Time enough to explore your topic in detail. Life stories, skills development, tales of the imagination, dirty deeds and career journeys. Inform, educate and grow your audience with a fortnightly or monthly release.

Your show might be a solid conversation all the way through, or might have some segments that add diverse content. The average concentration period of an adult is 20 minutes or less in a burst. A 35-45 minute podcast gives time for two major strands of information to be explored. Beyond that, your listener may drift off.

Alf Rehn, Professor of innovation, design, and management at University of Finland runs a relevant course on the Art Of Keynoting. He discusses things like format and timescale in a way that is very relevant to deep-dive podcasting. Read his article “The 20-Minute Rule for Great Public Speaking — On Attention Spans and Keeping Focus” on Medium.

Beyond…

If you can structure your content to suit your listener, there’s potential for extending the outer limits of duration. The development of hobbyist “listen along” instructional podcasting is a great illustration of anything being possible in the right context!

Case Examples

Business performance consultant, Andrew Horsfield uses his show, The Messy Middle to draw in a range of experts that align with his business focus. Performance professionals from the worlds of sport, hospitality and socially minded business share their expertise in relaxed online interviews.
The Messy Middle on Apple Podcasts

Martin Roll from international business school, INSEAD speaks with founders and next generation family members who are keeping their family business going. Mixing planned questions, with spontaneous detours into the subjects over 35-40 minute episodes
INSEAD Family Business on Apple Podcasts

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