How to Determine the Duration of Your Show
Every couple of months I see this question pop up in podcaster forums and on podcast Facebook groups – How long should my podcast be? Or, What’s the ideal length for a podcast. Then the flurry of opinions fly in.
30 mins
60 mins
10 minutes
20 minutes
Never more than 90 minutes
And my personal favourite: ‘Whatever you want, man.’
Inevitably, the person asking doesn’t get a real answer and they’re back to wondering what to do. Or, someone makes a decent enough argument (probably to justify the length of their own podcast) and sways the person their way. As my Baba would say, ‘it’s all bull hockey!’
In this episode of Just the Tip – I’m going to tell you the definitive answer to this question. No bull hockey. And this is whether you’re just starting out or if you already have an existing podcast.
As you may have noticed, my podcast is 5 minutes (give or take a minute) and that’s entirely by design. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to cut yours down to 5 minutes too. But, it is a clue to my methods. You see, my podcast was designed to be highly consumable – quick bites (or a significant binge session) because I know that my listener is busy and is already overwhelmed by the advice / easy-to-follow-success-formulas / blathering on of other podcast experts. I’m a get in, give em the goods and tell em to go implement it kind of guy. Why would I want a podcast longer than 5 or 6 minutes?
That’s just a wee little clue into what you’ll discover listening to this episode. So, go ahead Matlock – give me 5 minutes and we’ll solve the mystery of the perfect podcast length together.
