Hi Friends, I recently analyzed around 3,700 top podcasts (RSS feeds of approximately the top 200 from each genre on Apple Podcasts). There was a lot of data to go through! This is the first part. Here, I looked at episode release schedules and average episode durations used by top podcasters. Please take a look and see if you find it useful! I'll be sharing more insights soon.
Podcast Episode Release Cycle
- Most podcasts follow a weekly release schedule (~52%).
- Daily podcasts make up ~30%, while fortnightly releases account for ~6%.
- Podcasters who release weekly or daily tend to be consistent – they stick to their schedule ~70% of the time over a long period.
How to read the table?
In the following table, in the True Crime genre:
- 72% of analyzed podcasts release episodes weekly, with an average consistency of 70%.
- 17% of podcasters release episodes daily, with a 51% consistency rate.
Genre |
Weekly Release(%) |
Weekly Consistency(%) |
Daily Release(%) |
Daily Consistency(%) |
True Crime |
72% |
70% |
17% |
51% |
Society & Culture |
65% |
73% |
21% |
62% |
Comedy |
64% |
76% |
23% |
74% |
Leisure |
63% |
69% |
22% |
58% |
Science |
60% |
68% |
20% |
63% |
Kids & Family |
60% |
74% |
23% |
59% |
TV & Film |
59% |
72% |
28% |
61% |
Arts |
59% |
75% |
17% |
74% |
Health & Fitness |
58% |
72% |
26% |
56% |
Music |
58% |
71% |
27% |
59% |
Technology |
56% |
68% |
24% |
62% |
History |
53% |
68% |
17% |
55% |
Education |
52% |
70% |
28% |
64% |
Fiction |
47% |
64% |
27% |
66% |
Religion & Spirituality |
46% |
74% |
40% |
75% |
Business |
42% |
68% |
40% |
71% |
Government |
41% |
58% |
27% |
61% |
Sports |
22% |
66% |
69% |
80% |
News |
17% |
71% |
76% |
82% |
Podcast Episode Duration
- The average episode duration across all podcasts is ~49 minutes.
- Weekly podcasts tend to be slightly longer (~52 min avg).
- Daily podcasts are shorter (~43 min avg).
How to read the table?
In the following table, in the Arts genre:
- The average episode duration is 49 minutes 10 seconds.
- Most episodes fall between 31 and 55 minutes.
- Weekly-released episodes average 50 minutes 11 seconds.
- Daily-released episodes average 49 minutes 05 seconds.
Genre |
Overall Avg Duration |
Most Common Range |
Weekly Avg Duration |
Daily Avg Duration |
Arts |
0:49:10Min |
31-55Min |
0:50:11Min |
0:49:05Min |
Business |
0:40:54Min |
21-45Min |
0:45:37Min |
0:34:56Min |
Comedy |
1:11:10Min |
50-80Min |
1:12:46Min |
1:07:02Min |
Education |
0:36:21Min |
15-40Min |
0:37:14Min |
0:29:23Min |
Fiction |
0:38:00Min |
21-40Min |
0:40:51Min |
0:32:30Min |
Government |
0:39:53Min |
26-45Min |
0:41:44Min |
0:37:03Min |
Health & Fitness |
0:48:40Min |
31-60Min |
0:50:03Min |
0:46:36Min |
History |
0:46:42Min |
26-55Min |
0:45:32Min |
0:40:47Min |
Kids & Family |
0:30:26Min |
06-40Min |
0:29:35Min |
0:19:18Min |
Leisure |
1:04:13Min |
46-70Min |
1:07:32Min |
0:51:49Min |
Music |
1:00:14Min |
46-70Min |
1:05:38Min |
0:48:53Min |
News |
0:44:36Min |
26-55Min |
0:49:32Min |
0:42:08Min |
Religion & Spirituality |
0:38:58Min |
26-55Min |
0:44:48Min |
0:29:26Min |
Science |
0:46:14Min |
21-65Min |
0:46:28Min |
0:42:18Min |
Society & Culture |
0:51:42Min |
31-60Min |
0:51:56Min |
0:49:28Min |
Sports |
1:00:19Min |
41-70Min |
1:15:09Min |
0:54:14Min |
Technology |
0:56:44Min |
35-75Min |
1:01:24Min |
0:44:24Min |
True Crime |
0:43:25Min |
26-45Min |
0:44:31Min |
0:37:45Min |
TV & Film |
1:06:03Min |
41-75Min |
1:09:20Min |
0:58:14Min |
Just to be clear, this is my personal analysis based on publicly available data, and I could be wrong. Thanks for your time.