Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a podcast cost to make?

It varies a lot depending generally on the complexity of the production, how many voices are to be featured, how much research and preparation needs to be done, and of course whether a physical studio or video will be required. Generally, a simple interview podcast that is recorded in a virtual studio will start from £1,500 per episode.

What is the process for making a podcast?

There are typically five stages to making a podcast:

  1. Discovery

  2. Pre-production

  3. Production

  4. Post-production

  5. Dissemination and amplification

In the Discovery stage, the strategic objectives are set, and metrics of success defined. In pre-production, we’d set out a content calendar and production schedule, align with who’ll be featured and begin the process of reaching out, training and more. Production is when the podcast is recorded and edited, and then in post-production, the audio quality is polished, and other elements such as music and sound effects are added before the finished podcast is output to correct specification.

The podcast episode is then uploaded and pushed out to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more, with options for organic and paid promotion, supported with assets created alongside your podcast.

During the latter stages, performance should be reviewed and compared to the goals set out in the early stages.

How long should a podcast be?

There is no one answer to this. The most common duration is between 20 and 40 minutes (which, not coincidentally, fits nicely into many people’s commutes), but how long your podcast should be depends on your audience (how and when they’ll listen) and your objectives. Short daily bulletins might be appropriate, as might multi-hour deep-dives. These decisions will be made during the Discovery phase, and refined in pre-production.

Respect your audience’s time and attention, while blending your own goals and KPIs, and you’ll be fine.

How often should you release a podcast?

This will depend on your mission and your audience, but the main thing is that you try to be consistent. Podcasting is often a long-term habit-forming exercise, and it’s hard to form a habit with something that is sporadic.

Many popular podcasts release weekly, and while this is great for building community, it takes a lot of work and resources to maintain.

The sweet spot especially for branded podcasts is often every two weeks. This still gives you a good cadence to maintain a relationship with an audience, but doesn’t demand huge investment.

Remember too that your release schedule doesn’t have to lock-sync with your recording schedule, so unless your content is super time-sensitive, you could, for example, batch-recording, and/or releasing episodes in seasons, with breaks in between where you can regroup or get at least some of the next season in the can, is entirely reasonable.

How can I make money from a podcast?

Directly generating cash from podcasts is definitely possible, especially once you hit a critical mass. Money from dynamically inserted ads, sponsorships and supporters (through platforms such as Patreon) have all made some podcasters very wealthy, but especially when you’re starting out, the emphasis should be in indirect revenue generation: how well does this podcast perform as part of your customer funnel, say, or in establishing you as an authority in your field, which then has ancillary benefits when you’re going to market.

How do I get my podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts?

A full-stack podcast production agency such as Message Heard can do this for you. It involves administering accounts for both platforms, and submitting your podcast’s RSS feed to them.

Do I need to publish on YouTube as well as Spotify and Apple Podcasts?

It’s not mandatory, but we recommend it. This doesn’t mean you have to produce a video version – YouTube can automatically import even just audio versions of your show – but YouTube is a major platform for podcast consumption these days, and it can help find you audiences.

Be aware, though, that you will need to reconcile these plays manually with the plays you get through most other podcast platforms.

How can I prove my podcast is effective?

Metrics for podcasting are limited compared to many other digital media, but you will still get stats for downloads, listener location, and platform, plus each podcast directory such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts will supply richer data, such as age and gender and listener retention across your episodes.

However the really important thing to define here is what your podcast has to do for you in order to be deemed effective at the Discovery stage – which may not be about simple digital metrics – and then working out how to collect, contextualise and report on that performance.

How many downloads is ‘good’?

It depends on your goals, of course, but for comparison, at the time of writing, Buzzsprout, one of the big podcast hosts, reports that the median podcast episode is downloaded 28 times in the first 7 days after it goes live. To be in the top 5% of all podcasts, across all categories, that number rises to over a thousand, and nearly five thousand for the top 1%.