How Long Should My Podcast Be?
12/12/18 • 7 min
People ask me, "How Long Should My Podcast Be?" What is the ideal podcast length? For a while, everyone wanted to make a 20-minute podcast as that was the average commute in the US. I prefer the answer from Valerie Geller in her book Beyond Powerful Radio A Communicator's Guide to the Internet Age: News, Talk, Information which is, "There is no such thing as too long, only too boring." You can get the audiobook for free.
Longer Podcasts Are Doing Very Well
In episode 93 of Libsyn.com's The Feed Podcast, VP of Podcaster Relations Rob Walch states that at Libsyn.com
84% of shows with 100,000 downloads are 51 minutes are longer
Those that were 2.0 hours or more with 100,000 downloads per episode or more made up 13.2% of the podcasts on Libsyn.
Those that were 30 minutes or less made up 9.9% of shows.
This Doesn't Mean All Podcasts Should Be Long
The bottom line is, your podcast should be as long as it needs to be and not a minute more.
When I reverse engineered all the content I consumed, I found that the content did one or more of the following:
It made me Laugh
It made me Cry
It made me Think
It made me Grown
It Educated me
It Entertained me
If you can do more than one of these at the same time, you're on to something. If your content does not of the above, do NOT press record.
I would love to help you shape your message. I want to be your podcast consultant.
People ask me, "How Long Should My Podcast Be?" What is the ideal podcast length? For a while, everyone wanted to make a 20-minute podcast as that was the average commute in the US. I prefer the answer from Valerie Geller in her book Beyond Powerful Radio A Communicator's Guide to the Internet Age: News, Talk, Information which is, "There is no such thing as too long, only too boring." You can get the audiobook for free.
Longer Podcasts Are Doing Very Well
In episode 93 of Libsyn.com's The Feed Podcast, VP of Podcaster Relations Rob Walch states that at Libsyn.com
84% of shows with 100,000 downloads are 51 minutes are longer
Those that were 2.0 hours or more with 100,000 downloads per episode or more made up 13.2% of the podcasts on Libsyn.
Those that were 30 minutes or less made up 9.9% of shows.
This Doesn't Mean All Podcasts Should Be Long
The bottom line is, your podcast should be as long as it needs to be and not a minute more.
When I reverse engineered all the content I consumed, I found that the content did one or more of the following:
It made me Laugh
It made me Cry
It made me Think
It made me Grown
It Educated me
It Entertained me
If you can do more than one of these at the same time, you're on to something. If your content does not of the above, do NOT press record.
I would love to help you shape your message. I want to be your podcast consultant.
Previous Episode
Podcasting For People Who Are Afraid of Technology
You might be thinking, "Technology and I are not friends." I hear this all of the time from clients, "But Dave you don't understand my VCR blinked 12:00 for years." I know. I've heard this many times. To this, I ask:
Have you ever uploaded an image to FaceBook, or a file as an email attachment?
Then you can upload a media file to your media host
Have you ever been listening to the radio in the car and your phone rings and you turn down the radio?
Then you know how to mix audio
Have you ever press record on a VCR, Cassette Deck, Tivo, or DVR?
Then you press record in audio recording software (hint, it's the red button with "REC" on it)
Do You Know How To Talk?
Then you can talk into a microphone.
I Use to Be Afraid Like YouToday I share a story about how I was fired for being too shy. I reveal the advice I got from a teacher who got me over the hump, and I want to be the person who can help you over your hump.
Don't let the technology stop you from getting your message out to the world. If you want to be heard, then please let me know help
I look forward to working with you. I want to be your podcast consultant
Mentioned in this episode:
Is Your Podcast Not Growing?
Struggling to grow your podcast beyond friends and family? You're not alone. I've been there too. That's why I created "10 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Podcast Audience" - a free guide packed with actionable techniques that have helped countless podcasters expand their reach and build loyal listener communities. Stop guessing what works. These are battle-tested methods used by top podcasters who speak to engaged audiences every week. Head to schoolofpodcasting.com/10tips now and download the free guide because your podcast deserves to be heard.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Next Episode
How Long Should My Podcast Be?
People ask me, "How Long Should My Podcast Be?" What is the ideal podcast length? For a while, everyone wanted to make a 20-minute podcast as that was the average commute in the US. I prefer the answer from Valerie Geller in her book Beyond Powerful Radio A Communicator's Guide to the Internet Age: News, Talk, Information which is, "There is no such thing as too long, only too boring." You can get the audiobook for free.
Longer Podcasts Are Doing Very WellIn episode 93 of Libsyn.com's The Feed Podcast, VP of Podcaster Relations Rob Walch states that at Libsyn.com
84% of shows with 100,000 downloads are 51 minutes are longer
Those that were 2.0 hours or more with 100,000 downloads per episode or more made up 13.2% of the podcasts on Libsyn.
Those that were 30 minutes or less made up 9.9% of shows.
This Doesn't Mean All Podcasts Should Be LongThe bottom line is, your podcast should be as long as it needs to be and not a minute more.
When I reverse engineered all the content I consumed, I found that the content did one or more of the following:
It made me Laugh It made me Cry It made me Think It made me Grown It Educated me It Entertained me
If you can do more than one of these at the same time, you're on to something. If your content does not of the above, do NOT press record.
I would love to help you shape your message. I want to be your podcast consultant.
Mentioned in this episode:
Is Your Podcast Not Growing?
Struggling to grow your podcast beyond friends and family? You're not alone. I've been there too. That's why I created "10 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Podcast Audience" - a free guide packed with actionable techniques that have helped countless podcasters expand their reach and build loyal listener communities. Stop guessing what works. These are battle-tested methods used by top podcasters who speak to engaged audiences every week. Head to schoolofpodcasting.com/10tips now and download the free guide because your podcast deserves to be heard.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
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