How Long Should My Podcast Episode Be

In episode seven of Podcasts Suck, Sebastian Rusk taps into the changing landscape of podcasting and how in-person interviews have become rare and unnecessary in the current technological era. He also discusses the importance of planning your podcast episode and answers a frequent question, “How long should your podcast episode be?”. He then highlights the ideal duration for podcast episodes, depending on whether it is a solo episode or an interview format. The advice given is to keep episodes short and sweet. 

TIMESTAMPS

[00:01:12] Planning Your Podcast Episode.

[00:04:48] Short and Sweet Podcast Episodes.

In this episode, as Sebastian Rusk experienced conducting a few notable in-person interviews, he points out that it is now 2023, and with the advancements in technology, platforms like Zoom and Riverside offer the same audio quality as in-person interviews. Therefore, he suggests that podcasters can conduct remote interviews using these platforms, eliminating the hassle of arranging in-person meetings.

On the other hand, Sebastian emphasizes the importance of keeping podcast episodes short and sweet. For solo episodes, Sebastian recommends aiming for a duration of 8 to 12 minutes. This allows for the information to be shared in bite-sized chunks, making it easier for listeners to consume. For interview format episodes, he suggests aiming for a duration of 20 to 30 minutes. This allows for a more in-depth conversation with the guest while still keeping the episode relatively concise. By adhering to the recommended durations, Sebastian believes that episodes can be more engaging and enjoyable for the listeners. 

QUOTES:

• “Short and sweet. That's exactly what we want to do with our podcast episodes.”
• “Sometimes it's a really good conversation. You want to capture it all. I get it. I understand that, but you don't want to bore your listener. And you also don't want them to think, you know what, this is a great episode. I'm really enjoying it. but I just don't have a whole hour to consume ”
• “If it's an interview format, which a majority of podcasts are, respect your time, your guest time, and your listeners' time.”

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Transcript

Sebastian Rusk 00:02 - 07:43

Welcome to Podcast Suck, a podcast about starting a podcast, where we dive headfirst into the wild, wacky, and sometimes frustrating world of podcasting. If you've ever sat down with a microphone, hit record, and thought, what on earth am I doing? Or if you're just curious about the magic behind your favorite shows, then you're in the right place. Get ready for laughs, insights, and a whole lot of what not to do advice as we embark on this podcasting journey together. Let's dive in. What's happened to podcasters. Welcome back to the show or welcome to the show. If it's your first time back to, if it's your first time, I want you to go back to episode one and start from there. They're only 10 minute episodes, 10 minutes or less, but I unpacked the entire process of starting a podcast. And even if you think you know something, we always think we know something, we know it all. Then we go back and we read something or see something and we go, you know what? I guess I don't know at all. So go back to the beginning, go through step-by-step, make sure you get all of your podcast ducks in a row. This is episode seven. Last episode, we talked about planning your podcast episode, very important process, very important process to your podcast, planning things out. And today I'm going to answer a very frequent question that I get very, very frequent. Sebastian, how long should my podcast episode be? I think I've mentioned this a couple of times on a few past episodes. You might've heard these words before, but I'm going to say them again. Short and sweet. That's exactly what we want to do with our podcast episodes, especially if it's just one person talking, which I don't recommend you do, by the way, but there are some of us that do have a wealth of information that we want to be able to share with the world in bite-sized chunks, eight to 10 minutes, maybe 12 max. If you're rolling solo, if you're doing an interview interview, I got braces. Some words are tougher than others. If you're doing an interview format, 20 to 30 minutes max. I brought Rogan up before on other episodes and it's a great example of what you should not do because you're not Joe Rogan. And that is this everlasting gobstopper episode. I'm a big fan of, even if you have a podcast interview and it's an hour long, break it up into two episodes, boom, twice the work, excuse me, twice the episodes done in half the work. But if it's just you rolling solo eight to 12 minutes, that's the sweet spot. I want you to think about when you pull up a podcast episode and it's six minutes long, you're like, I got six minutes, let's go. What do you think your listener thinks? Probably, the same thing. So if you're rolling solo eight to 10 minutes, eight to 12 minutes max, it's very hard to do that by the way. If it's an interview format, which a majority of podcasts are respect your time, your guest time and your listeners time. 20 to 30 minutes max. I never, ever, ever, ever go over 30 minutes. And if I do, I'm trying to find a creative way. Can I take this and turn it into two 20 minute episodes? Cause the episode went 40 minutes. Sometimes it's a really good conversation. You want to capture it all. I get it. I understand that, but you don't want to bore your listener. And you also don't want them to think, you know what, this is a great episode. I'm really enjoying it. but I just don't have a whole hour to consume and I'm going to have to come back to it because usually we don't come back to it very rarely. Speaking of Rogan, I love Rogan, one of my favorite podcasts, but I need to be like on a road trip or on a long flight to dive in. And even then I'm like, man, we're an hour and a half in, we got another two hours to go. He had post Malone on a couple of weeks back, four hours and 40 minutes. Holy jumping podcast. It's a long podcast. But to answer your question, your burning question of how long should my podcast episode be? Most people think it's like an hour. I'm going to sit down with somebody. It's going to be an hour, but maybe your guest doesn't have an hour. Maybe you don't have enough time to fill in an hour. Maybe you shouldn't be recording an episode that's an hour long. You can do this in 20 to 30 minutes. I get the most compliments from my guests and listeners when they say, you know what? I love that episode. It was short, sweet to the point. That's where I get the short and sweet from. So single format, just you sharing knowledge, sharing what you know, eight to 12 minutes, max interview format, 20 to 30 max. If you go 40 minutes, if you go an hour, break it up into two episodes, If it's an interview format, which a majority of podcasts are respect your time, your guest time and your listeners time.  I'm telling you, I get feedback from people that consume my podcast. I just don't have time. That's people's biggest excuse, which everyone does have time, but I just don't have time. Everybody's got 10 minutes. Everybody's got 20 minutes for a quick podcast interview. Now, I have done some interviews as of late with some notable names on beyond the story. And it was an in-person interview. I had the time with the person I'm going to occupy that time and no, I didn't break it into two parts. So I'm somewhat hypocritical with this advice, but it's very rare that that happens. Number one, it's very rare. I'm doing an in-person interview because I'm it's 2023 at this time I'm recording this episode. Hello, technology. So the whole in-person thing completely unnecessary. You have the same audio quality on a zoom call or on Riverside or however you decide to record your podcast interview. But if you're rolling solo eight to 12 minutes, if you're doing an interview format, 20 to 30 minutes, if you go over that, try to break it up into two episodes. It's going to make your life easier, your guests life easier and your listeners life easier. So that does it for this episode. Short and sweet. I told you 10 minutes or less last episode was like around almost seven minutes. This one is almost, six minutes. You see what I mean? You press play. You're like, I have five minutes. I have six minutes to listen to how long my podcast episodes should be. So I'm going to press play. And that's exactly what you did. And I'm glad you did. I'm glad you're here. You have any questions about how long your podcast episodes should be? You want to debate me thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns about this episode or any of the episodes on the show, please send me a DM over on Instagram, it's podcast suck. That's two S's, podcasts, plural podcast suck. Send me a DM, say, Hey, listen to the show. I've got a question about my podcast, about your podcast, about the stuff you're sharing, whatever it may be. I hang out on Facebook and LinkedIn too, under Sebastian Rusk. Hit me up. I am here to help. Be sure to check out all the resources in the description of this podcast episode. We like to call those the show notes. Thanks again for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show, wherever you consume podcasts. It's a way to get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts suck if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.