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Podcast To Oblivion

http://gedblog.com/2008/04/04/podcast-to-oblivion/

Summary: The length of some audio podcasts are increasing at an alarming rate. Podcasters should learn to master the fine art of editing or risk losing large portions of their listening audience. I provide some helpful tips to help them avoid pitfalls and offer some anecdotal evidence on the subject.

I’ve got this guy on my newsfeed and he’s most awesome in all things.  So check out this article about podcasts time length and listener trends.

I like when I’m proven right. I don’t spend a lot of time editing our podcast, but I try to moderate it well and keep us at about 40 minutes. I get such an evil eye when I give anyone a “wrap it up” signal. 

My new goal is to push us back to 35 minutes, which was where we used to clock in back in the day.

I listen to several podcasts that get really long and while I love them, it is harder to get through one in a single day of commuting.  Just scrolling through the roughly 30 podcasts I’m subscribed to, only 1 is under 10 minutes and 3 are under 45 minutes. Everything else is over 1 hour - usually by a lot.

I’m a strong believer in the hour podcast.  Every podcast should shoot to be between 30-60 minutes.

Since I am subscribed to 40+ podcasts, I’ll pay attention to the first 20 minutes or so of each.  If they don’t keep my attention, then I’ll skip to the next one.

Os I don’t think time overall is the big key for me, its the pace and the content.

Pace and Content are the biggest factors in time. 15 minutes can drag on and on and an hour and a half can just fly by depending on how you pace it and what you’re talking about.

That’s the main reason we do Cinema D in segments. It cleanses the aural palate and keeps things from getting bogged down.
Our Cannibal episode was 3 hours of audio that I edited down to just under an hour and a half. THAT was an endurance test.

The editing on your Cannibal episode was impressive indeed. I didn’t really catch any awkward transitions or anything. But I would expect nothing less from an audio snob such as yourself.

Yes, I’ve called you out.

And your point about the signal to noise ratio is very valid. Still, I find most people have a tough time managing themselves on this front. Lord knows I like to indulge myself - I mean I have a podcast, a blog and a now a forum. Oh and my own t-shirt.

God, I’ve become insufferable!

Excellent points here . . . Nearly every podcast to which I subscribe runs over an hour.  Most run closer to two hours.  This COMPLETELY cuts into my book-readin’ and movie-watchin’ time . . . !

When I was first planning my podcast, I was thinking it would run around an hour, but I’m much happier keeping it sometime between 30-50 minutes.  Those who know me “in real life” know I can go on and on and on about subjects near and dear to my heart (zombie movies being one of them!), and you only have to listen to the voicemails I’ve left for Cinema Diabolica, Night of the Living Podcast or Dread Media to see/hear that I can ramble quite a bit as well . . . Producing my show has actually helped me to focus . . . !

I hate to admit it, but there are some shows that I’ll listen to the first few minutes, scan the show notes, then skip ‘til next week if my iPod’s getting backed up (especially if the shows are all covering the same movie(s) that week!).  Of course, I don’t do that with any of the shows represented here in these forums, but still . . . !