How Frequently Should You Release New Episodes?
You’ve done a lot planning and are confident in the content your podcast will deliver to its valued listeners. One of the final details you’ll need to decide on is how often you should release new episodes to your listeners. A lack of consistency will lead to people losing interest. Too often and your listeners may be overwhelmed.
Taking this into consideration, we’ve put together some useful tips to help you decide how frequently you should release new podcast episodes.
✴ What is Your Podcast About?
The theme of your podcast should, to an extent, determine how often episodes are released. If your subject is something that's current and ever-changing, such as celebrity news or politics, episodes should be more frequent. An episode a day or every few days will work well. If your podcast is based on topics with a greater level of stability over time, like dog training tips, for example, episodes can be less frequent. Once every week or fortnightly will suffice.
✴ Introducing Seasons
Within the overall theme of your podcast, you may find that some batches of episodes naturally transition into each other. When this is the case, you can separate the episodes around common topics into mini-seasons. This mini-series-type of approach is a great way to get your listeners excited for upcoming episodes.
✴ The Length of Your Episodes
How long are your episodes on average? Generally, if they last more than an hour, you should consider reducing the frequency of new releases. As the average length of each episode decreases you can increase the frequency appropriately.
Related: How Long It Really Takes To Create A Podcast
✴ Quality or Quantity?
This is an age-old debate. Some people feel the need to keep churning out content in an attempt to cement their place in the minds of their audience. If you can produce the same level of excellence at a high rate of frequency then all power to you!
For the rest of us mere mortals, the quality of episodes we publish is likely to take a hit, as fresh content ideas are hard to come by. The “quantity over everything” approach might work for a while but will eventually catch up to you. Therefore, try to find a balance. Focus on the quality of your episodes without leaving too much time in between them.
✴ How Long Does Each Episode Take to Produce?
This depends on whether you’re a one-man-band or have a team in place that helps you with different tasks. If it’s just you, and you’re new to the game consider slightly cutting back on frequency to ensure all the boxes are correctly checked. As such, publication twice a week might be a bad idea if a single episode is taking an unholy amount of hours to produce. Reducing it to once per week would be a good decision in such an instance.
On the other hand, if you’ve got a support team or consider yourself a seasoned podcaster, multiple episodes can be produced in a fraction of the time. This gives you a much better opportunity to broadcast your content more often.
✴ Take Planned Breaks
Many of your favorite TV shows have mid-season breaks. Why? Well, it allows for some respite for the producers as they take a break from filming and editing. The same applies to your podcast episodes. Since you’re likely wearing several hats – recording, editing, and publishing to name a few – a break can help restore your creativity. It is typically the best time to brainstorm new ideas.
✴ Remember to Inform Your Listeners
In a way, planned breaks are good for your audience too. Your listeners will miss you, which will not only make them appreciate you more but will also heighten anticipation for the next series of podcast episodes you plan on releasing.
Remember to communicate these planned breaks with your followers though. It will build trust and keep your audience engaged – especially if you have the capacity to share some teasers while you recoup.
Related: How to Define Your Podcast Audience and Listener Persona
✴ Take Advantage of Viewer Habits
People develop routines and personal habits. You can use this to your advantage by creating a set schedule for your podcast. There’s no perfect day or time to release your episodes, as this will vary between audiences. Delivering your content consistently, however, can become routine or habit for your audience, whether they're tuning in during a lunch break in the afternoon or at night-time before they go to sleep.
✴ Make an Informed Decision
A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work when it comes to how often you should release new podcast episodes. Consider your unique circumstances first and then look at factors such as the theme of your podcast, the average length of episodes, and how long each one takes to produce among others. Try different strategies and fine-tune the process as you go along to find a good balance. Most importantly, don’t try to do too much. It will drain your joy and passion for podcasting.
Looking for the answers to your other podcasting questions? Try our complete checklist to launching a podcast in 30 days. Grab it here!
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