PARIS: Length does matter, it seems. While some people enjoy listening to podcasts with longer episodes, trends show that shorter episodes appeal more to most people.
According to a study by Rephonic, the average length of a top-performing podcast episode is 37 minutes. Podcast episodes lasting over 60 minutes are becoming increasingly rare.
The study gathered data from over 2.5 million podcasts, focusing on those with more than 10,000 listeners per episode.
In addition to duration, the frequency of episodes’ release is also taken into account.
It seems that the most listened-to podcasts release an episode about every five days. However, this can depend on the podcast’s niche.
A podcast about news or current events will air an episode more often than a podcast specialising in history, for example.
Similarly, the optimal length of an episode will vary depending on its topic.
Fans of the most popular fiction podcasts, with more than 10,000 listeners, prefer 52-minute episodes to the 30-minute average for all fiction podcasts.
Over to you to find your magic formula.