The length of your episode matters a lot. But, on what to consider why this matters is the big question. How do you know what’s the ideal length?

One of the best answers available is to consider the 4W’s.

Who is your audience?

Once you know who your audiences are, it will be easier for you to determine how long your episodes would be. It will vary per generation and what type of people you target as your listeners. If you have moms as your audience, they might not want to spend too much of their time just listening to your podcast. Give them a quick gist of what they can use as moms.

What is your subject?

If it is educational, then a longer explanation can be demanded. In some cases, for inspirational inputs, short scripts are good enough. The challenge is always there and that is to keep your audience. If it will be short, make sure that your listeners will crave more for it. If it is long, then make sure that they will not be bored.

When do you publish?

If you are providing daily episode, shorter recordings will do. If you do a weekly episode, longer episodes might work, but again, make sure not to bore your listeners.

Where does your audience listen from?

This is actually related to the “who” question. If you have working individuals as target listeners, shorter podcasts will work, since they do not have much time. If you have stay-at-home audience, then longer recordings will not disturb them so much. You can take advantage of that.

Consider the 4W’s and you decide. How long or short your recordings are will not matter so much as long as you put good content to it. Make it worth all the time your audiences are willing to spend just to listen to you. The perfect length for any podcast, therefore, depends mainly on the value of the content that you are going to share to your listeners.