10 – What is the Best Length of a Podcast to Keep Listeners Engaged?

Hello there and welcome to Podcaster Plus, the podcast offering tips and tricks to simplify and automate your podcast. Find all the episodes at podcasterplus.com/show. 

Today’s episode tackles a question many podcasters grapple with. What’s the ideal length for a podcast episode to maximize listener engagement?

We’ll explore the research, the different approaches, and ultimately how to find the sweet spot for your podcast. 

As always, I’m going to chunk the episode up into different sections, and the first section is entitled The Great Podcast Length Debate.

There’s no magic number when it comes to podcast length. Online websites reveal studies showing average podcast lengths which range from 30 to 42 minutes. However, success isn’t solely determined by length. Some highly successful podcasts, for example, The Daily, clock in at around 20 to 25 minutes. Whilst others, for example, the Joe Rogan Experience can stretch to over three hours. The key is to align your length with the content and audience. 

Okay, the next section then is factors influencing optimal length, because several factors do influence the ideal length of your podcast. For example, topic and genre. A news podcast might thrive with shorter, concise episodes. While a deep dive interview could benefit from a longer format. Consider the complexity of your podcast and whether it requires a shorter focused approach, or a more in-depth exploration. 

Also, think about the podcast format, the format significantly impacts length. A solo podcaster might struggle to maintain listener interest for beyond 40 minutes, while an interview or a panel discussion could easily fill an hour or more.

What about the target audience? Consider your listeners demographics and lifestyles. Busy commuters might prefer shorter episodes, while those with more free time, they may enjoy longer, more in-depth content. 

What about your storytelling ability? If you’re a skilled storyteller, you can likely keep listeners engaged for longer periods. If not shorter, more focused episodes will be more effective.

Also think about the publishing schedule. Daily podcasts often benefit from shorter episodes, while weekly or monthly shows have more flexibility to explore longer formats. 

Okay, the next section, shorter versus longer, pros and cons. We’ll do all of these expressing the pros and the cons separately.

Let’s take shorter episodes first, and we’ll classify that as anything between 15 to 30 minutes. So the pros of that are higher completion rates, increase listener retention, more frequent engagement, and they’re easier to produce. But the cons, it may not allow for in-depth exploration of particular topics. 

Let’s go for longer episodes, which really I’m classifying as anything over 45 minutes. The pros, well, there’s an opportunity to dive deep into a subject. You’ll get strong listener connection, and potential for increased authority over time. The cons, risk of listener fatigue, lower completion rates, and more time consuming to produce. 

Okay, the next section, finding your podcast sweet spot. As I have indicated, there’s no one size fits all answer, so here’s some suggestions for an approach you might take. 

Start small. Begin with shorter episodes to build an audience and refine your style. Analyze your data, track download and completion rates to see which lengths resonate with your listeners best. 

Gather feedback. Why not actively solicit feedback from your audience to understand what they prefer. Could be a simple, do you like longer ones? Do you like shorter ones? 

Experiment, do not be afraid to try different lengths and see what works. 

And of course, adapt and iterate. Continuously refine your approach based on data and feedback. 

If you’re a listener to this podcast, you’ll notice that I have opted for shorter. They’re usually somewhere in the region of about five to seven minutes. And I think that works pretty well. Each episode is a discreet little subject, and there’s not a great deal to say about those, but it does mean we can complete them with a fairly consistent cadence. 

So the conclusion then. The best podcast length is one that best serves your content, audience and goals. By carefully considering the factors we’ve discussed, and employing a data-driven approach, you might be able to find a sweet spot which keeps your listeners engaged and coming back.

So there you go, that’s what I’ve got for you this time around. As always, you’ll be able to find the show notes on our website. 

So thank you very much for tuning into the Podcaster Plus Podcast. You can find it at podcasttheplus.com/show. 

And we’ll see you next time for some more tricks and tips to simplify and automate your podcast.