Time Investment in Podcasting

With the new year right around the corner, many people are starting to think about the goals they have pushed off and the new ones they want to accomplish. Are you one of those people and there is something that you have been pushing off but are ready to tackle again? For example, like your podcast.

But it's one of those things where you have pushed it off because you aren't sure exactly what the time investment in podcasting is actually going to be or any of the logistics to get you started. That's okay! We are here to help. If you are like, no I am ready to jump into starting a podcast, check out our blog on that here.

Otherwise, let's continue to see all the time that could potentially go into getting your show up and running regularly. 

Questions to Ask Yourself

Now, how much time you spend on your podcast can really depend on a multitude of factors. So, here are some questions to ask yourself to help get an idea of how much time you can and will invest into your show. 

1. Have you already launched your show?

   1. If the answer is yes, but maybe it's something you started but haven't done anything with it, then this won't take as much time upfront but you may want to rebrand or rebuild it. 

   2. If the answer was no, that's okay! You must consider this before getting your show up and running. 

2. Length of episodes. How long are you planning on having your show? 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, or more?

3. Hosts + guests. Another thing to think about is, is the show just you, do you have a co-host? And are you going to have guests on the show? These factors may affect scheduling and add in a few more steps to consider which we will discuss below. 

4. Schedule. You know how long you want to record for, but how often? Are you going to be doing a weekly show, bi-weekly, or once a month? And when are you planning on releasing - Mondays, Fridays, or a specific date? Knowing this for your show not only helps you to be able to get into a consistent schedule going forward but will help determine how much time weekly and monthly you will need to spend recording and planning your episodes.  

5. Post-production. You've figured out how long and how often your show is going to go out but how much are you going to be doing in post-production? Are you going to do a deep edit or just some minor stuff, are you adding music, intros, outros, ads, and all the works? Writing the show notes (for your website, more details on show notes here) and episode description (in the player like Apple and Spotify)? 

6. Promotion. Are you planning on promoting it whether that be on social media or somewhere else?

7. Outsourcing. Are you planning on doing this all by yourself or outsourcing some or all of it to someone else? 

Time Investment in Podcasting Tasks

You've been able to ask yourself the above questions and really start gathering an idea of how much time your podcast may (or may not) take you. However, you are probably still wondering how much time all of this will take, here is our estimated time for each area. 

1. Launching your show. This can really vary between 1 and 6 weeks is what we see most regularly. If you already have your show thought out, name, ideal listeners, ready to record, etc. then you can get your podcast out live in around a week in time. However, we like to suggest 4-6 weeks with our own clients as this allows you time to research your audience, decide on a name, and all the show details. As well as record your first few episodes, get hosting, submit to directories, update your website, etc. 

2. Length of episodes. If you have shorter episodes, it will take less time to record and edit. The time investment in this plays into your schedule. 

3. Hosts + guests. If you have other hosts or guests you will have to take into account that you have to work around each other’s schedule. Plus, guest management is another time investment with reaching out to guests and sending them the details once the show is live. Guest management can take approx. 2+ hours a month depending how how many you are reaching out, doing the research, following up with, and all the other tasks that go into getting guests. If you want more advice on guest management outreach, read our blog here.

4. Schedule. If you are putting out episodes weekly, if they are 30 minutes long that is going to be way more time on your plate than an hour episode once a month. There is no right or wrong answer here on what you decide for a schedule but just take into account that you would be doing the recording + post-production every time you release an episode. For example, you would be recording (approx. 30 or so minutes) every week and then doing post-production if following my first example. 

5. Post-production. Time-wise this can vary depending on how long the episode is, how much editing you want, your skill set, and just how precise/quickly you do it. But a general rule of thumb is about double what the audio is, so if it's a 30-minute episode it can take approximately 60 minutes in post-production (but if you don't have as good quality audio, it could take more than that). 

6. Promotion. If you are going to be posting on multiple platforms and with different types of posts (reels, videos, carousels, etc.) then this will be a little more time-consuming when it comes to creating your posts and scheduling. I would say around 1-3 hours for a 30-minute episode (depending on how much you are promoting it and where). Think about getting a social media post scheduler to help cut back on time so you can batch-create all your content and schedule it out for the whole month, for example.  

7. Outsourcing. Are you planning on doing this all by yourself or outsourcing some or all of it to someone else? If you aren't planning on outsourcing - then add up all the time you think the above questions will take you and that is around how much time you'll be spending every episode minus the launch. The reason it's important to include though is it's still going to be a time investment on your part, but more of a one-time one. If you are planning on outsourcing all of it or even some of the tasks, then separate those areas out to get a sense of how much time you will be putting into your show. 

For example:

• If you were to be new and just starting to launch your show (4-6 weeks).

• It is going to be a 30-minute show

• It will be you, one other co-host + guests.

• The show goes out bi-weekly on Mondays

• You are planning on editing the show (removing filler words, reducing background noises, adding the intro/outro + music)

• Doing show notes/episode descriptions

• Posting on your social media accounts 

This time-wise would take after the initial 4-6 weeks, roughly every episode you'd be spending around 6 hours on it total, twice a month. 

Summary of the Time Investment of Podcasting

We hope this helped give you an idea of how long you will potentially be spending on your show. It can vary so much depending on what you are looking to do with your show and how much time you want to put into it since it's truly up to you.

To summarize, ask yourself these questions: 

• Have you already launched your show

• Length of episodes

• Are you going to have other hosts + guests

• What's your show's schedule

• Are you planning on doing post-production? 

• Are you planning on promoting your show? 

• Will you outsource? 

Then take a peek out the list above at how long that may take you (don't forget to take into account your own skills + strengths!) Cheers to 2023 and getting your podcast started or back up and running! As always, if you need to outsource some of your own podcast tasks, reach out to us. 

Aleea

This blog post was updated November 28th, 2023