If you feel lost in a sea of podcasts without a paddle, Apple offered some new rowing implements Tuesday. After all, navigating podcasts can feel as hopeless as floundering among streaming TV shows and movies.

The company said Apple Podcasts will elevate nine “new and noteworthy” subcategories for browsing, plus related popularity charts and the new Podcasts by Language browsing tool.

Apple Podcasts adds 9 new subcategories, popularity charts, Podcasts by Language and more

The next time you’re looking for a worthy new listening experience, you can find the nine new subcategories in the Search tab across devices Those include iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

You will see the new subcategories mixed in among those you may already know well, like News and Comedy.

Have a look at the new ones:

• Mental Health
• Relationships
• Self-Improvement
• Personal Journals
• Entrepreneurship
• Documentary
• Parenting
• Books
• Language Learning

New popularity charts help guide you

Each subcategory includes popularity charts indicating Top Shows and Top Episodes you can hear in your market.

Apple gave the example of a person in the U.S. looking over the Mental Health charts showing the top 200 shows and top 200 episodes calculated by metrics for listeners, followers and completion rate.

And that certainly narrows it down a bit. Clearly, people choosing to follow a show and listening to full episodes are recommendations of sorts. Learn more about charts and using them.

Podcasts by Language

In addition, users in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia can now find shows in their native tongue through the new Podcasts by Language browsing tool. It supports more than 20 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

Apple explained a bit further:

For example, a U.S. listener can easily explore podcasts in Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish while a U.K. listener can explore podcasts in Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese. Select markets will feature an additional “Podcasts in English” destination. Creators can specify the language for their podcast using Apple Podcasts Connect or via RSS using their hosting provider.

Other enhancements and promotions

Apple noted it refreshes its 19 categories and the nine new subcategories with new artwork and recommendations.

“These include Apple Podcasts Essentials — all-time favorite podcasts for each category curated by our global editorial teams — along with easy to navigate rows for charts and additional subcategories,” the company said.

And it added creators can enjoy podcast promotion and even request it:

Select categories, including Comedy, Society & Culture, Sports, and True Crime, will also regularly showcase New & Noteworthy shows, standout Shows of the Month, Featured Channels and Creators, and Global Highlights with popular shows from around the world. Creators can submit a request for their show to be featured in its corresponding category or subcategory.

Of course, if you’re looking for great media, you can also just turn to the CultCast and other Cult of Mac audio/video.

Source: Apple