Is there anything that can be done to clean up dead podcasts in the iTunes directory?

If you search iTunes for any topic there are tons of dead podcasts in the directory. For example, if you search "Transformers", which is where my show appears for the most general topic, there are maybe 6 or 7 shows out of the top 15 that are active shows. Some are dead but you can still get the archived shows, and others are completely dead.

I feel that this is turning away some of the audience that's new to podcasting and searching on their favorite topics to check it out. Is there anything that can be done to prompt Apple to clean up dead shows? I've tried reporting a couple of them with no success.

I actually asked Apple about this a few years ago. You can actually report the podcast to apple. I believe there is a link that says "Report a concern" click on that and select "Out of Date as the reason.

http://i.imgur.com/JvosmVA.png

First of. How has no one asked this question before! I have been wondering this same thing for a long time but never thought to ask if there is a way to report all the dead/ outdated podcasts in the iTunes Podcast store.

This is a serious problem in many categories. There are podcasts that have not been updated in over a year that are till listed on the top of the list. Apple needs a smarter system for its directory.

Andrew, I have reported several shows but it's been a few weeks and they're still there. I bet these get the lowest priority out of all their problem reports. It's sad because having an updated and active podcast directory would do nothing but help everyone. I think I'll reach out to some of my fellow Transformers podcasters and ask them to also go in and report these shows. Maybe if Apple gets a bunch of requests they'll clean them up.

It is an issue that they are fully aware of. The other thing I can suggest is emailing itunes podcasts directly with links to the shows that are outdated.

I didn't realize you could e-mail them. I just sent information on 7 dead podcasts from the top 14 search results of "Transformers" to their e-mail. Hopefully that works. Some of these shows have not had a new episode since 2006.

As a follow up to this, I sent an e-mail about 7 or 8 dead shows on the 23rd after my last post. I got a confirmation response a few days later just telling me that the e-mail had been received. I've been searching the podcasts for Transformers at least once a day since and just now I found that they've been removed. The first two rows of results are all active shows (mine included). Thanks for the tips!

Hey No problem. Im glad I was able to help out with the issue.