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So today we're going to be talking a little bit about the ideal length for your podcast episodes.
What are the ideal length for your podcast episodes? Is there an ideal length for your
podcast episodes? We're going to find out. We're going to talk a little bit about that. So
without further ado, let's get into that. So there is really no ideal podcast episode length.
It all depends on a few factors. Content format and audience preference. So that's really
That's really what it boils down to. Content, content format, and audience preference.
And so here's a couple different sides. Again, you can have... The nice thing about
podcasts is you can do whatever you want, right? There's no... I mean, yes, legally, you're going
to have some... You may have ramifications if you slander somebody, but there's no...
there's not going to be any ramifications on a short episode or a long episode. It's all preference
and it's all what you want to do because you are the podcast host. So if you want to have a bite-sized
episode or a mid-length episode or a long-form episode, you can do that. But there are a few
things to take into consideration. So bite-sized episodes. What do I mean by bite-sized episodes?
So these are typically shorter episodes ranging from a few minutes to somewhere around 20
minutes.
They work well for tips and tricks types of shows, kind of like this one.
So this one, if you've noticed, is between 8, 12, 15 minutes.
Kind of just depends on what kind of content that I have to put forward that day.
But it's fairly short.
The other one that's kind of short like that is Pod News.
Pod News is two to three minutes every day.
That's a daily podcast, but it's really short.
And the nice thing about that is they're easy to work in to your content schedule.
So your listeners are going to kind of format you into where they fit, where life fits for
them.
A lot of times people listen on their drive to work, drive from work when they're doing
dishes, things like that.
And a lot of times those chunks of time are fairly small, you know, between a few minutes
to 20 minutes.
And so with Bite Size episodes, it's really easy to fit your podcast into their life because
they may have only a few minutes each day to listen to you.
And so Bite Size episodes work really well for those type of shows.
Yes.
So the next type of episode is a mid-length episode.
And these episodes typically fall within the 20 minutes to 45 minute range.
They allow for more in-depth conversations and discussions like interviewing and storytelling.
This is a good link for those type of shows because it allows you to get all of your content
out.
It's not so long that people have to listen in more than one setting because a lot of
times you, if you have to listen in more than one setting, people are either not going to
listen to the whole thing or they're just going to forget about it and go to something
different.
So maybe a while before they get back to your episode.
And then if your episodes start to stack up because they're so long, they're, they could
delete them.
They could not listen to the whole thing just because it's, it's really easy to, to get
behind.
And if you feel like you're behind, you're going to go ahead and try and shortcut that
somewhere.
And so you're going to probably delete some of your older episodes.
I do that.
I've done that.
If I'm gone for a week and I don't have a lot of time to do my normal podcast listening
schedule routine.
A lot of times that I just go and go, okay, I'm, it's out.
I'm out because I can't listen to all of that content.
So mid length episodes, again, those are the 20 to 45 minute range.
And those are allowed for a lot of in depth conversation, but interviews, but
not too long.
And so the thing you have to remember about this is, is with a mid length one,
you need to, you need to get into your show fairly quickly.
Cause if you're going to be interviewing somebody,
It could take a lot longer than the 20 to 45 minutes that you have interviewing.
And so you don't want to waste 10 minutes talking banter in the beginning of your show
with your co-host because you don't want, because you'll get all of that, you'll waste
half of your episode with listening to that.
So we don't, we don't want to do that.
So then the last thing is long form episodes.
And these are the, they exceed the 45 minute mark.
They can extend up to hours.
So long form podcasts, those I'm thinking shows like Joe Rogan Experience, the No Agenda
podcast, things like that that can range long, that can range a long time.
And those can be hours long.
And so these are really good though for interview based podcasts that dive into that or something
that dives into really complex subjects that can take a long time to bring out the content
in those episodes. These can be good for sometimes when a story just doesn't fit into a small
podcast episode because you can't get it. Sometimes, you know, some podcasts episodes
that I've recorded, the story that I'm talking about or the person that I'm interviewing,
their story can't fit in 20 to 45 minutes. It just, no matter how hard you try, you just
can't do that. So some of the downfalls though of a long form content podcast is...
People may not listen to your whole show because they listen while they're driving
or their drive is just not that long. If you have a show that has many topics though, what you can do
is you can make use of the chapters. And this is where I would say is a good thing to do because
if you have chapters and you bounce from topic to topic to topic,
It's good to put chapters in your podcast and I can talk about chapters on another episode how to do that
And show you guys an example, but the nice thing about chapters is then in some podcast apps
It allows you to skip to that point. So let's say you're not interested in the first 25 minutes of topics and you know that maybe
Um, how to grow corn and you don't grow corn
And so you can skip to a different part of this episode talking about growing beans because you grow beans and so
That's one of the things I would say take advantage of if you're going to do a long form show
definitely put in the chapter markers in there because it's something that allows your listeners to go back in and
Listen to just the parts that they need if they're not gonna fit into a small spot like that. So
Guys remember the content and engagement level are crucial factors though because it is important to prioritize, you know
Quality over length if you're not gonna don't try to just ramble on to you could because your format is a
45 minute show, you know in this episode for me, this is probably gonna be about 10 to 15 minutes and
Sure, I could make it in two 45 minutes, but it would be really really long
So I don't I don't think that you want to do that. So remember your quality is
Remember quality pride prioritize that
Overlength to you know, ensure that your donate your duration aligns with your audience's preferences and expectations
I would say regularly assess your listener feedback and analytics can help gauge your ideal length too because you may have
Your listeners saying we don't want the long episodes
We really don't like them or especially if you normally do a long episode and they you give them a short one and they go
Hey this whoa, I like that. That's it fits better into my show. So my way I listen to podcasts
so guys definitely make sure that you're always
assessing your listener feedback and analytics too because
You can you can definitely get
Some analytics from Apple podcast that will tell you you know people are dropping off 20 to 45 minutes
but it
You know me but you're you know people are constantly dropping off at that 20 minute mark
You know that that's kind of your ideal length too
So well not required for podcasting because you can do it however you want it is helpful to keep your episodes roughly the same
length every time your audience builds you into their schedule and
And if one week you're 10 minutes and the rest you're 90, people are going to have a tough time
fitting that into their schedule because they're used to a certain amount of time, but then next
week it's really long. So it's, again, you can do what you want because this is your show and you
are the producer of the show. There's no 30 minute marks like there is in television. You can do it
it how you want, but if you're going to be doing a 30 minute show, be consistent in your
30 minute show. Again, it doesn't have to be exactly 30 minutes on the dot. It can be
29, 28, 27, 30, whatever, but roughly the same. So that way people know what to expect
every time you drop an episode. That way they're not having to try and fit you into their schedule
because if they have to work to fit you into the schedule, they're going to drop you like
a hot potato and they're gonna not be listening to your podcast anymore. So guys definitely
get into a rhythm of trying to get your episodes roughly the same length every time you go
record an episode. Also, another good idea too is if you have a mid length show and
you have a great interview, let's say, you know, you have an hour and a half interview
but your mid-length show normally goes 45 minutes.
So what you can do is you can actually either give them, you can cut out and make a normal
episode, so make it a 45 minutes, and then do a bonus episode where you're an uncut
version like they do with the movies.
You see this all the time, uncut, raw, unedited, or the director is a version.
Something that's going to be longer than normal, but it's going to be good, great content.
So you can give them that bonus episode where you're saying, "Hey guys, this didn't quite
fit all into our normal format of our show, but here's the long interview of, you know,
as a separate bonus.
You don't have to listen to it if you don't want, but if you want more content from this
interviewee, check out this bonus episode."
Or what you can do too is you can cut it in half, release the second half as a second
episode.
So a second normal episode.
So you can say, "Hey guys, this is a great conversation.
We're going to continue this on the next episode and then just continue on like that.
You can do that after the fact, like after your podcast is done, you can edit it, cut
it down, say your outro and say, "Hey, we're going to do this again," even after the interview.
You don't have to do that during the interview.
Then you can start a new episode, introduce it.
You can say, "Hey, if you've not listened to this previous GAS Part 1, go back and listen
to that first because this is a continuation of that."
You want to definitely hear the conversation that we had the previous week.
I would say, guys, a challenge for this week is for you to decide what length you want
your podcast to be.
If you have not started your show yet, look at your topics and kind of see how long you
think your show might be because your topics might be.
If you have already started your show and established your show, take a look and see
what your audience likes.
Ask them.
You can look at Apple Podcast stats and see when people drop off of your show.
You can kind of see how long they're listening.
Maybe it is time to reformat your show. Maybe it's time to come in not necessarily branding
or the way that you do the show, but you're format your length. Maybe it's time to take
your hour and a half podcast down to 20 minutes to 30 minutes because your people are going
to listen to that more and be more likely to finish your episode.
So guys, we want to thank you for subscribing. If you have any questions about podcasting
that I can answer, please go to podcastanswers.com/contactandask. I would be happy to make an episode
about it. Or if you need help with your podcast, I'm available for one-on-one consulting, editing,
pretty much whatever you need help with in podcasting, I'm available for. So with that,
go ahead and go to podcastanswers.com/contact, guys, and have a great week.
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