has_ads=false" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $PARTICLE_API_KEY"

Find 20–40 minute commute-length business shows that are still publishing:

curl --get "https://api.particle.pro/v1/podcasts" \
  --data-urlencode "topic_id=business" \
  --data-urlencode "min_avg_episode_minutes=20" \
  --data-urlencode "max_avg_episode_minutes=40" \
  --data-urlencode "publishing_status=active" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $PARTICLE_API_KEY"

Find weekday-daily news briefs (solo-narrated, ~5+ episodes a week):

curl --get "https://api.particle.pro/v1/podcasts" \
  --data-urlencode "format_signal=solo_narrated" \
  --data-urlencode "min_episodes_per_week=4" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $PARTICLE_API_KEY"

Parameter	Matches
`guest_frequency`	Comma-separated list of buckets; a podcast matches any listed bucket.
`format_signal`	Comma-separated list of signals; a podcast matches any listed signal.
`has_ads`	`true` or `false`. `false` is an assertion of ad-free-ness and requires enough analyzed episodes — sparsely-analyzed shows are excluded rather than presumed clean.
`has_video`	`true` or `false`.
`min_avg_episode_minutes` / `max_avg_episode_minutes`	Bounds on average episode length.
`min_episodes_per_week` / `max_episodes_per_week`	Bounds on publishing cadence.
`publishing_status`	`active` or `dormant`.

Format filters only match podcasts whose profile supports the claim — podcasts without enough analyzed episodes are excluded from role-derived filters rather than guessed at.

Limitations

Sample-based. Role-derived attributes (guest_frequency, signals, has_ads) require at least 5 analyzed episodes; below that they are omitted and the podcast won’t match those filters. Check analyzed_episodes on the full profile for the sample behind any claim.
Cadence needs observation time. episodes_per_week measures the trailing 90 days and is omitted for shows tracked more briefly — a show’s full back catalog isn’t part of the measurement, so cadence reflects current behavior, not lifetime averages.
Dormancy is time-derived. publishing_status flips to dormant 90 days after the latest tracked episode; a seasonal show between drops will read as dormant until its next release.

Guests — the people behind guest_frequency: lifetime guest profiles, appearances, and trends.
Advertising — the full sponsor breakdown behind has_ads.
Episodes — per-episode speakers, durations, and videos.
Brand Suitability — the other show-level assessment surfaced compactly on every podcast object.

Getting started

Podcasts

Companies

Knowledge graph

Alerts

Errors

The format object

Guest frequency buckets

Format signals

Get the full profile

Filter the catalog

Limitations

​The format object

​Guest frequency buckets

​Format signals

​Get the full profile

​Filter the catalog

​Limitations

​Related

The format object

Guest frequency buckets

Format signals

Get the full profile

Filter the catalog

Limitations

Related